STATEHOUSE REPORT |  ISSUE 25.12  |  MARCH 20, 2026
  • BIG STORY: ‘Massive’ SCDOT reform bill passes the S.C. Senate 
  • ROUNDUP: S.C. Senate votes to legalize, regulate THC products 
  • ISSUE TRACKER:  Senate votes to fire health director Simmer
  • LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail:  Highway to nowhere
  • BRACK: Diploma divide offers big insights into electorate
  • MYSTERY PHOTO:  Comfortable park
  • FEEDBACK: On the money
BIG STORY

‘Massive’ SCDOT reform bill passes the S.C. Senate 

By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau  |  At first, it looked like a contradiction.

On Thursday morning, a new national report ranked South Carolina’s highway system third best in the nation. And just a few hours later, the S.C. Senate passed a sweeping highway reform bill aimed at overhauling the way state roads are built and maintained.

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

But Baruch Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at the libertarian-leaning Reason Foundation and the report’s primary author, said the actions weren’t as contradictory as they seemed.

“Where the state excels is that its spending is very low,” Feigenbaum told Statehouse Report. “But some of the other things, like fatality rates and road conditions aren’t so good. So even though the state ranks highly overall, it’s more of a mixed story.”

Put simply, the Reason study attempts to balance low costs and good outcomes. It shows S.C.’s roads spending is so low that it essentially skews the results.

How low is it? About $200 per person, per year, according to data from the S.C. Alliance to Fix Our Roads. And that’s just not enough to maintain an unusually large state highway system — the fourth largest in the country at 41,000 miles — and keep the traffic moving in a state that’s adding more than 200 new residents every day, experts say.

“If your roads aren’t smooth, if you’ve got potholes and traffic congestion, that’s a problem,” Feigenbaum said. “Taxpayers like to see low spending, but they’d also like to see better system quality.” 

Reforming the system

Berkeley County Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and author of the highway bill that passed 37-1, told Statehouse Report that the legislation was written to address both sides of the cost problem, with new sources of money and reforms designed to make those dollars go further.

On the reform side, Grooms points to language that would force better coordination of roads projects across state agencies and require the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) to create a long-range state transportation plan.

In addition, the bill would authorize SCDOT to enter into an agreement with the federal government to manage the environmental permitting process for new roads — an approach that’s been shown to lower costs and speed up projects in states like Texas and California. And at the local level, the bill also would incentivize counties and cities to take ownership of non-critical state roads — and set hard deadlines for them to give their consent for new state roads projects.

On the money side, the bill would expand the SCDOT’s tolling authority, as well as authorize it to enter into public-private partnerships to build what are called “choice lanes” — a move that Grooms said was essential to get expensive projects moving in some of the state’s most congested regions.

Under a choice lanes system, such as the one used to finance Georgia’s Highway 400, tolled express lanes are added to congested highways, with private investors providing capital in exchange for the toll. In practice, Grooms noted, choice lanes wind up easing traffic not only for those choosing to pay the toll, but for the remaining cars in the still-free lanes as well.

“For me, that’s the heart of the bill,” Grooms said, noting that long-planned road widening projects in the Lowcountry like I-26 and I-526 are still on the drawing boards because they would eat up all available state funding.

“The only way those lane widenings are going to happen in the next quarter century is with choice lanes,” he said.

Grooms’s Democratic cosponsor, Charleston Sen. Ed Sutton, lauded not just the bill, but what he described as the thoughtful, bipartisan process that produced it.

“We had a lot of good discussions in committee, with a lot of good ideas, including from industry experts,” Sutton said. “And it was all very refreshing, in that Democrats played as much of a leading role on it as Republicans.”

What’s more, Sutton said, the committee is already prepared to move forward with additional reforms, once the current legislation is reconciled with a similar bill that’s making its way through the House.

“This will be the first of several efforts,” Sutton said. “It’s a massive step forward when it comes to modernizing SCDOT, but there’s more to do — and hopefully, we’ll be able to push forward and get that conversation going before this session is over.”

ROUNDUP

S.C. Senate votes to legalize, regulate THC products 

By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau  |  After a frantic 24 hours of floor fights, failed votes and quiet backroom dealmaking, the S.C. Senate on Thursday passed a bill to formally legalize and regulate the THC-infused beverages and gummies that have been on store shelves across the state since they were first authorized in the 2018 federal farm bill.

To be legal, the THC must be derived from hemp, not marijuana.

Credit: via Unsplash

Under the Senate bill, sales of 12-ounce drinks containing up to 5 milligrams of THC could be sold in retail outlets with beer and wine licenses. Stronger drinks, as well as gummies of up to 40 milligrams, would have to be sold in liquor stores. On-premise consumption would be forbidden anywhere.

Charleston Democratic Sen. Ed Sutton, one of four members to vote against the legislation, questioned the wisdom of pushing people into liquor stores.

“We are going to force alcoholics into liquor stores to get gummies, and I think that is a very bad mistake,” he said.

The bill now moves to the S.C. House, which tried and failed to pass either a full or partial ban on the products in February.

In other recent news

Federal races: Graham doesn’t care if you oppose him for U.S. Senate. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is entering the 2026 election cycle with decades of experience and as a household name for many South Carolina voters, which will be stiff competition for challengers.

S.C. 2026: Race for GOP gubernatorial primary heats up. As the June primary looms, the GOP race for governor could get kind of messy, according to this analysis.

STATEHOUSE: S.C. is one of several states pushing for Ten Commandments in classrooms. Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas have passed laws requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools. S.C. is considering it.

1.2 million S.C. tax returns have been filed. Will they need to be amended? A look at what’s happening with a proposal to make the state’s tax laws conform to the nation’s.

19 state electricity coops join forces to require data center contracts. The coops are joining forces to require long-term contracts as data centers move in.

S.C. Supreme Court rules Amazon owes state $12.5 million. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that Amazon owes the state $12.5 million in back taxes, interest, and penalties for failing to collect sales taxes on products sold by third-party merchants on its platform in early 2016.

ISSUE TRACKER

Senate votes to fire health director Simmer

By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | With the House out of session this week, all the action was in the S.C. Senate, where members effectively fired the state’s health director when they voted 40-0 for a bill placing new limits on the governor’s interim appointment powers.

Dr. Edward Simmer, a longtime Navy doctor who oversaw the care of millions of U.S. veterans and their families as head of TRICARE, was denied confirmation by the S.C. Senate in April 2024 due to his support of masking and vaccines during the Covid pandemic. He has served in an interim capacity since 2021.

Bills that are on the move

Taxes: A bill to cut the state’s top tax rate from 6% to 5.21% is on the governor’s desk awaiting his signature. Further property and income tax cuts totaling more than half a billion dollars are advancing in both chambers.

Concurrency: A bill by Beaufort Republican Sen. Tom Davis that would allow local governments to limit development in areas with insufficient infrastructure was amended and advanced on March 12 by the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee.

Juvenile justice: Two bills have passed the House, one making it easier to try 16 and 17 year olds as adults and another to mandate fingerprinting when juveniles come into the system. LATEST: A bipartisan bill to add additional guardrails before some juveniles are moved to adult court is pending before the House Judiciary Committee.

Bills in less of a hurry

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. LATEST: A House subcommittee approved the measure on Feb. 26, sending it on to the full Judiciary Committee for further action.

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.

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 this month.

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.

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.

ROBERT ARIAIL’S LOWCOUNTRY

Highway to nowhere

Credit: Robert Ariail

Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way.  This week, he has a little something to say about a highway in South Carolina being named for the current president.

COMMENTARY

Diploma divide offers big insights into electorate

Commentary by Andy Brack  |  A chart that a friend forwarded recently has been top of mind for the whole week.

It shows the “diploma divide” – a red/blue graphic of the statewide percentage of adults with college degrees and whether they voted in 2024 for the Democrat, Kamala Harris, or the Republican, Donald Trump.

It’s not surprising that blue-state voters were more educated – this is something that political analysts have been talking about for years. 

What is surprising is looking at how 17 of the 18 more educated states voted blue.  Only Utah (39.1% adults with college degrees) voted Republican.  

And in the 32 states that had a lower share of adults with a college education?  Thirty voted for Trump. Only Delaware (#23) and New Mexico (#41) voted for Harris.

America’s polarization couldn’t be clearer based on where you live and how educated your state is.  South Carolina, by the way, ranked 34th with 33.3% of adults with college degrees.

The chart came from the Age of Disruption Substack post by Washington lobbyist Bruce Mehlman, who served as an assistant U.S. secretary of commerce under President George W. Bush.  

Via Bruce Mehlman’s

He explained the growing “diploma divide” this way:  “It was stark in 2024: 17 of the 18 states with the highest share of college-educated voters voted for Harris, 17 of the bottom 18 for Trump. 

“The educational divide explains profound policy differences across myriad issues, though it’s unclear whether university studies push students politically-leftward or more liberal people are likelier to pursue college degrees in the first place.”

If you dive into the chart a little deeper, you can see swing states that will likely be key for the 2028 presidential candidates.  On the blue side of the dividing line are Maine (#17) and Oregon (#18), although after political shenanigans in each state in the last year, it’s doubtful they would turn red.

Below the red/blue break, though, are these three states that have been key players in past elections:  North Carolina (36.4% with college degrees), Pennsylvania (36.3%) and Georgia (36.3%).  

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to predict both parties will throw a lot of resources (again) into these states to try to win their electoral votes – and swing the election their way.  In fact, these three states have a total of 51 (19%) of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.  

Other targets for Dems to boost turnout in their favor:  Arizona (34.7% college educated), Wisconsin (34.6%) and Michigan (33.3%).  Conversely, Republicans might want to amp it up in New Hampshire (41.5%), New Jersey (44.5%) and New Mexico (31.8%).

Now let’s say you dive another level deeper in thinking about all of these numbers.  Ask yourself why less-educated states like South Carolina vote red.

Is it because Republicans are better organized?  Is it because the party and its politicians intentionally prey on less-educated voters to swing them by focusing on polarizing culture-war issues? While all states are bombarded by the culture wars, perhaps these lower-educated voters are more susceptible to negative or fear-based messages on red-meat issues of immigration, gender, race and more.  

Or maybe the Democratic machines in blue-voting states are competing better than in the red states of the South and other areas with Republican messaging.  

More than anything, the “diploma divide” chart offers an interesting look that can drive strategy in the election ahead.  

Mehlman concludes, “Remedying this problem [of polarization] will take broader societal effort (systemic reforms across politics, media, public policy that rebuild trust). But individuals have agency here also.

“You can be part of the solution. How? Two of my recommendations from “How to Navigate an Age of Disruption”: (a) Balance your media diet and (b) Be curious about why others feel as they do. As Morgan Housel recommends we all ask, “Whose views do I criticize that I would actually agree with if I lived in their shoes?”

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report.  Have a comment?  Send to:  feedback@statehousereport.com

MYSTERY PHOTO

Comfortable park

This looks like the perfect place to relax in springtime.  But where is it?  Send your best guess – plus hometown and name – to: feedback@statehousereport.com.  

Meanwhile, last week’s mystery – “Red doors” – showed doors at St. Mark’s Episopal Church on Thomas Street in Charleston.  As highlighted by Frank Bouknight of Summerville, the church recently won a $500,000 renovation grant to preserve black churches.  The all-wood church, which is in the Radcliffeborough neighborhood, was built in 1867.  

Others who identified the church were:  Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Jay Altman of Columbia; Bill Segars of Hartsville; 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!
FEEDBACK

On the money

To the editor:

Excellent article on income tax cuts (Brack: Instead of lowering income tax, dump sales tax exemptions).  

This is the truth about income tax cuts and sales tax.  

– Jim Bryan, Laurens

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