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Meet the Team: Irene Tate
January 13, 2021Governor Promotes UCC Chamber Priorities
Today marks the first day of the 124th state Legislative Session, which is the official kickoff to our UCC advocacy program in Columbia.
There are a number of major items on the General Assembly’s plate this year, which I’ll cover over the next couple of weeks. To start, the UCC and our member Chambers want to thank Governor McMaster for outlining a state budget that addresses a number of our major policy priorities.
Small Business Grants: The Governor allocated money for a new state small business grant program – a fight we initiated last spring. The General Assembly appropriated $40 million (instead of the $100 million we asked for) and it was exhausted quickly by grants to more than 2,250 businesses across our state. Thanks to Governor McMaster for understanding the deep needs of our smallest businesses during this time and directing $123 million to a new grant program for our smallest businesses. We strongly support this item.
School Funding: Increasing teacher pay to the national average was a major UCC agenda item last year. Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic stalled those plans, but we applaud the Governor for lifting the suspension of step increases for teachers and any increases in education funding during this difficult budget year.
Education and Workforce: We applaud the additional state financial aid for Pell Grant recipients for any in-state public college, as well as special allocations for our independent schools and HBCUs. It is imperative that we break down the barriers standing in the way of people getting the high-quality, skills-based credentials they need to get jobs and compete in our economy. We also thank the Governor for funding high-demand skills training. Getting skills-based certificates to those who need them will further break down barriers to employment, allow our businesses to get the workers they need to grow, and allow our state’s prosperity to be shared by all of our neighbors.
Broadband: Expanding broadband is the rural electrification of the 21st Century, and the pandemic dramatically exposed the haves and have-nots when it came to essentials such as distance learning and telemedicine. The General Assembly and the Governor took strong steps last year toward expanding access, and another $30 million to continue the efforts kicked off in 2020 will be greatly needed in expanding broadband access to everyone.
Greenville Conference Center: (A major priority for the Greenville Chamber…) A special thank you to the Governor for his support of the Greenville Cultural Arts Center – which will be housed with the new downtown conference center. The $19 million in his budget was appropriated before the COVID pandemic, and this project will give the Upstate’s hospitality community a strong shot in the arm and assistance in recovering from the pandemic downturn that has disproportionally hit the service industry. We thank him for putting this back in his budget for 2021.
We urge the General Assembly to heed the Governor’s proposals on these items and we look forward to working with the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee in making these priorities a reality in the 2021-2022 state budget.
For a copy of the governor’s executive budget, along with his letter to the General Assembly and a detailed explanation of each allocation, click here.
