Senator Tom Davis

September 5, 2024

Tom Davis, South Carolina District-46 State Senator, was our September General Member Meeting speaker. This was his 8th appearance before us. Sen. Davis has been continuously serving in the SC Senate since first being elected in 2009. He currently serves on the following committees:

  • Banking & Insurance
  • Finance
  • Fish, Game & Forestry
  • Labor, Commerce & Industry (Chairman)
  • Legislative Oversight
  • Medical Affairs.

Sen. Davis began his talk by sharing that he had recently moved to Bluffton – putting him closer to GIC members.

Education

Sen. Davis said former Superintendent of SC Schools, Barbara Nielsen, had recently passed away and went on to share all that she had meant to him and to the state. That led to a discussion of our state’s schools. SC spends at parity with the national average per student yet, we are the 49th state in education outcomes. Tom believes three things are necessary for SC to improve its schools:

  1. Competition: The state should give parents the ability to shop school alternatives. Sen. Davis believes in all things, competition breeds improvement. He also stated that you can’t keep throwing money at schools that don’t perform – it doesn’t solve the problem.
  2. Increase teacher salaries: He wants to be above the national average for teacher pay.
  3. Improve the classroom experience: Create environments where teachers are given the support they need to control behavior in their classrooms without fear of reprisal from students, the administration, the community and parents.
Energy

Sen. Davis is the Republican floor leader for Energy. He stated that SC has a critical capacity problem which recently resulted in having to turn away two major corporations that the Commerce Dept. had recruited because we could not provide enough power. This is especially true for data center businesses that are heavy power users.

Current sources of power in SC are:

  • Nuclear/50%
  • Coal/35% (inefficient & polluting – goal is to phase out coal plants tied to new-generation power sources)
  • Natural Gas/10%
  • Renewables/5% (solar, wind, biofuels)

Sen. Davis does not believe renewable energy sources are ready and scalable to tackle demand. He believes the solutions are “next generation” nuclear in the form of small, modular reactors (this technology is about 10 years out) and natural gas – he stated natural gas is, unequivocally, the short-term solution.

SC has three energy companies that have monopolies in the state by defined territory.

  • Dominion
  • Santee Cooper
  • Duke

All of these suppliers get a guaranteed rate of return on capital investments from the state. However, there is presently a reluctance on the part of these entities to make capital investments because they only get the GRR after the investment is generating energy. There is currently no state compensation during the construction process due to a law made necessary after the “Nukegate” debacle of 2017 involving SCE&G and Santee Cooper where two nuclear reactor construction projects were abandoned after the state had committed nine billion ratepayer dollars to these projects (“South Carolina spent $9 Billion to dig a hole in the ground and then fill it back in” The Intercept 2/6/2019). Sen. Davis said he and other leaders are working to glean best practices from other states in an effort to find a compensation solution that incentivizes investments in new energy production infrastructure in a way that also ensures ratepayers that expenditures will deliver guaranteed energy.

Sen. Davis went onto say that the state’s permitting process is too long which costs projects time and money. He and other State House leaders are working on how to expedite permitting timelines while also protecting people and the environment.

Healthcare

Sen. Davis is the Senate floor leader for Healthcare and Medical Affairs. He shared that per state law not all medical professionals are “allowed” to practice to the full scope of their competencies. One example is the requirement that Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants practice no further than 45 miles from their supervising M.D. Given the often rural nature of this state and the access technology offers to link NPs and PAs with their DRs – the law has now done away with the 45 mile distance restriction.

Sen. Davis also shared that SC is one of the states that voted not to expand Medicaid. All were “Red States” using this issue to make a point about Federal Government spending. However, now, most of these states have changed their position and have voted to expand Medicaid (as authorized by the Affordable Care Act). We are now one of the few states standing on principle and passing on hundreds of millions of dollars as a result. He said we need to have a vigorous debate on the issue of Medicaid expansion. He went onto to say he believes “we are slouching toward a single-payer system, like England” which he said, “would be a disaster.”

Development & Greenspace

Sen. Davis conducted a detailed survey amongst Hilton Head Plantation and Sun City residents. The #1 concern both communities expressed is regarding over-development and how it will impact their quality of life and the environment. He shared that he got a greenspace law passed in 2022 – a penny sales tax to raise $100MM over 2 years to purchase and preserve land from being developed. 35% of this tax burden is paid by tourists. An example of this program in action is a 26 acre tract near Mitchellville which is soon to be purchased with some of these funds. This tract had been slated to be a large development.

Meanwhile though, it is likely that, if left unchecked, we could see the number of “rooftops” in our region double which would be extremely expensive in terms of roads, schools, bridges, police, fire, etc. all of which would require property taxes to increase. Not all growth is good. Hence the case for supporting sales tax levies to help fund greenspace preservation.

Roads & Bridges

I-95 exit #8 project is ready to go except the contractor price has gone up precipitously due to demand across the country for infrastructure construction. The State is trying to find “lower cost companies” to execute this and other projects in the pipeline. Tom continues to work to get an equitable share of infrastructure monies allocated to this region.

The I-278/Bridge project has a $180MM shortfall. Sen. Davis is working to try to get more from SIV, DOT, the County and Federal governments. We will need more local $ for this project – which is why we must all vote for the penny sales tax referendum. If the referendum were to fail, we will see property tax millage increases and issuing of bonds – which would negatively impact property owners.

30% of the Bridge project has been engineered. More changes are possible and probable before the plan will be finalized. The public and the Town need to stay engaged in the process. The Town’s Memorandum of Agreement needs to be signed and delivered to the County and the Town’s list needs to get to DOT to get our ideas and desires folded-in to the project.

Tourism

The survey Sen. Davis conducted in Hilton Head Plantation raised strong concerns about rampant tourism and how it impacts residents’ quality of life. Sen Davis said his goal is to increase tourist quality over quantity. He is working with the Chamber and the Town on mitigation solutions and to learn how other towns have successfully dealt with this issue. One solution under consideration is to decrease the number of motorist day-trippers who provide no economic value, but who use Town amenities. One way to decrease day-trippers is to make parking at/near our beaches permit-only and charge higher fees for use of public amenities by non-residents.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Congress had for many years appropriated funds to FEMA to keep policy rates affordable. Those days are over. Too many claims broke the system. Now FEMA flood insurance “costs what it actually costs” which will be onerous to many. Sen. Davis says we need to make homes more storm-resistant and increase funding to Safe Home. He also shared that the state is considering an investment vehicle akin to an IRA that would allow for tax-free investing to use to pay for insurance.

As to homeowner’s policies, FL, GA and NC have much higher losses than we (SC) do. Yet, insurance companies lump SC in with FL, GA and NC as a region when setting rates and determining insurability. Tom is working on a bill to require insurance companies to consider SC separately.