What are McMaster’s priorities for SC in 2022? Here’s what to expect in his annual speech

Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday will deliver his annual State of the State speech laying out his 2022 agenda and encouraging lawmakers to act on his spending and policy priorities.

The speech, held before the South Carolina General Assembly, is the governor’s first opportunity this year to tout his accomplishments and speak directly to lawmakers and South Carolina residents ahead of his reelection campaign.

McMaster’s comments are likely to highlight the state’s favorable economic position and continued COVID-19 response, and reiterate his support for income tax cuts, education funding reform and expediting infrastructure projects across the state — all priorities of his recently released executive budget.

With about $6 billion in additional money to spend this year due to a stronger-than-expected economy, federal COVID-19 relief and the Savannah River Site settlement, McMaster has proposed enacting an ambitious spending plan.

“Today, South Carolina’s state government is in the strongest fiscal condition in memory,” he wrote earlier this month in a letter to the General Assembly. “If we take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity — by making big, bold, and transformative investments in the areas of education, infrastructure, workforce, and economic development, South Carolina will prosper for generations to come.”

The State of the State is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on SCETV and streamed on the station’s website.

Top priorities include education, ethics, tax cuts

Personal income tax cuts and teacher pay increases, two issues McMaster touched on in his State of the State last year, are likely to come up again.

McMaster continues to support reducing the state’s income tax rate for all income brackets over the course of five years, which he argues is necessary to make South Carolina competitive for jobs and capital investment. The 1 percentage point tax cut, which would be paused if the state’s revenue growth doesn’t exceed 5%, is expected to cost the state up to $1 billion once it’s fully implemented.

The governor also has called for raising the minimum starting salary for teachers to $38,000 — a $2,000 dollar increase — as part of an additional $120 million he wants to give public schools.

Education reform, generally, is expected to figure prominently in McMaster’s speech.

The governor supports overhauling the state’s education funding formula, expanding school choice through the creation of education savings accounts and enhancing transparency by requiring school districts to publish spending plans on their websites.

Along those lines, McMaster’s speech is likely to emphasize his desire to bolster accountability among elected officials and government agencies.

Earlier this month, the governor proposed doubling the budgets of the State Ethics Commission and Inspector General, and providing ethics training for all 46 county sheriffs. He also has backed legislation to expand the Inspector General’s scope and authority, including providing it with subpoena power.

McMaster’s support for long-range infrastructure projects and critical infrastructure maintenance is also likely to get a shoutout in his State of the State address.

The governor wants to put a half-billion dollars toward expediting the state Department of Transportation’s 10-year road and bridge upgrade plan — which involves repaving thousands of miles of highway and replacing hundreds of bridges — and allocate more than a billion dollars of federal COVID-19 relief to various state infrastructure projects.

Some of the bigger projects on the governor’s agenda include the modernization of rural water and sewer infrastructure, the expansion of broadband access, widening key portions of Interstate 26 between Columbia and Charleston, and breaking ground on the long-discussed Interstate 73 freeway in Myrtle Beach.

One of the remaining questions heading into Wednesday’s speech is whether McMaster will take a position on medical marijuana.

The governor has yet to say whether he’d sign a medical marijuana bill that, after stagnating for many years, appears finally to have the bipartisan legislative support necessary to pass.

He told reporters last year he opposed legalizing recreational marijuana, but said medical marijuana was “a little bit different story.” Still, the governor stopped short of endorsing the legalization of medical marijuana at the time, saying instead that he needed more information and was keeping an open mind.

State Rep. Spencer Wetmore, a Charleston attorney, will offer the Democrats’ response to the governor’s speech.

Wetmore, a former Folly Beach city administrator and prosecutor for the Charleston County Solicitor’s Office who was first elected in 2020, criticized the governor’s policies for stoking fear and division and said she would advance a different vision for South Carolina.

“It’s time we take action for the working families of South Carolina instead of paying lip service to extremist politics,” she said in a statement.