Bills to watch as S.C. legislative clock ticks down

By Jack O’Toole, Capitol Bureau | South Carolina lawmakers are scrambling to put points on the board before the General Assembly’s clock for doing business hits triple zeroes on May 8.

Headlining that effort is a mad dash in the S.C. House to pass a revamped bill cutting the state’s top income tax rate from 6.2% to 5.39%, despite the fact that the Senate is unlikely to take up the bill before next January.

It replaces an earlier flat-tax plan that saw a majority of South Carolinians potentially paying more in taxes – something that sent House lawmakers scrambling back to the drawing board when they realized how bad the first proposal looked.

“When you get resistance like that, you back up and find a different path,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bruce Bannister (R-Greenville) told reporters on April 29.

The revamped plan, unveiled on April 25, seeks to initially cut taxes for 42% of filers, while 24% — mostly residents making less than $75,000 a year — would see their tax bills rise. Taxes for the remaining third would remain flat.

Future rate cuts would follow in any year when state revenue grew by at least 5% — eventually, supporters hope, eliminating the income tax entirely.

But critics warned that hastily-written tax bills can have unintended consequences.

“I just think there are a lot of implications that we may or may not be thinking about,” said Ways and Means Vice Chair Gilda Cobb Hunter (D-Orangeburg).

Already out of committee after an almost party-line 17-6 vote on April 30, the bill is expected to pass the House before the session ends at 5 p.m. on May 8.

In other legislative news as the session clock ticks down

Private school vouchers will go to the governor’s desk. After seeing two voucher initiatives struck down by the S.C. Supreme Court in the past four years, GOP leaders will try again with a bill that received final passage on May 1.

State Treasurer Curtis Loftis will remain in office for now. In April, senators mustered the two-thirds majority required to remove Loftis from office for his role in a $1.8 billion accounting snafu. House leaders say they will likely consider the matter in January 2026.

Liquor liability reform is hanging by a thread. As bars and restaurants across the state continue to close due to exorbitant liquor liability premiums, members of the House and Senate are struggling to find a compromise between the very different approaches favored by the two chambers. Bar owners aren’t happy and continue to press for action.

Drivers will soon have to put down their cell phones. With the federal government threatening to withhold $54 million in highway funds, lawmakers say they’ll get the hand-free driving bill across the finish line before session’s end.

Legislators may, or may not, give themselves a pay raise. House and Senate negotiators are working to reconcile the 2025-26 budget bills passed in each chamber. A Senate amendment would raise lawmakers’ pay by $18,000 a year, but House leaders sound leery of the proposal.