McMaster’s Says “Think Big” in Final State of the State

Jessica Holdman/S.C. Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster in his final State of the State address Wednesday urged legislators to build on past efforts with more money for roads, deeper cuts to income taxes and universal full-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds, saying an excellent education for all children is essential to keep South Carolina thriving.

South Carolina’s longest-serving governor used his ninth speech to the General Assembly to celebrate the initiatives he successfully advocated for during his tenure. Those triumphs include pay raises for teachers and law enforcement, funding for police officers in every school, 400,000 acres of land conserved across the state and scholarships offering free tuition to some 120,000 South Carolinians attending the state’s technical colleges.

And four times over the hour-long speech, McMaster credited these accomplishments to his trademark three C’s: communication, collaboration and cooperation.

McMaster has been more successful than his GOP predecessors in getting the Legislature to approve his priorities because of that collaborative approach.

Still, the state cannot afford to rest on its laurels, the governor said.

“Let us continue to think big, to be bold, to embrace civility and comity through our thoughts, words, and deeds — and to urge our people, especially our young ones, to be proud of their state,” McMaster said.

“The best is yet to come,” he concluded. “I love this state and I know you do too, and that’s what drives us.”

Roads and taxes

McMaster touted the nearly $7 billion in active road projects underway across the state. He noted that’s up from $2.7 billion in 2017, when the Legislature passed a road-funding law that, among other things, raised gas taxes by 12 cents over six years.

“However, inflation is here,” McMaster cautioned. “Inflationary construction and labor costs threaten to create crippling delays and busted budgets. It’s critical that this year’s budget invest an additional $1.1 billion in new surplus money to keep them moving and on schedule.”

He pointed to rankings from U-Haul rental company showing South Carolina as the number one destination for their moving trucks and vans in 2025. And the U.S. Census Bureau this week declared that South Carolina was again the fastest-growing state in the nation last year.

“If left unaddressed, we will face future problems with water and sewer access, traffic congestion, road and bridge repair, demand for electric power generation, public safety, school overcrowding and healthcare availability and everything else,” McMaster said. “Therefore, I submit to you that the time has come — and reality requires — that we seriously assess whether our state’s infrastructure and government services will be able to catch up if this unrestrained out-of-state population growth continues at this rate.”

And when it comes to income taxes in the state, the governor called on legislators to cut rates “as fast as we can, and as often as we can.

“If the General Assembly can find a way to eliminate it altogether, I will sign it the second it arrives on my desk,” he said. “That’s a promise.”

Democrats respond

Rep. Jermaine Johnson, who gave Democrats’ response, pushed back, saying prosperity has not necessarily been felt by all South Carolinians.

“The State of our State is not what Governor McMaster described,” the Richland County Democrat said in his pre-recorded speech. “The real state of our state is what you can find at kitchen tables across South Carolina. Kitchen tables where families are deciding whether they can afford rent or groceries as prices skyrocket out of control.

“We deserve a home where our children are learning, our roads are safe to drive on, our neighborhoods feel secure, and our families can access the care they need,” added Johnson, who’s running for the Democratic nomination to replace McMaster.

He said many of the state’s recent economic development wins — new electric vehicle and battery plants — were made possible by Democratic-led federal investments. He said congressional Republicans opposed those policies “then later took credit once the jobs arrived.”

Magistrate reform

Beyond roads and taxes, McMaster also will spend his last year as governor pushing for changes to how county-level judges, called magistrates, are selected.

The judges — most of whom aren’t attorneys — handle a large caseload, from setting bonds for those arrested on minor criminal charges to evictions and foreclosures. Magistrates are technically appointed by the governor. But they’re actually chosen by their local senators, who control when and if they’re replaced.

Each county funds its own magistrates’ salaries and court facilities. This arrangement, according to McMaster, has led to pay disparities.

McMaster called for the state to start funding these judges’ salaries. And he wants them to be lawyers.

To help more rural counties where attorneys may be less prevalent, he wants the Legislature to waive requirements that magistrates live in the counties where they hear cases.

More to celebrate

Legislators gave two standing ovations — when McMaster highlighted $9.1 billion and 8,000 new jobs from companies investing in the state last year and after he shared the story of a teacher and police officers assigned to a Chester County school who prevented the abduction of a 3-year-old girl from her special needs classroom.

The governor read a letter from Sheriff Max Dorsey saying: “I will not speculate on what might have occurred in their absence, but I’m certain that their presence was the difference between tragedy and a successful rescue.”

The standing ovation followed McMaster asking Dorsey, the assigned school officers and other officers who provided back-up support that day to stand in the balcony.

In 2018, following a mass shooting at a high school in Florida, McMaster made it a priority to ensure there’s an armed school resource officer in every public school. The Legislature has put money toward that goal ever since. Funding exists for all schools this year, though 102 of the 1,283 statewide still lack an officer because of hiring difficulties.

The last person McMaster recognized in the balcony was first lady Peggy McMaster, who the governor referred to, as his voice cracked, as his “best wife, friend and counselor in the world.” They’ve been married almost 50 years.

“Stand up girl! I love you!” he said, going off script. “That’s my girl!”

The governor also urged South Carolinians to celebrate the history that shaped both the state and nation, as this year marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

“Many historical sites still need markers today, including the camp of General Francis Marion and his patriots in the Pee Dee swamps. The British could not find it, and neither can we, so far,” he said to laughter.

McMaster even told legislators he has invited the duke and duchess of Edinburgh to the Palmetto State for Carolina Day – the state’s annual commemoration of the Battle of Fort Sullivan. That battle on June 28, 1776, marked the Patriots’ first decisive win, thanks partly to Fort Sullivan’s construction of palmetto tree trunks and sand. Cannon balls bounced off the walls or embedded in the sand. It’s why South Carolina is the Palmetto State.

South Carolinians played a major role the fight for American independence, with more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought here, arguably more than any other colony.

“Many scholars rightly say the war was won here,” he said.

Again going off script, he urged South Carolinians to tell the youth of the state to be proud.

“The people of this state for hundreds of years have endured every force of nature and that man has devised and we have endured,” he said. “Don’t ever let the children, don’t ever let them forget there’s not a better place in this whole country — in this whole world — to live, work, and raise a family.”