View From the Dome: $10M in CARES Money Remains to be Committed to Expand Broadband

Friday, Oct. 9, 2020

Several court decisions impact the November elections and federal CARES Act funds.

The Joint Bond Review Committee (JBRC) received an update on the expansion of broadband in South Carolina.

JOINT BOND REVIEW COMMITTEE

The Joint Bond Review Committee (JBRC) met on Tuesday. The JBRC is comprised of Senate and House members and is authorized to approve various capital projects. The committee approved a number of capital improvement projects and several leases for state agencies.

The committee also heard a report from the Broadband Oversight Subcommittee. This subcommittee was recently created to begin assessing federal CARES Act funds to expand broadband access in rural areas. Nanette S. Edwards, Executive Director of the SC Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS), which oversees broadband regulation, gave an update on hotspot procurement and distribution and progress on connecting students to broadband where possible for online learning. She noted the state is spending $1.5 million monthly for the service. Edwards also reported ORS continues working with a contractor on the state’s broadband mapping project and said vendors have until Oct. 16 to comply with the survey. She said they estimate that they have over $10 million in broadband deployment funds that remain uncommitted and must be spent by Dec. 31.

JBRC Chairman Senator Hugh Leatherman (R-Florence) told Edwards he did not want the state to leave any federal funds unspent and urged ORS to work closely with broadband providers to utilize all available funds. A 50/50 match is required of broadband providers to expand service areas.

The committee will meet again Dec. 1. The video archive of the meeting is here.

CARES ACT AUTHORIZATION

The South Carolina Supreme Court struck down Gov. Henry McMaster’s SAFE grants program on Wednesday. It would have allowed funds the state received from the federal CARES Act to assist with tuition costs at private schools.

In the unanimous ruling, the court stated that Gov. McMaster’s allocation of millions of dollars to support the SAFE grants program constitutes the use of public funds for the direct benefit of private education institutions, which is prohibited by the South Carolina Constitution. The program would have allocated $32 million in funds to private school tuition in the form of grants paid to families to help offset tuition for private and parochial schools for low-income families. In response to the ruling, Gov. McMaster stated he remains committed to providing educational opportunities for lower-income families and families with special needs at public and private kindergartens, schools and colleges. He went on to add this decision may also place in jeopardy millions of CARES Act dollars appropriated by the General Assembly to directly reimburse independent private colleges and HBCUs. Gov. McMaster said he will ask the court to reconsider its ruling.

To read the opinion, click here.

ELECTIONS

The United States Supreme Court reinstated a requirement on Monday that South Carolina residents voting by mail in November’s election get a witness signature on their ballots. Democrats had sought to have the requirement put on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic, but Republicans had defended it as deterring fraud. The court ruled that any ballots cast before the court’s action Monday evening “and received within two days of this order may not be rejected for failing to comply with the witness requirement.”

South Carolina has had a witness requirement for absentee voters since 1953. Under the current law, voters returning mail-in ballots swear an oath printed on the return envelope that confirms they are eligible to vote and that the ballot inside is indeed theirs, among other things. The oath must be witnessed by one other person who has to sign below the voter’s signature and include their address. Pointing to the Coronavirus pandemic, state and national Democratic Party organizations had challenged the requirement and other parts of state election law.

CORONAVIRUS

Health officials announced this week that South Carolina has the lowest COVID-19 transmission rate in the country. The COVID-19 transmission rate shows how quickly the virus is spreading among people. For details, click here.

To view all the governor’s previous Executive Orders, click here.

accelerateSC is a one-stop website to help businesses and citizens connect to important information during this crisis.

For information from SC DHEC on the virus, click here.

COVID-19 Screening & Testing Sites

The Emergency Management Division provides links to important information, including the SC Department on Aging, SC Childcare, the SC Department of Employment and Workforce, the Department of Revenue and the SC Department of Insurance.

South Carolina Department of Commerce for small business information and assistance.

For additional resources that may be beneficial to your organization’s recovery efforts, visit Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd’s COVID-19 Resources page. Copper Dome Strategies is a subsidiary of HSB.

South Carolina Health Alert Network

South Carolina COVID-19 Emergency Supply Sourcing & Manufacturing

UP NEXT

The Board of Economic Advisors will meet on Thursday. The General Assembly has no plans to return to Columbia. We will keep you apprised of any legislative activity.