A Conservative, Responsible Budget for South Carolina:

This week, I stood with House Republican Caucus members to pass a balanced, fiscally conservative budget—one that cuts taxes, eliminates waste, and invests in the priorities that matter most to South Carolina families. While Washington, D.C. continues to spend recklessly, we do things differently in South Carolina. We don’t spend money we don’t have, and we prioritize the taxpayers who fund this government—not bureaucrats and special interests. This budget isn’t about growing government—it’s about making government work better. Contrary to what you may be hearing from some social media outlets or in wasteful, lying texts that have been sent out, this budget cuts our income tax rate and returns substantial property taxes, even as our population has grown 6.59%* in the past 4 years, which is an increase of 346,582 residents. If you have ever asked me or wondered why I am not a member of the SC Freedom Caucus, this week was a clear demonstration of my answer. I did not run for office to waste your time, your money, or make a mockery of the process of carefully vetting and debating important policy decisions with lots of public input. I ran for office to serve my fellow South Carolinians by solving as many problems as possible with responsible, common-sense decision making. If I had voted for any of the amendments that were brought at the last minute without any vetting through the committee process, they could have caused many unintended consequences. That is simply reckless. Grandstanding and attention-getting stunts are not equivalent to serving the public.

During the debate, some misleading claims were made, suggesting this budget is “growing government.” That’s simply not true.

 

What’s Really Growing is South Carolina Itself:

📈 Fastest-growing state in the country.

🏭 $52.8 billion in new capital investments.

👷 121,000 new jobs in the last decade.

 

Our state is booming because of conservative leadership and responsible budgeting—and we are committed to keeping it that way. Unlike Washington, this budget is balanced. We didn’t pass phony tax cuts with reckless spending reductions that would bankrupt our state. Instead, we kept our promise to responsibly return money to hardworking families while funding the core services South Carolinians rely on. I’m proud to stand behind this budget and the real, tangible benefits it delivers.

 

House Majority Leader Davey Hiott made it clear: “South Carolina deserves better than the misleading claims we’re hearing. This budget is conservative, responsible, and keeps our commitment to the taxpayers.”

For years, we’ve worked to lower taxes, and this budget delivers over $1 billion in tax relief—including income tax cuts and property tax reimbursements.

 

💵 $200 million in income tax relief—SC families are paying 14% less in income taxes than just three years ago!

🏠 $800 million in property tax relief—keeping homeownership affordable.

 

This isn’t just rhetoric—this is real money staying in your pocket.

 

Beyond tax relief, this budget makes smart, targeted investments to strengthen South Carolina’s economy, infrastructure, and workforce.

 

• $1,500 teacher salary increase—putting SC above the Southeastern average.

• $50 million for tuition mitigation—keeping college tuition from increasing for in-state students. On this subject, I will add that we should be working with our state colleges, universities, and technical schools to do a better job of keeping their own costs down. Purdue University, under the leadership of President Mitch Daniels, former Governor of Indiana, demonstrated for 10 years from 2013 to 2023 that tuition freezes were possible without taxpayer funds to mitigate the rates. I brought this point up on the floor, and will work to get our higher education institutions to look at various places where cuts can be instituted, D.O.G.E. style immediately. Our bill to ban DEI spending at institutions of higher learning is one step in this direction, and it will be coming to the House floor very soon as it has already been passed by the Education and Public Works Committee.

• $342 million in scholarships—for LIFE, HOPE, Palmetto Fellows, and tuition assistance.

 

🚔 Public Safety & Law Enforcement:

• $6.3 million for law enforcement pay increases—helping recruit and retain officers.

• $3.7 million for school resource officers—keeping students safe.

• $7.5 million for cell phone interdiction at state prisons—cracking down on criminal activity behind bars.

 

🚧 Infrastructure & Economic Development:

• $200 million for roads and bridges—fixing South Carolina’s most critical infrastructure needs. Having served on the Education & Public Works Committee for two years during my last term, I can tell you firsthand that we asked SCDOT many times if providing even more funding immediately would fix our roads faster. They repeatedly insisted that they are working as fast as they can, and could not use even more funding right now if they had it due to manpower issues. I am not in a position to question whether this is 100% correct or not, but it came directly from the source. Members of the Republican Party who are Freedom Caucus members keep saying we should be providing more funds to SCDOT; yet, some of these same people served with me on that committee when we were told the above information. They clearly do not want to believe this, or just need more fuel for future campaigns.

• $20 million for water & sewer projects—ensuring access to clean water in rural areas.

• $81 million in site readiness funding—bringing more businesses and jobs to South Carolina.

The Truth About the SC Freedom Caucus’ “Alternative Budget” Gimmick:

The SC Freedom Caucus wants you to believe they had a responsible budget plan, but the reality is—they didn’t even come close. At first, they claimed they could eliminate the state income tax entirely by cutting $9 billion from the budget. When they realized that was impossible and reckless, they changed their tune, saying they would present an “alternate budget” and cut $1 billion instead. Here’s the truth:

 

👉 No one has ever seen their so-called “alternate budget.” It was never written, never released, and never debated in any forum allowing public input, nor vetting by other members of the House.

👉 When it came time to offer real cuts, they proposed less than $100 million in amendments—not even 10% of what they claimed they would cut. At one point they literally proposed that we cut $0.10 from one state agency. Yes…one dime…10 cents. This gimmick backfired on them, yet a Texas-based PAC sent terrible, lying texts out to many of you in my District as well as throughout the State that House Republicans were unwilling to vote to cut even 10 cents out of the budget. The cost of bringing this Amendment to the floor, including the paper, legal and administrative staff effort, and time debating was considerably more than 10 cents. It was literally a "gotcha" amendment, like so many of the others, just to be able to have a campaign talking point.

👉 Their plan would have left a $900 million hole—with no way to pay for it except deep cuts to public safety, education, and infrastructure.

 

That’s not fiscal conservatism—that’s Washington-style gimmicks and pure recklessness.

 

● They love to talk about cutting taxes, but when we passed over $1 billion in tax relief in this budget, they still voted against it.

● They say they want transparency, but they voted against funding ETV, the service that allows South Carolinians to watch what happens in the State House.

● They say they support law enforcement, but they voted against funding officer pay raises and school resource officers that keep kids safe.

 

They’re not interested in solutions—they’re interested in stunts.

 

Let’s talk about who they’re really working with. This week, SC Freedom Caucus members were caught in the State House lobby huddled with Dan from the American Action Fund—the same out-of-state group that is now attacking House Republican Caucus members with false claims. They are working hand-in-hand to mislead voters because they can’t defend their antics, their failures, or their political games. And now, they’re trying to smear conservative Republicans with absurd lies—saying this budget funds obscene materials in libraries, DEI training, climate alarmism, and vaccine mandates. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you received one of their texts, please know that every single claim was a complete lie, and if needed, I could easily provide the details to prove it. Thanks to this text, I am more determined than ever to see if it is possible to bring a campaign reform bill that still protects free speech, but punishes outright lies by political activists. This madness must stop, because it not only wastes a tremendous amount of time and money, it also confuses and misleads voters.

“Some folks want to call this budget ‘full of crap.’ Well, law enforcement is not crap to me. Our school teachers are not crap to me. Our disabled and special needs kids are not crap to me. Our children in DSS custody are not crap to me. Our students in public schools are not crap to me. Our blind and disabled kids are not crap to me. The hardworking taxpayers of South Carolina are not crap to me.”

 

House Republican Caucus members aren’t here for political theater—we’re here to govern responsibly. I proudly voted for a balanced, conservative budget that delivers tax relief, invests in priorities that matter, and ensures South Carolina remains strong. The SC Freedom Caucus can keep playing games—but we’re here to deliver results.

This budget delivers real, conservative results. It provides tax relief, makes smart investments, and keeps spending in check. I’m proud of what we accomplished this week, and I’ll keep fighting for South Carolina’s hardworking families, small businesses, and future generations. As a hint of exciting things to come, the House Republican Caucus has been working hard with Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. We will be making some very noteworthy announcements in the near future. Had the members of the Freedom Caucus attended the House Republican Caucus meetings, they would already know about this and we could likely have saved hours and hours of taxpayer time and money this week. I look forward to continuing to bring positive, common sense solutions to the people of South Carolina and all of you whom I serve.

Although we are on Furlough for the next week, the House Efficiency and Legislative Oversight Committee, of which I am a member, will be holding a meeting as a Public Hearing on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30PM. The purpose is to hear public input regarding 7 different State Agencies. From the agenda, here is the objective: "Opportunity for public input about the South Carolina Conservation Bank; South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce; South Carolina Tuition Grants Commission; South Carolina Department of Education; South Carolina Department of Insurance; South Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation; South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division; and South Carolina Administrative Law Court." If anyone knows about these agencies and would like to make comments regarding cost-cutting, efficiencies, or any other relevant topic, please come to the meeting and sign up to speak. 

MEETING PROTOCOL: To provide testimony, you must register in advance no later than 9:00 a.m. on March

19, 2025. Please plan to limit comments to three to five minutes.

• Call the Government Efficiency and Legislative Oversight Committee at 803-212-6810 or email the

Committee at hcommlegov@schouse.gov to register to provide testimony.

• Click here for general information about providing testimony to the Committee.

This has been a long newsletter, so I just want to highlight one vital issue facing Mount Pleasant. Early voting for the Special Election to fill Sheriff Ritchie's former seat on Town Council has started. You can vote early between now and next Friday, March 21st at the Charleston County Board of Elections Headquarters, 4340 Corporate Road, North Charleston. Election Day is Tuesday, March 25th at your regular polling location. Please, please go out and vote! The current balance of members of Council who typically vote conservative vs. not so much is 4-4. While some would like us to believe that Town Council is non-partisan, we have seen repeatedly that nothing is non-partisan. The pandemic era proved that clearly, but also issues like taxes, property rights, business owners' rights, and many other matters still come down to whether you believe that government should dictate everything we do or not. Carl Ritchie was the 5th conservative vote for the last 3 1/2 years, and I was the 5th conservative vote before that. Additionally, Carl was the only Council Member living in the 41 corridor, or even north of the IOP Connector representing the area-specific interests of nearly half the population of Mount Pleasant. For two years, I was the only one on Council living in this area before Councilman Ritchie's term. While many decisions affect all of Mount Pleasant, over and over again we have seen the area north of the Connector be ignored or left behind regarding many important decisions. This area comprises nearly 50,000 people, yet there is not a single true conservative voice on Council who experiences the day-to-day issues we face on this end of town. Please consider this carefully when voting, and please go vote and bring 10 of your neighbors and friends to the polls with you.