Watch: Gov. Haley to Deliver State of the State Address
Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — From the slaying of 9 Charleston churchgoers, to the removal of the confederate flag followed by historic flooding 2015 was a year marked by historic highs and lows South Carolina.
“The state is in a healing process and we continue to realize that we need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes when we’re thinking about decisions for the state,” says Representative Nathan Ballentine (R).
Legislators are expecting the governor to lay out plans for repairing the state’s crumbling roads and infrastructure when addressing the General Assembly Wednesday night.
“Work with the DOT restructure DOT, a big tax break for citizens of South Carolina to work with the fuel tax increase,” says Senator Katrina Shealy (R).
Lawmakers on the opposite side of the aisle say plans to address the issue have been a long time coming.
According to Representative James Smith (D), “We’ve been supporting a stable recurring revenue source for our state’s infrastructure. If they’re finally coming to the party and are going to decide that’s important too then we appreciate that.”
In addition to infrastructure, education reform, is also expected to take center stage. This is another topic that legislators say action is long overdue.
Representative Ballentine tells ABC Columbia, “It shouldn’t have taken 25 years for us to know that we need to fix education.”
While doubt lingers among minority members such as Senator Brad Hutto (D) about whether Governor Haley will touch on other critical topics ,”We have 200,000 people who don’t have health insurance coverage, she should address that.”
Members of both parties say they’ll be listening intently Wednesday evening, with the well being of all the state’s residents in mind.
