MORNING HEADLINES | For the ninth and final time, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster will lay out his priorities in the annual State of the State address tonight at the state capitol.
While details about the governor’s address have not yet been provided, he said in a Facebook post that the speech will focus on his plan to “keep South Carolina on the path of prosperity.”
Throughout his time as governor, McMaster’s addresses have focused on economic growth and investment; educational priorities such as teacher pay, school choice and safety; income tax reduction; infrastructure improvements; public safety; and support for law enforcement.
McMaster’s speech is expected to be about more than the year ahead, including a request for lawmakers to spend $1 billion in new money on infrastructure such as highways and bridges, as well as $150 million to raise the state’s starting teacher pay to $50,500 and $8 million to cover free school breakfasts for all K-12 students.
Other contents of his address are expected to look back on the nearly decade he’s spent in the governor’s office, and years before that in public office as lieutenant governor and attorney general.
McMaster was sworn in as governor in January 2017 after then-Gov. Nikki Haley was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under the first Trump Administration.
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