Gov. McMaster delivers final State of the State Address, Rep. Johnson delivers Democratic response
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Wednesday night, Governor Henry McMaster delivered his final State of the State Address to the South Carolina Legislature.
“This marks the ninth and final State of the State Address from the longest serving governor in South Carolina’s history,” says Senate President Thomas Alexander.
Governor McMaster began his address with thank yous.
“The people of our great state expressed their confidence in me twice by allowing me to continue serving in this position. My family and I thank you all,” says the governor.
His speech highlighted his love of historical anecdotes and brought out his sense of humor.
“The British couldn’t find it and neither can we. So far,” he says.
McMaster reiterated his belief in what he’s often referred to over the years as collaboration, cooperation and communication.
“Today our economy is strong, creating large budget surpluses – year after year. Last year, we announced over $9.1 billion in new capital investment and more than 8,100 new jobs in both rural and urban South Carolina,” says McMaster.
He also touted what he referred to as “tremendous progress” improving South Carolina’s infrastructure with $7 billion in active projects underway.
“It’s critical that this year’s budget invest an additional $1.1 billion in new surplus money to keep them moving and on schedule,” he says.
The governor also made a promise on personal income tax for his remaining months in office.
“This year I have again proposed cutting the personal income tax rate as much as we can, as fast as we can, and as often as we can. And if the General Assembly can find a way to eliminate it altogether, I will sign it the second it arrives on my desk and that’s a promise,” he says.
McMaster also promised he’ll continue his fight to raise teacher’s pay across the state.
“We should keep raising it. This year we will raise it again going from $48,500 to $50,500. This will represent a 68% increase since 2017,” he says.
The governor also addressed the availability of School Resource Officers, adding, “Every public school in our state now has funding for an SRO.”
The governor ended his speech with a shoutout to his wife, South Carolina’s First Lady, Peggy McMaster.
“I’d like to thank and recognize the best wife, friend, and counselor in the world — my wife of almost 50 years, Peggy Jean MacAbee McMaster….Stand up girl! I love ya! That’s my girl!” he says.
Candidate for governor and Representative Jermaine Johnson gave the Democratic Response following Governor McMaster’s speech, saying in part, “For 22 years, Republicans have controlled the Governor’s Mansion, the state Senate, and the State House. Over two decades of single party rule, and the results speak for themselves. After all that time, SC remains near the bottom nationally in the areas that most affect every day life.”
The governor’s complete State of the State Address can be read here:
State of the State Address
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
The Statehouse, Columbia, S.C.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, justices of the Supreme Court, and my fellow South Carolinians:
We are here tonight to address successes, challenges, and opportunities.
But first, as in prior years, I’d like to recognize those in uniform whom we lost in the line of duty in 2025.
Deputy Nathaniel Michael Ansay of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office,
Deputy Frank Devin Mason of the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office,
Trooper First Class Dennis Dewayne Ricks, Jr. of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, and
Deputy Fire Chief James “Jimmy” L. Townsend of the Moncks Corner Rural Fire Department.
To the families and loved ones of these brave South Carolinians, we offer our condolences. We are eternally grateful for their service.
I am delighted to have with us once again tonight our First Lady, my bride Peggy, our son Henry Jr., and his wife Virginia and our three-year old granddaughter, Margot Gray and eleven month old grandson Henry Dargan McMaster, III. Our daughter Mary Rogers, her husband Sam Herskovitz, and our three-and-a-half year old grandson, James Dargan and sixteen month old granddaughter Lucille DuBose.
Also, our Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette and her husband David are here and our state constitutional officeholders. Please stand and be recognized.
Finally, will the current and former members of my administration, including cabinet agencies, gubernatorial appointees, and executive staff from the Governor’s Office and the Governor’s Mansion and Gardens, please stand and be recognized. Thank you all.
Nine years ago, I had the honor and privilege of being sworn in as your governor, our state’s 117th. The people of our great state expressed their confidence in me twice by allowing me to continue serving them in this position. My family and I thank you all.
A few years ago, I asked the question: What will South Carolina look like in one hundred years?
Tonight, I am here to answer the question.
Ours is a state of commerce, conservation and consequence.
We know that our prosperity depends on our economic strength, educational excellence and environmental heritage and health, each of which supports the other. Challenge, change and innovation come fast. To succeed, we must be ready: by nature, spirit and ability. We are.
We are unique. Our state is one which once stood one-half beneath the waves of the mighty Atlantic, bears the footprints of the French explorers and Spanish conquistadores, and – ten thousand years before them and up to this day – holds the presence and culture of our Native Americans.
Into this land came men and women from nine European countries, Christian and Jew, and nineteen West African cultures, which now comprise four countries. Over the years, they came; first a few, then hundreds; some rich, mostly poor; some black, some white; some free, some enslaved. They came by choice, or command – in rags, riches or chains – but they came. And they endured.
Unlike other colonies, ours was to be an agrarian paradise. It was influenced in its infancy by the cultural traditions of England’s seventeenth century colony of Barbados, supported by the natural abundance of our lands and waters and embraced by determined people. We thrived. An official report to King George II in 1739 said “This town (Charleston) and province (South Carolina) may truly be esteemed the most flourishing of any of His Majesty’s Dominions in America.”
Our course was charted by the most skilled hands of the law – by the writings of John Locke and the legal acuity and acumen of our signers, learned men of experience and vision, educated at the Inns of Court in London and willing to give their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the new nation they were creating – and proclaimed in their Declaration of 1776 to the world and in their covenant – a Constitution – for the people in 1787.
Not by numbers but by sheer will power and determination did our people defeat the British Southern Campaign, thereby signaling the end of the Revolutionary War. We thrived greatly; and thereafter rose from the devastating ashes of 1861 through 1865 like a Phoenix, determined to survive. Our state has lost sons in every war, world wars included. We have lived through pernicious piracies, the bombardment of Charleston in 1780 and the burning of Columbia in 1865, as well as dozens of epidemics, two pandemics, and a bountiful procession of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and floods. Our people have endured and struggled through a great depression, recessions and threats and acts of world-wide terror, all the while – from then until now – holding fast to their families, their faith, their traditions and their love of this land.
Today, this place and people we call South Carolina bathe in the respect – and even envy – of other states as we chart our remarkable course of commerce, conservation and prosperity. We know what needs to be done and how to do it. And we will. Yes, this is the South Carolina Century.
Recently, I wrote to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, inviting them to join us for Carolina Day – the State’s annual commemoration of the Battle of Fort Sullivan – which this year will take place during the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Starting this year, and in years to follow, South Carolinians will have a unique opportunity to celebrate the decisive role we played in the fight for American Independence. There were more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought in South Carolina, more than any other colony. Many historical sites still need markers today, including the camp of General Francis Marion and his patriots in the Pee Dee swamps. The British could not find it and neither can we, so far.
Many scholars rightly say the war was won here. So did Sir Henry Clinton, the commanding general of all British forces in North America. In his post-war memoirs he wrote that the defeat at Kings Mountain was “an event which was immediately productive of the worst consequences” for General Cornwallis in South Carolina and was “the first link in a chain of evils that followed in regular succession until they at last ended in the loss of America.”
Our state’s history and culture are unsurpassed in the creation of this nation. It is well-documented in books and by the hundreds of historical markers, monuments, buildings, and homes preserved and dedicated to telling our state’s story. The names of our towns, streets, institutions, rivers and families carry that history forward to this day.
Few states, if any, can match the natural beauty, bounty and variety of South Carolina, from the mountains to the sea. And few can match the elegance and craftsmanship of the historic homes, churches, synagogues and other structures found in our land, including Beaufort, Charleston, Georgetown and Camden, built during the times when Mother Nature herself was the fount of our prosperity.
Today, when business leaders from around the world measure the assets of our state, they remark on our people – the character and nature of the people themselves. Visitors do the same. They sense their loyalty, patriotism, kindness and steadfastness. They see the natural paradise in which we work and live. They see the historic confluence of our Judeo-Christian and military traditions. And they like what they see, sometimes more clearly than we do ourselves. We are known as the “handshake state,” where your word is more valued than any signed contract.
In the last nine years, by working together, through collaboration, cooperation and communication, we have created our own great chapter in the illustrious history of South Carolina.
Ladies and gentlemen, the state of our State is outstanding, for example:
Today our economy is strong, creating large budget surpluses – year after year.
Last year, we announced over $9.1 billion in new capital investment and more than 8,100 new jobs in both rural and urban South Carolina.
I would like to recognize several of the businesses which announced their confidence in our people by their substantial capital investment in 2025. If the leaders will stand as I name your company, we will respond when all are standing.
In Allendale County, Hampton Lumber is establishing the company’s first sawmill on the East Coast, creating 125 new jobs with a $225 million investment. Welcome Mr. Bret Griffin, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Hampton Lumber.
In Pickens County, ElringKlinger, an automotive supplier, is expanding its main U.S. battery hub operation with an additional 294 jobs and a $68.5 million investment. Welcome Mr. Wilfried Hoch, General Manager, ElringKlinger South Carolina.
In Clarendon County, Homanit USA, a leading manufacturer of wood materials, is establishing its first U.S. manufacturing operation. The $250 million investment will create 300 new jobs. Welcome Mr. Alfred Geiger, President and CEO of Homanit USA.
In Greenville County, Isuzu North America is investing $280 million and creating more than 700 jobs to establish its new U.S. production base that will assemble medium and heavy-duty trucks. Welcome Mr. Noboru Murakami, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Isuzu North America.
In Spartanburg County, Woodward, Inc., a global leader in energy control solutions for aerospace and industrial markets, is establishing a South Carolina manufacturing facility with a $200 million investment and 275 new jobs. Welcome Mr. Colin Rorabaugh, Vice President of Product Management for Woodward.
Since 2017, we have announced over $53.7 billion in new capital investment and almost 100,000 new jobs. Why? Because state government is in superior fiscal shape, our laws and policies are business friendly, our income tax is shrinking every year, and our population continues to grow.
We are investing in education, public safety and workforce training. We are preserving and protecting our lands, natural resources and cultural heritage. And our infrastructure and energy demands are being met with planning, foresight, and commitment.
When the pandemic came, we took a road less traveled and relied on common sense and the Constitution. Other states faltered; we soared. Some of our businesses had their best years ever.
Yet, South Carolina’s future prosperity requires that we constantly work to create, innovate and improve our efforts in all endeavors. Here’s how:
We have made tremendous progress improving our roads, bridges, highways, and interstates.
Today, there are almost $7 billion in active projects underway across the state, up from $2.7 billion in 2017. In the last four years, we have added an additional $1.4 billion to state budgets for new construction.
However, inflationary construction and labor costs threaten to create crippling delays and busted budgets. It’s critical that this year’s budget invest an additional $1.1 billion in new surplus money to keep them moving and on schedule.
Last year, the U-Haul rental company ranked South Carolina as the number one destination for their moving trucks and vans. I believe it.
Left unaddressed, we will face future problems with water and sewer access, traffic congestion, road and bridge repair, demand for electric power generation, public safety, school overcrowding and healthcare availability.
Therefore, I submit to you that the time has come – and reality requires – that we assess whether our state’s infrastructure and government services will be able to catch up if this unrestrained out-of-state population growth continues.
We must continue to reduce our taxes. Until a few years ago, we had the highest personal income tax rate in the Southeast and the 12th highest in the nation. No more.
Five years ago, I signed into law the largest income tax cut in state history. As a result, South Carolina taxpayers have kept an additional $1.275 billion of their hard-earned money. This year, I have again proposed cutting the personal income tax rate as much as we can, and as fast as we can. And if the General Assembly can find a way to eliminate it altogether, I will sign it the second it arrives on my desk.
As once all roads led to Rome, today all quests for prosperity lead to education. All of our children must receive an excellent education.
Albert Einstein said, “A problem can never be solved by thinking on the same level that produced it.” He was right; and by thinking big and being bold, we have made some of the most important decisions and investments we have ever made in early childhood, primary, secondary and higher education. For example:
Eight years ago, the minimum starting salary of a teacher in South Carolina was $30,113 and the average salary was below the Southeastern average. I proposed that we begin raising the minimum starting teacher salary, as much as possible each year, with the goal of raising it to at least $50,000 by 2026. And each year, we did. We should keep raising it.
This year, we will raise it again, going from $48,500 to $50,500. This will represent a 68% increase since 2017. South Carolina’s required minimum starting teacher salary continues to exceed that of both Georgia and North Carolina.
In addition, as the minimum salary for new teachers has risen, so has the average salary of a public school teacher in South Carolina, reaching $64,050 last year, exceeding the Southeastern average every year since 2021.
As a result, vacancies in teaching positions at our state’s public schools have plummeted.
Since the statewide expansion of the full-day four-year-old kindergarten program – known as 4K – starting in 2021, enrollment in the program offered in public schools, private childcare centers, and private schools, has increased significantly.
Statistics clearly show that a child from a low-income household enrolled in a state-funded, full-day 4K program, will be better prepared for kindergarten than their peers who do not participate.
Today, 18,411 students are enrolled in 4K, which is a 30% increase since the program was expanded. Currently, every public school district in the state, except one, is offering full-day 4K and the demand for enrollment at private day care and private school 4K providers continues to grow.
From experience we know that 4K works. Children who succeed in kindergarten are better prepared to succeed in first grade, then second grade, then third grade. And we know if third graders are proficient in reading and mathematics, they are likely to be successful high school graduates.
Not only should we increase funding, but I urge the General Assembly to soon offer universal full-day 4K – for all children, regardless of household income.
Two years ago, we created the Education Scholarship Trust Fund, which provides scholarships to eligible low-income parents. This allows them to choose the type K-12 education environment and instruction that best suits their child’s unique needs.
Parents love these scholarships, and demand continues to rise. We should continue to expand eligibility by increasing the number of funded scholarships each year. Healthy competition in the education marketplace is the key to excellence.
Placing an armed, certified school resource officer (SRO) in every school, all day, every day, has been one of my top priorities. In 2018, only 406 out of the state’s 1,283 public schools had a full time SRO. School districts couldn’t fund additional SROs and local law enforcement agencies couldn’t find new officers to become SROs.
At my request, the General Assembly began funding a grant program administered by the Department of Public Safety to provide local law enforcement agencies with funds to hire resource officers to fill these vacancies.
The grant program worked. Every public school in the state now has funding for an SRO, and all but 102 have an officer in place.
This makes South Carolina a national leader in school safety, provides us all peace of mind, and enhances learning dramatically.
On November 6, 2025, Chester County Sheriff Max Dorsey wrote to me describing a recent incident at a school in Chester. He wrote:
“On Friday, October 31, 2025, shortly after noon, an individual illegally entered the grounds of Chester Park Elementary School of the Arts. The suspect forcibly broke through a classroom window and immediately attacked a teacher in an attempt to abduct a three-year-old child from her special needs classroom. The teacher’s courageous resistance delayed the suspect, but he managed to exit the classroom and reach the playground area while still holding the child.”
“At this crucial moment, our two assigned School Resource Officers-both sworn Sheriff’s Deputies-along with their supervisor who responded from an adjacent school, immediately engaged the suspect. Their swift and decisive actions subdued the individual and ensured the child’s safe recovery. The suspect is currently in custody and faces multiple serious criminal charges, including kidnapping.”
“Most importantly, I wish to emphasize the decisive role of the School Resource Officers present that day. The SROs assigned to this school complex are funded entirely through State legislation – a priority you have steadfastly supported.”
“Without this direct funding….. it is highly unlikely we would have had the personnel necessary to respond so effectively. I will not speculate on what might have occurred in their absence, but I am certain that their presence was the difference between tragedy and a successful rescue.”
With us tonight is Sheriff Max Dorsey and, the Chester County Sheriff’s Deputy SROs and their supervisor who engaged the suspect: Deputy Richard Griffin, Deputy Sandra Stinson, and Corporal Kristian Going.
Providing back-up that day from off campus: Deputy SRO Wanda Alexander and Corporal Kelly Griffeth from the Department of Public Safety’s SRO program, who just happened to be arriving at the school for a site visit.
Please stand and be recognized.
Higher education is essential to ensure our state has a trained and skilled workforce to compete for jobs and investment in the future.
That means our colleges, universities, and technical colleges must remain accessible and affordable for the sons and daughters of South Carolina.
For seven consecutive years, we have frozen college tuition for in-state students. We began providing unprecedented levels of need based financial aid for Pell Grant eligible in-state students to attend any in-state public or private college, university or HBCU.
To address our businesses’ high demand for workforce skills, training, and knowledge, we have provided over 120,000 South Carolinians with free scholarships to cover the cost of tuition at any of our technical colleges – to earn a post-secondary or industry credential in careers like manufacturing, nursing, computer science, information technology, transportation, logistics, or construction.
We are making enormous progress, but the question remains: in view of the world’s ever advancing technologies and our own growth and ambitions, will we be prepared to meet our state’s workforce needs of the future?
To answer that question, I believe we must commission a serious systemic review of our state’s 33 public institutions of higher education. Will they be accessible and affordable? Are they responsive and innovative? Are they well run? Should we consolidate schools, programs, certificates, and degrees? And will enrollment grow, plateau or shrink?
Remember: Major businesses in the United States and abroad have clearly demonstrated their desire to bring their fortunes and facilities to South Carolina and to employ our people. They are “putting their money where our people are.” What we must do now is double down. We must continue making smart investments in our people to ensure that they are prepared to support and reap the benefits of our future prosperity.
Future economic prosperity also requires us to have abundant and affordable energy.
Our electric generation, distribution, and transmission capacity and capabilities must be able to handle enhanced future economic development, anticipated technological advances, and population growth.
Three years ago, we created the PowerSC working group. We began leading the effort to coordinate the state’s energy stakeholders to address the State’s future needs.
Next came the SC Nexus consortium developed by our Department of Commerce: a collaboration with our research universities, technical colleges, state agencies, the Savannah River National Laboratory, economic development non-profits, and private businesses. We won designation as one of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 12 Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs in the country, eligible for research grant funding valued at $70 million annually. Our focus: power.
South Carolina will lead our nation’s nuclear renaissance. Our early preparations and the decision by Santee Cooper to restart the construction of the two unfinished nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station marked the beginning of a national effort.
President Trump rightly recognized that reinvigorating America’s nuclear industrial base is critical not just to our energy and economic security but also to our national security. With over half of our state’s electricity safely generated by nuclear energy and with seven operating reactors, South Carolina has both the experience and the infrastructure needed to lead this nuclear renaissance to provide ample, clean, resilient energy for the future.
A few years ago it became clear that we had a mental health crisis in South Carolina. What wasn’t clear was how bad it was.
Our people with physical disabilities, special needs and mental health issues who were seeking assistance were often required to navigate through a confusing maze of offices, agencies, and officials as they sought help for a loved one or a dependent.
We learned that 77% of our state’s young people with major depressive episodes did not receive mental health treatment. Suicides had become the routine and not the exception, homelessness was growing right before our eyes.
Our people were falling through the cracks of a system that did not coordinate, communicate, or collaborate. There was no accountability and little to no leadership.
At the time, I directed that we initiate and fund an immediate review of our State’s behavioral health funding and delivery system. The analysis confirmed what many of us had feared – and much worse.
South Carolina had the most fragmented and siloed health and human service delivery system in the nation, with the lowest ranking, causing unnecessary suffering. Major changes were needed. Accountability was required. So we got to work.
The result? Working together, we completed the most significant government restructuring and accountability effort in over thirty years – new cabinet agencies were created to bring direct gubernatorial leadership and accountability to our state healthcare service delivery system.
The first step of our restructuring effort came two years ago, when the commission-run Department of Health and Environmental Control was dissolved and was statutorily reconstituted as two new gubernatorial cabinet agencies: the Department of Public Health and the Department of Environmental Services.
Then last year, the commission-run Department of Mental Health and the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs were dissolved and reconstituted, along with the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, into a new gubernatorial cabinet agency, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
I am pleased to report these new cabinet agencies are now collaborating, communicating and cooperating – working together each day to improve and modernize access to healthcare services for the South Carolinians who depend on them. We have our work cut out for us, but I believe the hardest part of this monumental effort is behind us.
The first duty of government is to keep South Carolinians safe.
We must maintain a robust law enforcement presence – and properly “fund the police.” We are blessed to have the finest law enforcement in the nation, second to none.
We began closing the revolving door for career criminals, keeping them behind bars and not out on bail. And our laws have been strengthened to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and to punish those who commit crimes using them.
A few years ago, we tasked our Department of Administration with conducting a comprehensive analysis of state law enforcement pay to ensure that salaries were competitive to attract and retain top-tier talent. It worked. As a result, South Carolina’s law enforcement officers have received substantial pay raises – some as high as 52% in the last three years.
We must continue to invest in our law enforcement professionals, firefighters and first responders who put their lives on the line every day. And we must continue to support them with the equipment, technology and the professional training that allows them to protect and serve the public.
Our state has the lowest recidivism rate in the nation. It is a testament to the superior leadership at the Department of Corrections. Staffing shortages and attrition at our state’s prisons has been reversed, and sustained pay raises for corrections officers has resulted in the successful hiring of more officers to join their ranks. Investments in facilities, equipment and interdiction efforts are working, and valuable skills training and education have empowered thousands to productively re-enter our communities.
The men and women of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division are recognized by their peers and the federal government as the gold standard among preparedness, response and recovery professionals. And rightfully so. Time and time again, “Team South Carolina” has stood in the breach when dangerous and deadly hurricanes, storms, disasters, emergencies, and even a pandemic, threaten our state, our property and the safety of our loved ones. They instill confidence and display competence in everything they do.
We must also ensure that the public has confidence in whom and how state judges are selected, by making the processes more transparent and accountable. South Carolina is one of two states in which the legislature selects the members of the judiciary. Recent changes and improvements made by the General Assembly to this process were a good start, a first step, in a longer walk that public confidence requires.
I suggest that our Founding Fathers prescribed a method for federal judicial selection that has served our country well and with which the public is quite familiar. Gubernatorial appointment of all judges, with the advice and consent of the state Senate, requires no “re-invention of the wheel.” It will inspire the confidence of our people and will encourage more excellent attorneys to seek public service.
I believe that the time has come to reform the operation of our Summary Court system, in which over 300 of our state’s magistrate judges handle the overwhelming majority of the cases that go before a court every day.
Our constitution provides that the governor appoints magistrates, subject to the Senate’s advice and consent. Each county is responsible for funding and providing facilities for the daily operation of magisterial courts, including the salaries for each judge. This arrangement has led to tremendous financial disparities in how much magistrate judges are paid across the state.
In addition, our magistrate judges are not required to be attorneys or possess a law degree. They are only required to possess a college degree. Being a lawyer is preferred, but residency requirements and low salaries make this public service unattractive for most. This leaves many counties without lawyers on the bench in magistrate court.
I propose a better way. Magistrate judges should be compensated by the State in the same manner that circuit and appellate court judges are. The law should be changed to require them to be attorneys. They should be screened in a transparent manner and county residency requirements should be eliminated. And the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should determine how magistrate courts operate to ensure consistency in all 46 counties.
South Carolina’s future prosperity requires us to enhance our efforts to respect and protect our land, our history, our culture and our natural environment. It is not a coincidence that previous years of economic growth have followed our efforts to conserve, preserve, and display our unique gifts of nature’s abundance.
These are not opposing objectives which must be balanced as in a competition, one against the other. Instead, they are complementary, intertwined, and inseparable, each dependent on the other. Each can be accomplished to the fullest if we plan now and be bold.
In recent years, we have provided funds, time, and attention for identifying significant properties for preservation and conservation and for flood mitigation.
We created the Floodwater Commission. Its purposes included measuring our strengths and weaknesses concerning flooding, erosion and the conditions of our rivers, coast and barrier islands; and to make recommendations for the State to act upon. From the commission’s recommendations came the creation of a new cabinet agency, the Office of Resilience, and a Chief Resilience Officer for the state.
Their mission: To develop plans and studies to identify and understand flooding issues, to deploy mitigation projects, to provide grants for flood reduction, to conduct the voluntary buyout of homes in flood-prone areas, to protect and preserve endangered lands and wetlands, and to take on special environmental protection projects, as was done with the remarkable cleanup of over a million and a half gallons of hazardous toxins, tainted ballast and old diesel fuel inside the USS Yorktown in Charleston Harbor.
After the state’s official Water Plan languished without update or consensus for over twenty years, we created the WaterSC working group, led by the new cabinet agency, the Department of Environmental Services. We tasked this cadre of stakeholders to quickly complete the plan and provide an inventory of how much surface and ground water we have, and how much we will need in the future. Like the old saying goes, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” I am pleased to report that the new State Water Plan was completed and published just last month.
Today we have a veritable army of people, farmers, public and private organizations, as well as local governments, dedicated to these endeavors, including the Conservation Land Bank, the Department of Natural Resources, the Office of Resilience, the Forestry Commission, the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, the Nature Conservancy, the Open Space Institute, the Darla Moore Foundation, the Audubon Society and Francis Marion University.
In less than 10 years, we have preserved almost 400,000 acres of historically or environmentally significant lands, including the State’s largest conservation easement in history, which last year permanently protected 62,000 acres in the Pee Dee.
We have protected our most important historic and cultural sites, including Snow’s Island, where General Francis Marion’s Revolutionary War camp is somewhere located, and the colonial era Blessing Plantation, on the Cooper River. These properties are protected and in the future will become publicly owned, welcoming visitors to enjoy and learn about key aspects of South Carolina’s landscape and history.
Also included in this newly conserved acreage are African American historic sites, working farms and forests, and new areas for outdoor recreation, from the mountains to the sea.
Over the decade we have created new state parks, such as Ramsey Grove on the Black River and expanded existing parks in the midlands and the upstate. Among these is the Glendale Nature Park, in Spartanburg, one of the largest urban parks in the Upstate.
A significant portion of this land was protected with funding from the South Carolina Conservation Land Bank – just over $250 million. The investment from the Bank has brought in other funding from federal, local and private sources, exhibiting an unprecedented level of efficiency and effectiveness that has been the hallmark of South Carolina land conservation for many years.
Importantly, local governments have stepped up on land conservation, collectively investing many millions of dollars to conserve land and create new parks. But, of the forty-six counties in the state, only a few have conservation funding programs. I urge all of our counties to join this effort.
Protecting our land is a gift for all our people. With insight and continued hard work, we can achieve the goal helping private and public property owners with preserving half their lands for future generations, and making our South Carolina recognizable as the closest thing we have to heaven on earth.
So I ask again, what will South Carolina look like in one hundred years?
Our towns and schools will be full of happy, healthy children, eagerly soaking up knowledge and inspiration from their dedicated and innovative teachers.
Our young people will be energized with the talents, confidence, and education necessary to pursue their dreams.
Parents will be confident, building futures for their families in a bustling economy of innovative diversity: from manufacturers to medicine, from agriculture to aeronautics, from art to astronomy, from military to music.
And the treasures of our lands and waters, from the Blue Ridge to the salt marshes, fields, streams and forests, will be thriving and preserved forever.
It is these gifts, inherited by us to be nurtured, protected and presented to our people and future generations.
Our state is a land of leaders: leaders in thought, leaders in peace and war, leaders in industry. History has shown that this place is exceptional, just like our country, which our people played paramount roles in building. Let us not stop now.
Considering all I have said, I would like to offer an observation: Our governments cannot – and should not – ever be expected – or allowed – to do everything that needs doing. It is the individual citizen, his family or friends who must take responsibility and act. We need leaders.
And I would like to thank several such leaders – among many others – who have provided strong and sustained support for our people, notably in education and conservation: Susu and George Dean Johnson of Spartanburg, Darla Moore of Lake City and Ben Navarro of Charleston.
And there is one more: A lady who has given her time and energies to protecting the children and animals of our state, and to turning the Governor’s Mansion and Gardens into a masterpiece of beauty and history for all of our people. I would like to thank and recognize the best wife, friend and counselor in the world, my wife of almost fifty years, Peggy Jean McAbee McMaster.
In closing, to the members of the General Assembly: The State of South Carolina is richly blessed with a hardworking and talented people. We stand today in a moment brimming with opportunity and promise.
I have faith in our people, and I have faith in those whom they have elected to represent them here in this State House.
Let us celebrate our successful partnership, one that has been based on communication, collaboration, and cooperation – and the love of our state.
Let us continue to think big, to be bold, to embrace civility and comity through our thoughts, words, and deeds – and to urge our people, especially our young ones, to be proud of their state.
And let us keep our State on a course that will provide for prosperity, success, and happiness for generations.
The best is yet to come.
May God continue to bless America, and our Great State of South Carolina.
