2021 Legislative Year in Review

The 124th General Assembly convened in January to mark the beginning of a two year legislative session. Many important legislative issues were debated this year by the House and Senate but the legislative items that most dominated the headlines included: COVID-19 liability protection, numerous alcohol related bills and 2021-22 budget. Below is a brief summary of how the SC Legislature addressed those issues:

COVID-19 Liability Protection Liability protection from COVID-19 related matters has been a major priority of the business community this session. Senate Bill 147 was introduced by Senator Shane Massey (R-Edgefield) and others and it provides liability protections for a limited time period for businesses that follow public health guidelines. The bill passed both chambers with strong majorities and was signed into law by Governor McMaster on April 28th.

Gallo Winery The Gallo Winery recently agreed to come to the state to build their East Coast distribution hub in Chester, SC. It is expected the winery will make a $400 million investment and employ up to 490 employees. Senate Bill 619 was introduced that would allow Gallo Winery to open up tasting rooms for their entire product line, which would pierce the 3-tier system. The legislation faced stiff hurdles and was amended to reduce the number of satellite tasting rooms to 3, beer and liquor was removed, and they are required to close at 5:30 (so as to not compete with the current restaurant industry).

Alcohol Delivery/Curbside Delivery Governor McMaster via emergency declaration authorized restaurants and retailers to offer curbside delivery of beer and wine in an attempt to lessen the blow to small businesses because of COVID-19. House Bill 3575 (Curbside) and House Bill 3772 (home delivery) were introduced and would allow beer and wine to be delivered via

curbside or home delivery. The bills sailed through the House. However, on the Senate side, the bills faced stiff opposition by religious and victim rights groups. The curbside delivery bill was moved to the Senate floor, and there was a push to wrap both curbside and home delivery into one bill that also included liquor. However, ultimately it did not look like there was consensus on those issues with only three days left in the session. These two bills will be up for immediate consideration when the legislation reconvenes in January 2022.

2021-2022 Budget South Carolina was entering 2020 with an estimated $1.8 billion surplus, but COVID-19 basically wiped that away. The General Assembly passed continuing resolutions to fund government, and allocated federal COVID-19 relief. Fortunately, when the budget estimates came in for the 2021- 22 budget year, the state was expecting a small surplus. This is largely due to the fact that SC did not shut down businesses to the extent that other states had in the country. SC is well positioned to come out of the pandemic without significant affect to the budget. The budget process is still going but is anticipated to be wrapped buy prior to the July 1st fiscal year date.

In closing, the members of the South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging association will continue to be the beneficiaries of increased economic activity as the state continues to open up post COVID-19. As your representatives at the state house we will continue to stay on top of the legislative issues that affect your business and will look for opportunities to continue to protect the hospitality industry in South Carolina.