New in the ProTruth blog today: www.protruthsc.org/monuments

What are Budget Provisos? South Carolina uses "temporary" budget amendments to create lasting policy without a transparent process.

The House has already filed a draft budget, which the Senate is debating this week. And legislators are already trying to file sweeping changes to education policy under “one-year” budget amendments. 1/2

Next hearing on the bill:
Tuesday, March 17, 2026 3:00 p.m. 105 Gressette. Contact your senator:
scstatehouse.gov/
legislatorssearch.php

Please contact your SC Senator and urge them to reject this bill, or any legislation which requires whitewashing our history.

First of a series of slides on S. 508. The slides feature examples of monuments in SC that could use context. Under the bill, organizations other than the state legislature will not be able to add additional context.

Senate Bill 508 will be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17, 2026 3:00 p.m. in Room 105 of the Gressette Building). The bill prohibits any updates, including updates to improve the historical accuracy, to historical monuments. 1/

Hembree: “We asked the Department for solutions in January.” He says the Department declined. 17/

Massey: “If you receive a [voucher] scholarship, you don’t have to go to school. 16/

SC Senators Question Superintendent Ellen Weaver YouTube video by ProTruth South Carolina

A Senator calls the current situation a “misunderstanding,” but it’s important to note that Senators who have grilled Superintendent Weaver do not see it this way. 15/

youtu.be/eWpBr3d44ho?...

Hembree says Palmetto Promise (the pro-voucher think tank once headed by Superintendent Weaver) was presenting “option 4” homeschool funding but that the Department under Weaver is now using the term “unbundling” to distance themselves from “option 4”. 14/

Hembree says about 1,200 students currently funded by the state voucher bill are homeschooled. 13/

The committee is now moving to S. 692, the school voucher bill. At the end of discussing the “bathroom bill,” a large group including several “Moms for Liberty” shirts immediately left the rooms 10/

Currently S. 692 includes language *intended* to clearly exclude homeschoolers. Many, including Sen. Massey, have voiced concerns that there may still be loopholes allowing SCDE to use state voucher funds for homeschoolers. 12/

Sen. Hembree says he was surprised to find out over the summer that the SC Department of Education was using school voucher funds for homeschool students. “That’s when the conflict started, or, the disagreement over the nature of the bill. 11/

The committee is now moving to S. 692, the school voucher bill. At the end of discussing the “bathroom bill,” a large group including several “Moms for Liberty” shirts immediately left the rooms 10/

The committee voted to move the bill forward as amended with a favorable reading (it seems as if only Hutto vote “NO”). 9/

Hutto points out that the best way to ensure everyone is “comfortable” would be to require facilities that do so (instead of *restricting* transgender and nonbinary people from facilities). More on the harms of “bathroom bills” on our website: irp.cdn-website.com/88a58afd/fil...
8/

Hutto moves to delete the cause of action. Senator Cash argues the cause of action should remain. Senator Hembree agrees the requirements on districts and higher education could be “mighty difficult to enforce,” citing a Clemson game as an example. 7/

Hutto points to the impossibility of districts enforcing the bill’s definitions of “Male” and “Female” in the context of restrooms. 6/

Hutto is concerned that there is no limit on attorney’s fees paid out by school districts if students use the “wrong” restroom under the bill. He says he asked an out-of-state group which files these suits what they generally charge; the representative of the group didn’t know. 5/

Of course none of these moves will prevent this legislation from sending a harmful message to SC’s LGBTQ+ citizens and students. 4/

Senator Massey indicates that the *Board of Education* should determine penalties for schools, instead of the Department, because the Board will “follow the law”. 3/

Senator Hutto suggests amending the bill to *require* single-user restrooms to accommodate all people. 2/

Current discussion is centering on the need for “single user” facilities if the bill goes into effect and prevents many people from having appropriate restrooms and changing rooms. 1/

The Senate Education Committee is currently debating amendments to the anti-LGBTQ+ “bathroom bill” H. 4756. 1/

This is especially troubling since budget provisos usually do not receive public comment or significant debate. 4/4

Provisos are supposed to be temporary budget laws that last only a year; in reality, most of SC’s state-level censorship and controversial education rules have been added as budget provisos. Many are then copied and pasted into the new budget each year. 3/4

The process is complex, but please consider contacting your House members to urge them to oppose using budget provisos to defund schools and libraries, to promote censorship, to discriminate against students, or to make decisions about curricula. 2/4

This flowchart shows the process by which an SC budget bill is drafted and becomes law. A PDF is available at this link: https://irp.cdn-website.com/88a58afd/files/uploaded/Budget+Graphic+%281%29.pdf

This week (starting Tuesday, March 10) the first budget deliberations will be held on the floor of the SC House. The graphic below is also available as a PDF under the “Resources” tab at ProTruthSC.org (link in bio). 1/4

Zooming Out

Check out our latest blog post: www.protruthsc.org/zooming-out

📣 URGENT ASKS for a busy week ahead.
✍️ Write the committee: bit.ly/4lcUcBr
☎️ Use our call script and phone list to call: bit.ly/3OUBnab
❗️ If you get a response via email or get someone on the phone, forward it/tell us via email at info@southcarolinaunited.org