DUI and Hemp Die on the Same Day, the Governor Loses Three Vetoes, and the Budget Slides Past July 1

ALPHA STRATEGIES | LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE | SPECIAL SESSION

Week ending June 26, 2026 | South Carolina General Assembly, 126th Session

The General Assembly spent its overtime week in Columbia cleaning up unfinished business, and the cleanup cut both ways. Lawmakers overrode three of Governor Henry McMaster's vetoes, cleared a group of long-pending bills for enrollment, and watched two of the year's highest-profile fights collapse: DUI reform and hemp regulation. And the budget still is not finished, so the state will start the new fiscal year running on last year's numbers.

S. 238: THE LEGISLATURE OVERRIDES THE VETO OF THE BILL THAT LETS IT STAY LATE (SENATE 39-0, HOUSE 97-3)

S. 238 changes the Sine Die statute so the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House can call their own chambers back after adjournment, through the end of June, to finish the budget, the Capital Reserve Fund resolution, and the work of conference committees appointed on or before sine die.

Governor McMaster vetoed it on separation-of-powers grounds. The power to call the legislature into extra session, he wrote, belongs to the Governor alone under the state constitution. His point was that lawmakers should hit their deadline like everyone else.

The General Assembly disagreed. The Senate overrode 39-0, the House 97-3. The lopsided margins kept that power in the legislature's hands rather than the Governor's.

 In a normal year, the legislature brings itself back through a sine die resolution that lets leadership reconvene the chambers to finish leftover business. This year that resolution failed, so the legislature had no way to return on its own. Governor McMaster filled the gap, issuing Executive Order 2026-09 to reconvene the General Assembly to take up the General Appropriations Act, the congressional districts, and "other matters of public importance." That broad scope is why the chambers were able to clear conference reports, veto overrides, and a stack of other business during the overtime week. The executive order, not S. 238, is why the chambers are meeting now.

S. 238 is the fix for the next time this happens. It lets the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House call themselves back to finish the budget without a resolution and without the Governor. So the legislature used a session it did not convene to take, for itself, the power to convene the next one. That is what made the override an institutional statement rather than a routine vote.

THE BUDGET AND THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION

That override matters right now because the budget is not done. The House and Senate are still apart over competing tax-cut plans and in-district spending, and the work is going to run past the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

That does not mean a shutdown. South Carolina has a continuing resolution ready for exactly this situation, S. 769, which continues authority to pay recurring state-government expenses at prior-year appropriated levels, subject to stated exceptions, until a new budget takes effect. The Executive Budget Office told agencies on June 26 to plan on operating under it.

The budget conference committee is scheduled to meet June 30, the last day of the fiscal year.

S. 52 AND H. 3924: TWO TOP PRIORITIES DIE ON THE SAME DAY

On June 25, the two bills legislative leaders had pointed to since January, DUI reform and hemp regulation, both collapsed. Neither got a final up-or-down vote, but both ran aground on the same fight over THC.

S. 52 was the DUI overhaul, and it passed the Senate unanimously back in February. The compromise the conferees laid out would have set the state's first THC limit for drivers, at 5 nanograms per milliliter, let police draw blood at a station or jail instead of hauling suspects to a hospital, raised the penalties for refusing a test, and created a pilot of dedicated DUI courts and prosecutors in six counties. But that deal went beyond what either chamber had passed, so adopting it required the Senate to grant free conference powers, a two-thirds vote. That motion failed, 23-13. The bill got no final disposition on June 25, but practically the deal collapsed, leaving South Carolina with no THC limit for drivers and its DUI laws unchanged for the year.

H. 3924 was the hemp bill, and the House rejected it the same day. A conference report becomes law only if both chambers adopt it. The Senate did, 27-11. TThe House did not, rejecting the report 69-28. Forty-one Republicans and 28 Democrats voted no; no Democrat voted yes. The bill would have set a 21-and-over age limit and a real regulatory structure on intoxicating hemp products, the THC drinks and gummies now sold over the counter. It would have routed lower-dose beverages into the beer-and-wine system, required certain higher-dose drinks and chewables to be sold through liquor stores, and banned synthetic THC outright. It failed because the two ends of the debate joined forces: members who wanted a full ban and members who thought the rules would crush existing retailers both voted no. The practical result is the striking part. With nothing passed, no new statewide age limit or retail-regulatory framework took effect, and the products stay on the market as before.

H. 3558 AND S. 428: TWO MORE OVERRIDES

Governor McMaster lost two other veto fights as well. Overriding a veto takes two-thirds of those present and voting in each chamber; all three cleared that bar, though the convention bill drew the most opposition.

H. 3558 (House 74-27, Senate 20-5) sets up how South Carolina would choose, instruct, and recall delegates to a hypothetical federal constitutional convention. The Governor's veto made the obvious point: no such convention has ever been held, so the state would be writing the rules for one in the dark.

S. 428 (Senate 36-3, House 90-6) lets people with certain misdemeanor check-fraud convictions seek expungement after ten years and requires police to destroy arrest records made by mistaken identity. McMaster vetoed it in May, and both chambers overrode him.

WHAT ELSE PASSED

A batch of bills cleared both chambers and are enrolled for ratification, meaning they are on their way to the Governor:

·  S. 11, paid parental leave for state employees. The final version raises leave for the parent who gives birth from six to twelve weeks, and for the other parent from two to four weeks, and broadens who qualifies.

·  H. 4069, itemized medical billing, requiring facilities to give patients a plain-language, itemized bill.

·  H. 4635, gym contract auto-renewals, tightening notice and opt-in requirements.

·  H. 5538, the Guarantee Banking Act, which restricts certain large banks and payment companies from denying customers service for reasons such as their political or religious views.

·  H. 4709, the Buy American Iron and Steel Act for public works, with exceptions for supply, quality, cost, and the public interest.

·  H. 4248, which requires restaurants and other food-service establishments to disclose when the shrimp they serve is imported.

WHAT STALLED OR DIED

Beyond DUI and hemp, a few items are worth noting clearly, because they reset the board for next year.

S. 922 (Appointments), the rework of the Governor's appointment powers, is running out of runway. It would make cabinet members serve terms that end with the Governor's, route Election Commission members through Senate confirmation, and remove Senate confirmation from a long list of boards. The House refused to go along with the Senate's version, and at this late stage there is no realistic path.

H. 4300 (Retirement System for Judges and Solicitors), raising the judicial retirement age from 72 to 74 and easing vesting, got a second reading in the Senate (36-3) but has not cleared final passage. It is alive only if the Senate gives it a third reading and the House signs off before the chambers wrap.

The HALO Act, short for Helping Alleviate Lawful Obstruction (H. 4763), did not make it through on June 25. It would make it a misdemeanor, after a verbal warning, knowingly to violate a first responder’s reasonable-distance directive, set at no more than 25 feet, with intent to interfere with the responder’s work or cause or attempt harm. On June 25, the Senate first failed to grant free conference powers, 29-9. On a second try, it granted them, 33-6, then adopted the free conference report 38-0. The House never got there. The House twice refused to grant free conference powers. The first time falling a single vote short of the 83 needed, 82-16; the second time 74-21. Because the House could not grant free conference powers, it could not take up the report. Its fate now turns on whether the House tries again when it returns for the budget.

THE UNDERCARD

Among the late filings were bills that will not move this year but stake out ground for next: a requirement to refer public-benefit applicants to ICE once they are found not lawfully present (H. 5740), a bar on law firms employing legislators or their families from taking state litigation contracts (H. 5741), a measure letting a county council halt annexations while it completes an infrastructure study and mitigation plan (H. 5742), and a commercial red-snapper ban (H. 5745).

THE RUNOFFS

Because no candidate cleared a majority in the June 9 primary, the top two finishers in each race met in a June 23 runoff. Those runoffs settled several of the statewide races that will define the next administration.

For Governor, Attorney General Alan Wilson won the Republican runoff over Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette. Wilson now faces Democratic Representative Jermaine Johnson, who cleared his primary outright, in November. The winner succeeds the term-limited Governor McMaster.

For Attorney General, the seat Wilson is leaving, 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo won the Republican runoff over Senator Stephen Goldfinch. Stumbo faces Democrat Richard Hricik in the fall.

For Commissioner of Agriculture, with longtime Commissioner Hugh Weathers retiring, Cody Simpson won the Republican runoff over Danny Ford II, and moves on to a multi-candidate general election.

In the First Congressional District, opened up when Representative Nancy Mace ran for governor, Republican Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt edged Representative Mark Smith, and will meet Democrat Nancy Lacore in November.

WHAT IS COMING

The budget conference committee meets June 30 to work out a deal. Any agreement would still need adoption by both chambers, and the state runs on the continuing resolution until a budget is signed. Expect more veto decisions as the enrolled bills reach the Governor's desk, and on redistricting, the push to redraw the congressional map this year died in the Senate, so the current map stays in place for November and any new attempt waits for a future session and the 2028 cycle. On hemp, watch Washington too: Congress changed the federal hemp definition in November 2025, and the new limits, including a 0.4-milligram combined-total threshold per container for THC, THCA, and similar intoxicating cannabinoids, take effect November 12, 2026 unless Congress changes the law first.

The bigger story is the turnover. A term-limited Governor is on his way out, the statewide offices are set for November, and the 2027 session will open with a new administration and a new set of relationships. DUI and hemp both reset to zero and will be back.