The 2026 legislative session might be best characterized as the Session of Missed Opportunities. Again. Seems that whenever we look at what’s actually happened amidst all of the spring wrangling at the Statehouse, we’re actually not that impressed with what state lawmakers have been doing — especially when looking through the lens of making real changes that impact real people.
Where, for example, are the legislative solutions for regular people who struggle with housing and food affordability? Both are real as gas prices stay high in the midst of a weird war in the Middle East that continues to seek validity and justification.
Where are the debates, red faces, arguments, compromises and politicking about things like expanding health care access, reducing poverty, paying a living wage and reducing suffering? Instead, we got a lot of mumbo jumbo about reducing income tax rates (which will help the rich folks), making it harder for people to vote by closing political primaries and the Grade A,
No. 1 Republican Red Meat Issue that keeps coming back like bad zombies — inventing new bills to scare the hell out of people over abortion. And this in a state that already has one of the strictest abortion bills in the country!
As the state Senate continues to debate a $15 billion budget, legislators should be congratulated for embracing better pay for teachers and state employees as well as directing lots more money to South Carolina’s neglected roads. But think about these four relatively easy things they could have done to get more credibility with voters:
Hate crimes. Almost 11 years after a racist gunman massacred nine people at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, lawmakers still have not had the decency to pass a hate crimes bill. Shame.
Judicial reform. Legislators essentially punted this year on improving ways to pick state judges, particularly during the nominations process.
Sales tax reform. Not only is South Carolina’s tax code filled with gimmicks like an annual sales tax holiday, but the state provides billions of dollars in sales tax exemptions to special interests — and has done so for years. Lawmakers need to take a serious look at whether old exemptions still have a valid reason in the digital economy and if not, they should dump them. The state could generate a couple of billion dollars of sales tax revenue in this manner — which could allow legislators to lower our high sales tax rate by a couple of pennies. Smart fiscal reform would be a boon — if lawmakers had the courage to take it on.
Expand Medicaid eligibility. To keep 300,000 South Carolinians from being trapped in funding gaps, the state should expand Medicaid eligibility. And the beauty of doing this? The federal government would pay 90% of the cost. This is a no-brainer.
State lawmakers should be proud of some of the stuff they’ve done during this session. But they really need to take a hard look in 2027 at ways they can help more regular people
— so that we’re not writing another editorial next year about the same missed opportunities.
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