Governor McMaster signs bill to bring to Scout Motors to Blythewood

(Source: Scout Motors)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – State lawmakers are claiming it is a historic day for South Carolina as they gathered for the signing of House Bill 3604, also known as the Scout Bill. The agreement includes a $1.3 billion incentive package for Scout Motors.

House Bill 3604 passed with overwhelming support. ‘The senate and the house is for producing and creating jobs in South Carolina, nothing brings us together more,” says House Speaker Murrell Smith. 

Scout Motors is expected to bring 4,000 jobs to the Midlands as the company looks to build a $2 billion manufacturing facility to produce electric vehicles.

“All over America we looked at almost over 74 sites and it was quite a journey, as the governor likes to remind me we should have started here but we didn’t, and it’s an absolute pleasure to be here. We are not here just looking for a factory – that is just a mechanical thing or calculation – we are looking for a place to call home,” says Scott Keogh, who is the President and CEO of Scout Motors.

Lawmakers say the state had to be competitive to gain scout motors by offering the $1 billion dollar incentives package.

“That incentives package includes providing the land for the site, a forty year fee in lieu tax agreement, child care credits for scout employees, and upgrades to the Blythewood fire station,” says Richland County Council Chairman Overture Walker. 

Plus the state will be building a railroad bridge across I-77 and creating a whole new interchange off the highway, along with other road improvements for traffic flow, soil stabilization, and a training center, according to South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Harry Lightsey III.

“By 2029, Scout will have a 4.2 billion dollar annual economic impact on the state,” says Walker. 

There are clawbacks in place which is a contractual provision that requires the company to return money paid by the state.  

“So all the investment going into the site that is not public infrastructure is subject to clawback and when you add all that up – it adds up to slightly less than 800 million dollars. In addition, there’s a two hundred million dollar loan that is being given to Scout Motors for them to do some additional infrastructure work on the sight itself and the repayment of that loan is guaranteed by Volkswagen,” says Lightsey III.