- BIG STORY: Bipartisan bill would give second chance after evictions
- MORE NEWS: Senate panel advances bill to shield college athlete pay
- ISSUE TRACKER: Charter school reform gets unanimous support
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: The good news and bad news
- BRACK: Decent people can shut down Internet trolls, haters
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Impressive old building
- FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
Bipartisan bill would give second chance after evictions
Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | In a quiet hearing room at the S.C. Statehouse this week, 19-year-old Mikel Burns, a college student and full-time teacher at a faith-based preschool in downtown Charleston, told lawmakers a story that housing advocates say they hear every day.
In 2018, he and his family were living in a run-down rental unit in rural Huger. It had chronic heating and cooling problems, no insulation, holes in the floor. But when his parents requested repairs, the answer went well beyond a simple no.
“Instead of fixing those problems,” Burns told lawmakers, “our landlord evicted us.”
And because South Carolina eviction records currently are permanent — they remain in a searchable online public index forever — his family has struggled with housing ever since.
“That eviction record followed my mother for years, making it harder to find housing, harder to move forward and harder for my parents to provide stability for us as kids,” Burns said. “Still years later, that filing sits on their record.”
But a new bipartisan bill that’s won the support of tenant advocates and landlords aims to ease that burden by removing evictions from the public record after five years, as long as there have been no additional eviction actions in the interim.
Supporters call it a second chance for people who’ve put their problems in the past, comparing it to bankruptcies that are eventually removed from consumer credit reports.
What’s more, they say, the change is particularly urgent in S.C., given the more than 600,000 eviction filings in the state since 2020, according to the Legal Services Corporation’s Civil Court Data Initiative.
A broad array of cooperative support
Horry County Republican Rep. Carla Schuessler, the bill’s chief sponsor, told Statehouse Report that the legislation emerged after conversations with renters, landlords, advocacy groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“It’s been a great experience to work with people who are willing to sit down at the table from opposing sides and really be committed to figure out a way to be supportive,” she said.
That willingness was on display in the Capitol hearing room where Burns told his story on Feb. 10, when advocates agreed to amend the bill to win unanimous subcommittee support.
The amendment removed language that would have deleted records of eviction filings that didn’t lead to an actual court-ordered eviction after 30 days.
“Everybody came together and nobody got everything they wanted,” Charleston Democratic Rep. and bill co-sponsor Spencer Wetmore said in a Feb. 12 interview. “I really liked how the bill initially got rid of some of the filings, but if that was going to kill the whole thing, then that’s what compromise looks like.”
In explaining her determination to make the compromises necessary to get the bill passed, Wetmore described an increasingly automated world where one line in a public record can have life-altering consequences.
“A lot of times now, rental applications are being reviewed by AI, which automatically rejects them if there’s been an eviction,” Wetmore said. “And even if you can get past that, the rent is higher, the security deposits are higher. That’s why we worked so hard to come up with a bill that works for everyone.”
Like Schuessler and Wetmore, S.C. Tenants Union executive director Ginny Cummings told Statehouse Report she was struck by the spirit of cooperation among lawmakers, landlords and housing advocates.
“We’ve built a real coalition for this bill across the state — faith leaders, tenants, service providers and people with expertise in evictions,” Cummings said, noting that no one testified against the bill during the subcommittee hearing. “It was just people prepared to explain why this matters so much.”
That broad coalition was apparent when Meredith Oh, a property manager from the Greenville area, testified in support of the bill, telling lawmakers that her job is to determine whether applicants can and will pay their rent — and that one eviction from many years ago doesn’t help her answer that question.
“The primary objective when screening for a candidate is to utilize the data from income, credit score and rental history to assess their ability to pay their rent throughout the term of the lease,” Oh said. “However, what someone’s financial situation looked like … five years ago does not help me in predicting the risk of default.”
Looking forward, Schuessler said she hoped the legislation will get a hearing before the full Judiciary Committee this session.
“Everybody’s under the gun, working very hard to get their pieces of legislation moved forward, so there’s a challenge there,” she said. “But I do think this bill is very important. And with more than 30 co-sponsors, we’re just going to keep trying to move the ball forward.”
On the other side of the Capitol, Democratic Sen. Russell Ott, who filed a similar bill in the upper chamber earlier this year, said he’s prepared to work with the House bill as long as it protects the legitimate interests of landlords and tenants.
“To me, if you had a bad situation a long time ago and you’re able to show that it was a one-off, it makes sense to allow that to be removed from your record,” he said. “So no pride in authorship from me. If they’re able to send a balanced bill over from the House, I’ll work to get it passed in the Senate.”
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Senate panel advances bill to shield college athlete pay
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | South Carolina’s college sports programs are one step closer to being able to shield the money they’re paying student athletes from public scrutiny after the S.C. Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send a bill to the floor that exempts those payments from the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Supporters say the bill, which passed the S.C. House 111-2 last month, is necessary to protect the state’s major sports programs — particularly USC and Clemson football — from disclosures that would allow other teams around the country to outbid them for their own players.
Under current law, so-called Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) endorsement contracts with private sponsors are shielded from FOIA. But after a 2025 federal court settlement allowed schools to pay athletes out of other sports revenues — primarily TV rights and ticket sales — state universities asked lawmakers to add a provision exempting those dollars from FOIA as well.
The issue came to a head late last year, when Mount Pleasant businessman Frank Heindel sued in Columbia Circuit Court after being denied the payment information under FOIA. S.C. Circuit Court Judge Daniel Coble has suspended the case for six months as lawmakers consider their options.
While several senators, including committee Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, said they were uncomfortable with the exception, most wound up supporting it on the grounds that no other state in the country currently requires disclosure of the payments.
“The world has changed,” Hembree told his colleagues. “And we might not like it, but we have to accept the reality of it, protect those athletes, protect their privacy, and evolve with the rest of the country on this.”
In other recent news
2026: Evette reflects on future, Trump moves after receiving McMaster’s endorsement. Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Gov. Henry McMaster stood side by side to champion his endorsement of her 2026 gubernatorial bid, touting their record together and casting her campaign as a continuation of their administration.
S.C. Senate bill boosting oversight for S.C. charter schools wins unanimous support. A bill creating more oversight for charter schools, the management companies they hire and the authorizers that hold their contracts sailed through the Senate on Tuesday.
- Boy tells S.C. lawmakers that prothonotary warbler should be state’s official migratory bird
- S.C. Senate looks at ways to limit growth
- S.C. Senate tax debate dragging on
Bill allowing home delivery of alcohol makes first step in S.C. House. The bill would permit local liquor stores to deliver beer, wine and liquor themselves or partner with third-party services. Customers would be required to show valid identification upon delivery, and drivers would be barred from dropping off alcohol at schools, churches or college dorms.
- SLED chief asks S.C. House leaders not to legalize THC hemp products
- S.C. House OKs bill giving governor power over judicial screening
- Bill advances banning minimum grades in schools
- S.C. lawmakers weigh restrictions on allowing how transgender people edit birth certificates
Trump nominates Black attorney to be S.C. federal judge. President Donald Trump nominated Sheria Clarke of Greenville to fill the only vacancy on South Carolina’s federal district court, making her the first Black woman he has chosen for the bench during his second term.
Biden returns to S.C. to celebrate 6-year anniversary of decisive primary win. Former President Joe Biden will be stopping in Columbia later this month for a fundraiser to mark the sixth anniversary of the South Carolina victory that propelled him to the White House. Tickets to the South Carolina Democratic Party’s event on Feb. 27 cost $125 each, though the website gives an option of paying more.
Charter school reform gets unanimous support
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | A bill to crack down on what critics say are the worst practices of some charter school authorizers passed the S.C. Senate unanimously on Feb. 10.
Among other things, the bill would put an end to “authorizer shopping” — that is, allowing schools to switch to a new overseeing regulator, or authorizer, when a current one has revoked a charter due to poor performance. Authorizers would also be required to shut down schools that fail to meet state standards for three years.
Below is an update on other major issues including some mentioned in our 2026 legislative preview:
Bills that are on the move
Judicial selection: A bill with the support of leaders in both chambers would give the governor more power in selecting state judges. LATEST: S.C. House members passed the bill 86-25 on Feb. 11, sending it to the Senate for further consideration.
Tax cuts: An income tax cut bill passed last year in the S.C. House is being considered by the S.C. Senate Budget Committee. The bill would set rates at 5.39% and 1.99% based on income — lower than the current rates, but taxing more people due to changes in income exemptions and exclusions. LATEST: A property tax cut for residents 65 and older introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, is under debate on the Senate floor, where members are expected to vote on it next week.
Juvenile justice: A special committee created by House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, is meeting throughout the session to advance reforms to the state’s juvenile justice system. LATEST: The committee’s first bipartisan bill, H. 5117, is pending before the House Judiciary Committee.
Concurrency: A bill by Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis that would allow local governments to limit development in areas with insufficient infrastructure received its first subcommittee hearing on Feb. 11.
Highway reform: Members of the House Ad Hoc SCDOT Modernization Committee introduced sweeping legislation on Jan. 29 aimed at shaking up the state’s transportation system, including stronger SCDOT executive oversight, increased county responsibility for some state roads and higher taxes on electric vehicles. A bill with similar goals has also been introduced in the S.C. Senate.
DOGE SC: Multiple bills promising to cut the state workforce and the regulations they enforce have been introduced for consideration in 2026. In particular, House GOP leaders have pledged to get their “Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act” passed through the S.C. Senate this session. LATEST: Senate leaders say the bill could come up for consideration in late February or March.
Pay raise: When the S.C. Supreme Court last year struck down an increase in lawmakers’ “in-district expenses” stipend, the decision also incidentally killed the $1,000 a month that legislators were already receiving. LATEST: A bill restoring the $1,000 stipend retroactive to July 1, 2025, is headed to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk after clearing the Senate Jan. 21 and the House Jan. 29.
Bills still awaiting action
Abortion: A House Judiciary subcommittee on Jan. 14 killed one bill to treat abortion as homicide and advanced another to reclassify abortion pills as Schedule IV drugs. LATEST: The S.C. House on Feb. 4 voted 81-31 to advance the abortion pill rescheduling bill to the S.C. Senate.
Rolling back affirmative action and DEI: Several bills are still currently awaiting consideration, including one to codify Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order ending affirmative action in state contracting.
Immigration: Currently in the House Judiciary Committee, H. 4764 would require all S.C. sheriffs to partner with the federal government to enforce national immigration laws.
- Last updated: 10 a.m., Feb. 13, 2026. You can find the latest update every Friday at charlestoncitypaper.com/statehouse.
Good news and bad news
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, Ariail takes a swipe at the gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman of the Rock Hill area.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Decent people can shut down Internet trolls, haters
Commentary by Andy Brack | There’s more than one word for people who lurk around social media using its anonymity to spew hatred and venom because they don’t like someone’s views or the way they look.
Most of those descriptive words can’t be published in a family newspaper. But here’s one that can: Cowards.
If you’ve been on Facebook or Instagram or TwitterX, you’ve surely seen the kind of nonsense that these haters and racists use to bully their way into conversations where no decent person cares for their opinions.
Earlier in the week, the Charleston City Paper published a story on the Modjeska Simkins School in Columbia, which is affiliated with the S.C. Progressive Network. For the eleventh year, the school is again offering a 16-week curriculum of classes that teaches little-known history about South Carolina. It sounds like pretty interesting stuff – if you’ve got an open mind to learn facts you might not know about things like racism, oppression and how the planter class long took advantage of regular people. Maybe not everybody’s cup of tea, but definitely interesting.
And like most of the stories we offer, this story was published online – with a photo of some of the recent graduates. It showed a diverse crew of folks who looked happy on graduation day.
But some of them apparently didn’t look like some of the closeted bigots who hide behind the secrecy of the Internet. These word thugs crawled out from under their rocks for long enough to write some pretty horrible things that would cause any decent grandmother to find a big bar of soap to wash out their mouths. (If you ever wondered how the behavior in the Epstein files could have gotten started, it’s got to be somewhere near the kind of depraved mindset that pokes fun of people who may not have a model’s figure or have a different skin color or ancestry.)
Here are some of the wicked things these wretched Internet trolls said:
“No one in their right mind wants anyone like that anywhere near their kids.”
“I can smell this picture.”
“I’m going to make a bingo card for this.”
“Maybe they should take a class on nutrition instead.”
Fortunately, there are a lot of decent people who saw this crap on the Internet and shot it down. They didn’t hold back on junk from the haters, bigots and sizists with comments like:
- “I’m proud we have a group that does continuing education with a focus on the facts surrounding our history. I am deeply saddened and upset at the bullying in these comments regarding people’s body size and appearances.”
- “The men showing up in this comments section are demonstrating why there is a ‘male loneliness epidemic.’”
- “Apparently, you’re still in middle school with that stupid comment.”
- “Insulting someone’s eyes when you look like the offspring of two diseased siblings is a wild choice.”
The Simkins class will be offered in Columbia and six satellite locations around the state starting later this month.
“We’re going to teach you how to be effective” in challenging the historical power structure, said organizer Brett Bursey, who heads the 30-year-old, nonpartisan S.C. Progressive Network Education Fund. He also added, “The school’s mission is re-seeding a movement for systemic change with autonomous groups across the state.”
In our free society, people are going to disagree with news stories like the one on the new history class. But let’s remain civil. Often, that may be hard – and many of us may be guilty of lashing out occasionally (I am such a sinner). But let’s not fuel and sow division. If you disagree, stay within the guardrails of decency. Or just shut up and move on.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment (that’s not purely nasty)? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Impressive old building
What is this painting? Who did it? Where is it? Send your best guess – plus hometown and name – to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Meanwhile, last week’s mystery – “What a view” – shows an oil painting of Boone Hall Plantation by Charleston artist Edwin Harleston. The painting, created around 1925, is in the Gibbes Museum of Art. While Harleston was known for his portraits, he completed this painting after a summer of training at the School of the Arts Institute in Chicago. The house in the painting was demolished in 1935, according to the Gibbes.
Congratulations to those who correctly identified the painting: Jay Altman of Columbia; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
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- Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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