May 3rd Weekly Update 

Sunday, May 3, 2026


Greetings Neighbors and Friends,

Week 16 Legislative Update - It's the Final Countdown!
This past week was full of many accomplishments, but also reminders of all the things we have not yet done this year, as time is running out. After a lengthy debate, including a short clarifying speech by me at the Well, we unanimously passed the SCDOT Modernization Bill in order to streamline and speed up the process of fixing our roads and bridges and building new ones. In the Senate, they passed H.3285, my bill for First Responders to be trained statewide regarding autism. And we passed S.508 out of the General Laws Subcommittee and the full Judiciary Committee to strengthen the Heritage Act to protect historic monuments in our state. Now we only have two weeks left to finish everything. I wish we had not wasted so much time throughout the year, including a slow start in January and many days where we could have stayed later. Hopefully, we will accomplish as much as humanly possible in these last two weeks.

S.831 Passes the House Unanimously
Fixing roads means fixing the system. S. 831 delivers common-sense reforms to accelerate construction through phased design-build, eliminates costly delays by cutting bureaucratic red tape, and streamlines SCDOT to create greater accountability.Among the major provisions we either passed from the Senate or amended are the following:

  1. Eliminates the SCDOT Commission so that the Department of Transportation Secretary reports directly to the Governor, with less bureaucracy by unelected board members.
  2. Shortens the NEPA (environmental review) process by about half the time since our state would be responsible for handling this entirely instead of going through both the state and Federal systems.
  3. Creates "Choice" lanes (I call them "Fast Pass" or "Express"), which will facilitate smoother traffic flow by adding a new, fee-based lane that drivers can choose to use if they want to get through traffic quicker. By using this Express Lane, it will take many cars off the regular lanes, both reducing traffic congestion and, in the long run, wear and tear on the current roads. These will be built with funds either from issuing municipal bonds or by private investors through a long-term lease, so that no taxpayer money will be used in either case.
  4. Does not authorize any new taxes or fees.
  5. Creates a new SCDOT app that, when used to report a pothole, will guarantee that the pothole is repaired within 7 days. More details to come later on whether this will apply to other issues out on the roads.
    

At the beginning of the debate, it looked like there would be at least 180 amendments, which could have meant that deliberations would take well into the night. Weeks before this came to the floor, several of my constituents shared ideas with me that came from other Members, including 3 bills that were submitted earlier as well as 7 major talking points. I passed all of these on to Chairlady Shannon Erickson and asked her to see if there was a way to incorporate these into the bill. She worked with Chairlady Heather Crawford and Chairman Bruce Bannister of Ways & Means, and they were able to work a lot of these changes into the bill that was presented on Wednesday. There was also a lot of feedback directly from Members through our Caucus meetings. Despite all this, there were still at least 60 amendments remaining and speeches at the Well regarding confusion about the financing part of the "Choice Lanes." I asked to speak on the bill and was able to clarify a lot of the questions on this topic as well as to explain about the advance communication that had occurred regarding many of the amendments. Ultimately, most of the amendments were pulled down, and we were able to work together to pass this bill unanimously.

H.3285 First Responder Training Regarding Autism Passes the Senate Unanimously
I am thrilled to share that my bill to require training of First Responders in South Carolina for encounters with persons with autism passed the Senate on Wednesday! The third reading was on Thursday, and now it goes to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. This new law will make it so much safer for families with a member on the spectrum to venture out in public or deal with encounters during any kind of emergency. Thank you to Layla Luna, Sharon Twaddell, and other members of Just Bee for bringing this critical need to my attention. Many thanks also to Sheriff Carl Ritchie of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office for introducing me to Layla. Along with the Just Bee license plate we passed two years ago, we finally have concrete tools to help families in our state with these concerns.

S.52 DUI Reform Passes the House with Amendments

South Carolina has had the worst DUI record in the nation, with more fatalities per capita than any other state. In a 2024 study, 43% of fatal accidents in our state were attributed to driving under the influence. The Senate had passed its bill, which the House felt needed a lot of work. After a lengthy debate, we were able to pass this bill out of the House unanimously to be sent back to the Senate. The bill includes tougher penalties for repeat offenders, expanded offenses related to reckless driving resulting in bodily injury, sentence enhancement under child endangerment laws, longer suspension periods for persons refusing blood alcohol testing, improved video recording for traffic stops and blood alcohol testing protocols, educational initiatives, and more.

H.4641 Kratom Synthetics Ban Passes the House
Building on last year's bill that banned Kratom products for anyone under 21, the House passed a bill this week to label all synthetic or alkaloid derivative products as Schedule 1, the same rating as for heroin, cocaine, and other dangerous drugs. The natural Kratom leaf will continue to be allowed for those 21 and older for now, as the FDA is still actively working to study the effects of this. Used for many centuries in Southeast Asia for its pain-relieving and relaxing traits, natural leaf Kratom, which is usually made into a tea or other drink, has not been studied enough in our country to verify whether it is safe. What we know for sure is that the synthetic versions, such as 7-OH, are absolutely harmful and are as addictive as opioids or worse. Also, the withdrawal effects coming off of this addiction have been compared to withdrawal from heroin. Since Dr. Marty Makary, FDA Director, is currently having the natural leaf Kratom studied and has recognized that there may be beneficial medical uses, we did not want to add this to Schedule I, which would make it ineligible for even studying it here in South Carolina.

Around the District and the Lowcountry
Many of our residents and visitors alike were disappointed yesterday when the weather caused the cancellation of the Blue Angels Airshow over Charleston Harbor. We desperately needed the rain, but it sure would have been nice if it had come a bit earlier in the week so the show could go on. My office overlooks Charleston Harbor, so I was able to take some videos of the Blue Angels practicing on Thursday. Then on Friday, my son Joseph, who is my younger partner at work, took more videos and caught some other great action in the sky over the Harbor and the Ravenel Bridge. I hope you can enjoy what was supposed to be our "sneak preview" and has turned out to be all that we will see for a while here in Charleston.Please keep us in your prayers as we strive to complete as much work as possible for you in the final weeks of Session. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to represent you and to keep you informed about the work being done in Columbia. I welcome your feedback and encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or would like more information on these or other issues before the General Assembly. Please share this email newsletter with friends and neighbors who may want to be kept up-to-date on what we are doing in Columbia.