State Budget passes House, Senate budget moving along in subcommittees

The House passed the $13.2 billion state budget Wednesday after two full days of floor debate and our budget priorities remain largely intact. As expected, we’re seeing a leaner year compared to the past few years, primarily due to the end of federal COVID-related funding, but have been impressed with the continued prioritization of land conservation and resilience dollars. Read here for a refresher on how all state agency conservation budgets work in tandem to ensure state, federal, and private dollars are maximized to protect important habitat, flood-prone areas, and other critical conservation lands.

We hope to see these commitments honored as the Senate continues its budget subcommittee work. Last week, the Conservation Bank presented a well-received budget request to the Senate Finance Natural Resource and Economic Development subcommittee, and the new Department of Environmental Services presented their budget to the Health and Human Services subcommittee.

Delay on NPDES Sign Bill

Last Wednesday, the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee hearing to consider the NPDES Sign bill (S.999) was well-attended by people who use our waterways to fish, paddle, and recreate. Much of the hearing was used to hear from an opponent of the bill who made the argument that requiring a NPDES permit holder to place a sign next to their outfall would place undue burden on industries and was duplicative of publicly accessible information about NPDES permit locations on the SC Watershed Atlas. While I am a supporter and user of the SC Watershed Atlas, and Upstate Forever uses it for much of our Clean Water program work, it does require a good deal of training to use and cannot be used without an internet connection.

The bill was carried over after the clock ran out, and we expect another Subcommittee hearing to be scheduled soon. Ultimately, we hope that the Subcommittee will continue to accept comments from water users and individual members of the permitted community that demonstrate that this bill is a low-cost, simple mechanism for public notice without creating significant regulatory hoops.

Energy bill conversations heating up

The House LCI Public Utilities Subcommittee will convene on Tuesday to consider what we expect to be substantial changes to the Ten-Year Energy Transformation Act (H.5118). Adding to the heightened state of affairs, this article from the Post and Courier reported last week that a Commissioner for the SC Public Service Commission, Tom Ervin, announced his resignation in response to the bill and the changes expected to restrict the PSC from conducting its duties responsibly. We will keep you up to date on the development of this bill. Remember, you can still talk to your legislator about this bill and convey to them the importance of public input and adequate review for energy projects.

You can read more about this bill here and reach out to your legislator here.