South Carolina lawmakers ponder McMaster’s cuts, legislative district revamps

(The Center Square) – South Carolina lawmakers are meeting in Columbia through Wednesday to sift through 226 line-item vetoes issued by Gov. Henry McMaster that trim $152.5 million from the state’s $30 billion fiscal year 2022 budget.

If lawmakers choose to override any of McMaster’s vetoes, they would have do so in a two-thirds vote by the House and Senate before the budget goes into effect Thursday.

The urgency in the session is vetting McMaster’s cuts, all from a four-page members’ request list of project funding “earmarks” within the budget appropriations bill, House Bill 4100, which outlines $10.7 billion in state revenue spending.

A host of resolutions were introduced and approved on the House floor and three bills related to the upcoming post-census reapportionment of congressional, state house and state senate districts were introduced Tuesday morning.

There are nearly 5.12 million people living in South Carolina, about 11% more than a decade ago but not enough growth for the Palmetto State to add an eighth U.S. House seat until at least the 2030s, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Gov. Henry McMaster has joined 14 other Republican governors in urging the U.S. Census Bureau to expedite the release of final census data needed to begin reapportionment.

The release of the data has been delayed by the pandemic, but the governors say time is of the essence. If the data isn’t provided soon, they argue, it will jeopardize finishing the process in time for the 2022 elections.

In a June 22 letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, McMaster and the other governors wrote the delayed release of the 2020 population counts are putting them “in a nearly impossible situation to redraw lines prior to the 2022 election cycle.”

There had been a consensus among House Republicans, who dominate the South Carolina Legislature, that they would return to Columbia in the fall to reset the seven Congressional, 46 state Senate and 124 state House districts.

That may still be what happens, but two bills two begin the reapportionment process were introduced Tuesday, secured first reading approval and were referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 4492 and House Bill 4493 were co-filed by House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, and Rep. Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester, and set the procedural foundations for revising the state’s seven congressional districts.

House Bill 4495 was introduced and read but not referred to a committee as of late Tuesday. The bill was filed by three Lancaster County Democrats – Reps. Brandon Newton, Sandy McGarry and Richie Yow – and seeks to update the designation of five voting precincts in a legislative district.

Critics say South Carolina’s district apportionment system essentially allows the state Legislature to “choose their own electorate” instead of an electorate choosing its representatives.

In a 2018 Winthrop Poll, two-thirds of South Carolinians said state legislators should not draw their district’s political boundaries and, instead, an independent body should draw voting districts for U.S. House and state legislative districts.

Four of five in the poll said districts should be drawn based on an area’s natural community, no matter which political party an area’s residents tend to vote for.

House Bill 4229, the proposed South Carolina Fairness, Accountability, and Integrity in Redistricting (FAIR) Act, was introduced by eight Democratic co-sponsors during the 2021 session.

The bill and its Senate companion, Senate Bill 750, called for creating an independent board to orchestrate redistricting but neither were heard before committees.

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