Welcome to Wednesday. It is still very, very cold.

So cold, in fact, lawmakers have canceled several hearings originally scheduled for Wednesday, mainly in the SC House.
For now, several hearings set for Wednesday and Thursday still seem to be a go.

What’s not canceled (yet)? Former longtime state Sen. Nikki Setzler’s portrait unveiling. The unveiling starts at 4 p.m. and will be livestreamed.

This is The State House Gavel, a new daily reporter notebook by reporters Gavin Jackson, Russ McKinney and Maayan Schechter that will preview and capture what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse this year while lawmakers are in session.

Notebook highlights:

• SC Senate keeping $1.8 billion accounting error on the legislative tracks.
• Prefiling season is so last month. Lawmakers file a flurry of bills they hope break through before the end of the two-year session.
• SC lawmakers will consider whether to OK the use of debit cards to buy lottery tickets as revenue dips.
• Wednesday’s tiny mic freshman spotlight hails from the Lowcountry and loves “Forrest Gump.”

Quick note: Unofficial election results show Democrat Courtney Waters has won the three-way primary Tuesday night to fill the Lowcountry House District 113 seat, formerly represented by Rep. Marvin Pendarvis. Waters will run unopposed in the March general election for the Democratic-leaning seat. This is one of two vacancies in the House after now-former Rep. Will Wheeler, D-Lee, resigned last week.

SC treasurer in Senate hot seat

Treasurer Curtis Loftis has a problem. And he may eventually have 46 problems otherwise known as the SC Senate.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee met to hear from outside audit firm, AlixPartners, to learn more about the mystery/ghost/whatever you want to call it $1.8 billion accounting error. Here’s the audit in case you missed it.

Senate Budget Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, asked the outside auditors Tuesday whether, during their review, anyone ever said, ‘I’m sorry,’ or took responsibility for the problem.

“What kind of response did you receive,” Peeler asked the firm.

The auditors said the only person who appeared to show remorse was Katherine Kip, an accountant who moved from the Treasurer’s Office to the Comptroller’s and was the first to discover the initial $3.5 billion error.

Background: The whole saga stems from the embarrassing $3.5 billion accounting correction in 2023 that resulted in the resignation of then-Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom. That disclosure then led to the (public) discovery of a mysterious $1.8 billion fund without a home that state leaders were told was real money. But they decided it was probably better to make sure before sending the money to roads or refund checks. So, lawmakers spent $3 million to hire audit firm AlixPartners to figure out what the money was (or wasn’t) and how we got into this mess. And it’s a good thing they did. It turns out the money is neither real nor able to be spent— at least $1.6 billion of it was simply an accounting maneuver.

Since Eckstrom has exited the stage after intense Senate scrutiny (and a threat of impeachment), Republican Loftis, whose office held the mystery account, seems to be in the Senate’s crosshairs. Loftis has dismissed all claims that he’s at fault but he testified before a Senate committee last year that he invested the $1.8 billion and earned the state interest. Not surprisingly, Senators seem eager to obtain “further clarification” on how he was able to accomplish that feat in light of the revelation that the money doesn’t exist.

And they’ve also started asking serious questions about the state Auditor George Kennedy, who is not an elected official like Eckstrom and Loftis, but whose office has a responsibility to work with the other two to ensure public reporting of state finances is accurate.

What’s ahead: The Senate Finance Committee plans to meet next Tuesday to consider the remedial recommendations suggested by AlixPartners. Meanwhile, a Senate Judiciary panel on Tuesday approved a resolution again to ask the voters on the 2026 ballot whether the Comptroller General (the state’s chief accountant) should be changed from an elected official to a Cabinet-appointed position. It now heads to the full Judiciary Committee.

As we reported last week, the House plans to hold another hearing, likely early February, with Brian Gaines (the interim comptroller, who was appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster when Eckstrom resigned), Kennedy and Loftis. The Senate is expected to do the same.

Bills by the numbers

Prefiles get a lot of attention.

But some other bills quietly made their big debut last week.

All of the prefiled bills have been read across their respective chamber’s desks and assigned to committees. And for a majority of them, that is the most action they will ever see.

We’re talking about 650 bills in the House and 200-plus in the Senate.

On average 3,800 bills get filed during a two-year session, and on average 250 get signed into law. That’s about 7%.

For the sake of easy math, please disregard the hundreds of congratulatory resolutions that get filed and rubber stamped in their respective chamber in this hypothetical equation.  

Nevertheless, here’s a dose of what was introduced last week in the Senate that may have been lost in the hubbub.

• Senate: Two big bills we’ve heard leaders discuss and have been filed before include S. 156, which makes fentanyl-induced homicide a crime, and S. 159, which cracks down on retail theft. The chamber’s Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Danny Verdin filed S. 162, which would require that gender changes to a person’s birth certificate may only be changed from male to female or from female to male. Then there’s S. 169 that would allow debit cards for lottery ticket purchases, a move pushed by the governor and now Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree. This is seen as both a way to boost Education Lottery revenue that helps fund college scholarships and, possibly, a new K-12 private school voucher program up for debate in the Senate.

We’ll see if any of these are part of the 7% that make it.

The cost of using debit cards for Lottery tickets

Paying for refreshments at Williams-Brice Stadium or Colonial Life Arena? Bring your card because they are both cashless.

But South Carolina’s Education Lottery is card-less.

That might change this year but currently, the state forbids it.

The background: Lawmakers heard this month that the age of most lottery players is rising and the current rules leave behind a number of would-be players who don’t play because they don’t carry cash, especially younger people. Also, lottery revenue is projected to go down at a time when the Education Lottery (launched in 2002) funds most of the state’s college/university scholarships. And don’t forget, the Senate is currently debating a private school voucher bill that plans to use a significant chuck of lottery dollars.

Twenty-three states allow for the use of debit cards.

State Lottery officials told senators Tuesday that use of debit cards could raise an additional $52 million.

Will it pass: The Legislature has had a rather contentious relationship over the years with the the Lottery, gambling and video poker (we’re not going there). But plenty of lawmakers have come around to legalizing forms of sports betting, for instance, so we do anticipate there to be a solid amount of support for allowing debit card use. Gov. McMaster also included the legalization of debit card purchases in his executive budget released this month.

Daily planner (1/22)

SC House

SC Senate

*This schedule will update based on any cancellations*

Freshman spotlight: Tiny mic edition

There are a whopping 32 new lawmakers in the Legislature.

And 13 of them are in the state Senate. The House has 19.

It’s time you to get to know them, so welcome to our freshman spotlight where we introduce a new member of their respective chamber. (We edit for clarity.)

Next up: Democratic SC Sen. Ed Sutton, a 41-year-old real estate developer and Air Force pilot who represents the new Senate District 20, which covers part of Charleston County.

What’s your favorite movie? This is corny, but I used to work at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in Charleston back in college. I’ll go with Forrest Gump.

If you could have one super power, what would it be? Probably the ability to go back in time, and that way you could anticipate some things that are coming.

What has surprised you so far at the Statehouse? The judicial candidates (up for election on Feb. 5) have been a surprise. I’m not an attorney, and, so, if any judicial candidates are watching this, please stop sending me cards.

USC Gamecocks of Clemson Tigers? Gamecocks. But I’m from the Citadel (2006), so I pull for the Citadel and Gamecocks. But when they (The Citadel) play, I’m with the Bulldogs.

What is your 2025 Statehouse political prediction? We’ve got growing pains. No. 1, transportation. Charleston’s growing, the whole state’s growing, (and) housing.

Statehouse clips from around the state