By Andy Brack
About this time every year, the South Carolina General Assembly has been in session long enough to figure out the craziness trajectory of the year.
On a scale of 1 (not crazy) to 10 (nutso), this year is probably a 7. But lawmakers still have three months left to startle, amaze and polarize us.
Right off the bat is the Republican obsession with diversity, equity and inclusion, which they minimize by using yet another acronym, DEI. For some reason, creating opportunities for all and treating people fairly has become an anathema to the mostly-white, Christian nationalist Republican party.
Making headlines these days is a bill that would prohibit state agencies, including colleges and universities, from “promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.” And while that may sound ominous but not horrible, it is, in fact, Orwellian in that it would keep all government bodies in the state, including city councils and school districts, from “contracting with any company with DEI programs. Even the subcontractors would have to certify they don’t operate such programs,” according to one analysis.
What’s really crazy is to think about what that actually means – state agencies that work to bring big companies to the state couldn’t actually do business with those companies if they have DEI policies. And state and local governments also couldn’t do business with existing in-state powerhouses like BMW, Michelin, Milliken and Bosch. Although more than 70 of the House’s 88 Republicans are co-sponsors, the bill’s trajectory is unclear as a House committee took no action on March 4 after five hours of testimony that mostly opposed the measure. Perhaps something less onerous will result.
Meanwhile the House continued its annual tradition of trying to outdo itself on abortion. Some GOP lawmakers are pushing now for what amounts to a total abortion ban, without exceptions for rape and incest – even though leaders of the Republican caucus are asking them to slow down and wait to see what courts say about the constitutionality of a similar measure under consideration.
If you’re trying to understand what’s going on, the argument highlights a schism in the GOP in which uber-conservatives are looking for ways to tar and feather more moderate Republicans to get culture war votes to pillory fellow caucus members on the 2026 campaign trail.
Next on the legislative list is the continuing plea by bars and restaurants for lawmakers to do something about the skyrocketing cost of liquor liability insurance that is putting some of them out of business.
State senators, who have been fiddling unsuccessfully with solutions for a couple of years, are considering one broad measure that would “reform” the state’s tort system – even though they’ve messed with that for two decades to take away regular people’s rights to recover in myriad ways.
But that measure may be on life support, the S.C. Daily Gazette reports, because it deals with too many issues. The S.C. House last week approved a narrower measure focused on places that serve alcohol. GOP House leaders also said they’d form a study committee to deal with the bigger issues – a signal that they’ll fight over the scope of any big bill from the Senate.
As conservative officials in Washington mess with the scope of government by fiddling with everything from national parks and foreign aid to tariffs that are expected to make things cost more, be on the lookout for Columbia lawmakers to govern in the same spirit. Already being discussed are so-called government efficiency measures, an anti-vaccine mandate, reshaping charter school guidelines, book bans and more.
Meanwhile, protests are picking up – with more than 500 people gathering in early March in Charleston to rail against harsh federal proposals and scores more who lined up to attend an abortion bill hearing in Columbia.
Maybe the GOP in South Carolina soon will start remembering its own wails and moans from a generation ago when conservatives thought less government intrusion in people’s lives was better. Wouldn’t that be radical?
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
