House completes third readings on several bills as members praise $15 billion budget; Pace flags a change that reduced a tax cut

The South Carolina House completed third readings on multiple bills and heard extended floor remarks praising the chamber’s recent budget actions.

Mister Bannister, a House member, told colleagues the recently adopted spending package reflects "an optimistic budget" that invests in infrastructure, public employees and education. "We're making a huge investment in hard infrastructure, $1,300,000,000," he said, and described a broader package he said totals about $15,000,000,000.

The speech framed the budget as the result of long committee work and included specific allocations Bannister listed on the floor: roughly $6.2 billion in initial requests trimmed to about $2.0 billion in new spending included in the enactment; $250,000,000 in new tax relief and an additional $440,000,000 tied to recently adopted legislation; $1,300,000,000 for roads and water infrastructure; and $700,000,000 for employee compensation and education. Bannister also cited a governor-backed move to raise the minimum starting teacher salary above $50,000.

Mister Pace, who addressed the chamber during a third-reading sequence, cautioned that one provision—referred to in debate as "42 16"—changed the magnitude of a contemplated tax cut. "By conforming to the ... big beautiful bill tax cuts, it would have given us a $534,000,000 tax cut to the state," Pace said; he added that the enactment of the provision reduced that figure to about $288,000,000. Pace said he supported conformity even after the change.

Votes at a glance
- House Bill 5126: received third reading and was adopted by voice vote.
- House Bill 5127: received third reading and was adopted by voice vote.
- House Bill 3368: received third reading and was adopted by voice vote; Mister Pace spoke on the fiscal impact before the vote.

Each of the bills above was taken by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded on the floor during the session transcript.

Bannister closed by thanking committee staff, pages and support personnel for their work on the budget and asked that staff be given two days off; the presiding Speaker denied that request, citing clerical staffing needs.

The House adjourned and the Speaker announced members will not meet in statewide session next week; committees may meet. The next stated floor meeting was set for Tuesday, March 24, at noon.