Hotlist: February 2, 2026
If you stepped outside recently and asked yourself if you still live in South Carolina, you’re not alone!
The winter weather affected the Statehouse, canceling last Tuesday’s legislative session and CVSC’s Legislative Kickoff Reception (rescheduled date below), and could impact session activity again this week. In other words, utter chaos. Perhaps we’ll see the Legislature embrace virtual session or a state snowmobile fleet if this continues!
Legislative session resumed on Wednesday last week: The SC Senate continued debates on strengthening the state’s DUI laws, with debates on major income and property tax bills on the horizon, and the House was mostly focused on contentious social issues.
Meanwhile, the Governor delivered his final State of the State address on Wednesday, including clear recognition of the vital importance of conserving land and water in our state. This was echoed by the Legislature on Thursday, when House lawmakers introduced a bill with more than 50 cosponsors to set ambitious land and water protection goals and strengthen conservation coordination statewide.
Also, two major bills were introduced on Thursday: the House’s long-awaited Department of Transportation (DOT) reform bill, and another data center bill was introduced by Senator Tom Davis.
There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s dive in.
Updates
A state vision for land protection
Governor McMaster, South Carolina’s longest serving governor, delivered his final State of the State address last Wednesday, and he spent time reflecting on his conservation legacy, protecting over 400,000 acres of land, record funding for the SC Conservation Bank, and establishing the SC Floodwater Commission and the SC Office of Resilience.
The Governor also reaffirmed his vision for land and water protection in the state, saying, “Protecting our land is a gift for all our people. With insight and continued hard work, we can achieve the goal of helping private and public property owners with preserving half their lands for future generations, and making our South Carolina recognizable as the closest thing we have to heaven on earth.”
In no uncertain terms, the Governor tied the economic growth that South Carolina has seen to this emphasis on land and water protection, stating, “It is not a coincidence that previous years of economic growth have followed our efforts to conserve, preserve, and display our unique gifts of nature’s abundance.”
We also saw this vision take root in the General Assembly last week with Rep. Travis Moore’s introduction of the South Carolina Protected Lands and Conservation Coordination Act (H.5069), which officially codifies the goal of achieving McMaster’s long-term vision and will serve as a benchmark to measure our state’s progress toward the protection of 10 million acres of land and water in South Carolina. We thank Rep. Moore and the bill’s nearly 60 cosponsors for their public commitment to achieving this ambitious goal, and we look forward to their support of actionable measures to make this vision a reality.
New data center bill off to a quick start
Senator Davis introduced the Data Center Development Act (S.867) last week, and a subcommittee hearing was promptly scheduled for this Thursday. This is the fifth data center bill filed this session, clearly indicating that something must be done to ensure that everyday South Carolinians don’t have to shoulder the costs of powering these energy-intensive facilities.
While the Data Center Development Act includes effective provisions to protect customers from cost-shifting resulting from new data center development, we have concerns that it places undue emphasis on economic development while rolling back environmental reviews and permitting timelines.
We look forward to working with Senator Davis and subcommittee members to strike a fair balance and ensure that data center growth does not come at the expense of the environment.
House releases Department of Transportation reform bill
The House released its long-anticipated Department of Transportation (DOT) reform bill, (H.5071), last week, following months of off-season committee hearings that included input from CVSC and partner organizations. The legislation largely focuses on administrative reforms at DOT and clarifying the roles of state and local governments in road management.
As we continue to review the omnibus package, maintaining the integrity of environmental permitting and review remains a top priority. The bill proposes shifting responsibility for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews from the federal government to the state, a change that warrants careful consideration and proper guardrails are in place to ensure the SC DOT is equipped to undertake such a change.
The bill also impacts electric vehicle (EV) drivers through increased annual EV fees and new taxes on public charging. While it is reasonable to discuss how EV drivers contribute to road funding, we are concerned that the proposed increases may go beyond what is fair or justified.
Notably, unlike the Senate’s DOT reform bill (S.831), the House package does not include provisions requiring new development to account for its impacts on roads and other infrastructure. However, committee discussions suggest strong legislative interest in these tools, which may instead advance through standalone legislation, including CVSC’s priority Concurrent Infrastructure Requirements (CIR) (H.4050), currently pending in the House.
We look forward to working with committee members to ensure the integrity of environmental review processes, identify fair solutions for EV road funding, and advance smart land-use planning tools, such as concurrent infrastructure requirements, to reduce congestion and support sustainable growth across South Carolina.
Action Center
Here’s a round-up of current actions you can take to help us advance conservation policy during this legislative session. If you’ve already taken these actions, thank you! We’ll add more actions and provide updates as progress unfolds.
- Tell your senator to vote in favor of sustainable planning tools: TDRs
- Tell your legislators that your energy bill is too high
- Tell your legislators to make land and water protection a top priority in 2026
- Tell lawmakers: we need qualified, unbiased energy regulators
In the News
Data center regs get bipartisan traction at Statehouse | Charleston City Paper
The Legislative Hotlist is a weekly update from CVSC’s Senior Vice President of Policy & Government Relations, John Brooker. Sign up for emails to get the Hotlist delivered directly to your inbox!