The Advocates
The Advocates: State Legislative Wrap Up
| This year, the General Assembly passed only 103 bills with the Governor signing 84 into law thus far. This is lower than the 118 passed in 2021 and the 150 in 2022. With a slower session, the Chamber was still able to move key legislative priorities across the finish line including: H. 3797 Military Temporary Remote School Enrollment requires schools to accept electronic enrollment and course registration from military dependents whose parents are pending transfer by military orders to SC without a time requirement for proof of residency. H. 3726 Statewide Education and Workforce DevelopmentAct will allow South Carolina to better understand what is working in the workforce development space. It will create a State Director of Workforce Development and a unified state plan. It also provides a benefits calculator that will help create a transition plan for those transitioning from public assistance to employment. H. 3890 Youthful Offender Expungement permits certain youthful offenders to apply for expungement if they are not convicted of any other offense within 5 years. Driving under a suspended license is an exempted offense. One in every three adults in South Carolina have a criminal conviction. This bill gives those that have paid their debts an opportunity to expunge old criminal convictions and re-enter the workforce. The bill was vetoed by Governor McMaster, but the House and Senate ultimately voted to override the Governor’s veto. S. 284 Accommodations Tax for Workforce Housing enables local governments to use 15% of accommodations tax revenue for workforce housing. To accommodate projected growth and allow businesses to thrive, our region needs more housing supply, more choices, better proximity to transit and job centers and more attainable options. This would be one revenue source for local governments to leverage. H. 3605 Occupational Licensing makes it so that a licensing board cannot automatically deny an occupational license to someone with a prior criminal conviction unless the prior conviction was directly related to the license they are seeking. Although, it took longer than we initially anticipated, the House and Senate budget included the following Chamber priorities in the nearly $14 billion budget compromise:$151.4 million to increase teacher starting pay to $42,500 and provide $2,500 for every step increase – $96.2 million to fund the incremental tax rate reduction from 6.5% to 6.4% – $1.78 million for the SC Manufacturing Extensions Partnership – $9 million for LocateSC – $93.7 million to extend the SC Workforce Industry and Needs (SCWINS) Scholarship – $97 million to fund a tuition freeze so that state schools will not have to increase in-state tuition – $3 million to implement H. 3726 Statewide Workforce Development – $5 million for the Trident Technical College Electric Vehicle Institute – $500,000 in recurring dollars for the Be Pro Be Proud program to address the skills gap – $4.5 million to create the Carolina Internship Pilot Program partnering students with private industry – $7.5 million to fund the Military Enhancement Plan, a tool which awards grants to communities surrounding our military installations to maintain their viability The budget was approved by the House and Senate this week and now heads to the Governor’s desk where he has line-item veto authority until midnight June 20. Speaker Murrell Smith said whether or not he calls legislators back will depend on what the Governor vetoes. It is possible they could wait until January to override some of the budget vetoes. As we wrap up this year’s Legislative Session, please let us know what you want to see on the Legislative Agenda for next year. Have a great weekend! |
Posted on
June 16th 2023
Written by
Justin Allen
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