ESG mandates in Scout Motors deal

Taxpayers in South Carolina likely will be on the hook for more than the $1 billion already dispersed to help a recently created Volkswagen company build its first electric vehicle plant near Columbia.

On top of that, under a state incentives agreement obtained by The Nerve, Virginia-based Scout Motors Inc., an independent company backed by the Volkswagen Group, which is headquartered in Germany, will have to comply with an ESG-related German law dealing with environmental, human rights and property rights issues.

The Nerve over the past year has reported extensively about the liberal environmental, social and governance movement in South Carolina. In a May 2022 story, for example, the president of an Anderson-based food company expressed concerns that two corporate customers, including a foreign-based company, which he asked The Nerve not to identify, were starting to pressure his business to comply with ESG-related practices.

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Great Way to Celebrate South Carolina's 235th Birthday by Supporting the Unborn

SC S474 HeartbeatBill 329172162

Even Though It Is Not Perfect, It Is A Start And Will Save Lives

The long and fought for S.474 called the "Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act" has passed the South Carolina Senate by a vote of 27-19.

McMaster announced on Twitter after the vote that he is looking forward to "signing this bill into law as soon as possible."

This bill will ban most abortions after detecting early cardiac activity in the unborn child. This can be as early as six weeks. If any physician in South Carolina violates this law, they would have their license revoked in the state. They could even face felony charges, fines, and jail time.

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VoterGA LogoATLANTA -- On December 20, 2022, VoterGA Petitioners in a counterfeit ballot case won a confirmation of standing from the Georgia Supreme Court which forced the Court of Appeals to remand their case back to Superior Court where Petitioners could open discovery and proceed with the inspection of 2020 Fulton County mail-in ballots. Today, Petitioners, who expected Judge Brian Amero to resume the case, announced a motion to recuse newly assigned Judge Robert McBurney for bias.

The inspection was delayed for over two years after Judge Brian Amero's false ruling that Petitioners had no standing. Once Amero's ruling was overturned, he transferred the case to McBurney who accepted it in a surprise move that Petitioners claim will obstruct an inspection.

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SCGOP 2023 Convention Crowd
Over 1,000 delegates and alternates attend the SCGOP's bi-annual state convention at River Bluff High School in Lexington on Saturday, May 20th, 2023.

Three-term South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick was narrowly reelected on the first ballot this past Saturday to serve a fourth term at the helm of a party experiencing great division.

The party's bi-annual convention was held in the gymnasium of River Bluff High School in Lexington. Over 1,000 delegates and alternates from across the state filled the huge gym. Delegates and alternates had already been chosen at the various county GOP conventions, which were held in the several weeks prior to Saturday's convention.

The attendees were given an hour and a half during which to check in. A few minutes before the commencement of the meeting, some alternates gathered at their county check-in tables to find out if they would be promoted to delegate status. If a person selected to serve as a delegate does not show up at the beginning of the convention, an alternate gets to take his or her place.

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SC Flag NRA ILA Article

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-11 to pass S.109, the NRA-backed Constitutional Carry bill, and it has now been sent to the Senate floor for further consideration. This is a huge step toward South Carolina becoming the next state to recognize the fundamental right of law-abiding adults to carry firearms for self-defense without having to navigate burdensome government regulations. Constitutional Carry does not change the criteria for eligibility to obtain a carry permit, nor does it affect previously issued permits. 

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Senators feast on taxpayer funded earmarks for pricey projects

Through largely hidden budget earmarks, S.C. senators have proposed a total of more than $314 million for projects next fiscal year mainly in their respective legislative districts – including dozens of $1 million-plus requests, a review by The Nerve found.

The 46-member Senate two years ago changed its rules purportedly to require more disclosure of historically secret taxpayer-funded earmarks, but the chamber hasn’t posted online its latest earmark list, though it passed a $38-billion, fiscal year 2023-24 state budget version on April 19.

The Nerve recently obtained the Senate earmark list under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act. A separate request under the open-records law was made for any House earmarks; House Clerk Charles Reid in a written response said the 124-member chamber has “no document(s) responsive to your request.”

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Unity of Prayer for May 20th SCGOP Convention

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Support South Carolina Con Con Rescission Resolution H4273

ACT NOW: South Carolina General Assembly are attempting to pass a resolution to rescind every live application to Congress calling for a convention to propose amendments, under Article V of the Constitution, otherwise known as a federal constitutional convention (Con-Con).

House Joint Resolution 4273 (H.4273) is sponsored by Representative Steven Long (R-Spartanburg) and three other representatives. If enacted, it would rescind every live, or extant, application by the General Assembly for an Article V constitutional convention.

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Heartbeat Bill 247380933

Fake* “Republican”-majority (30 R, 16 D) SC Senate voted April 19 to FUND in the SC State Budget: 1) Selected “abortions” in Section 33 and Section 108; and, 2) Planned Parenthood in Section 33.
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NOTHING WAS EVEN OFFERED AS AN AMENDMENT(S) ON THE SENATE FLOOR APRIL 18 OR APRIL 19 TO DEFUND SELECTED “ABORTIONS” IN SECTION 33 OR SECTION 108; OR TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD NOW (!!!) IN SECTION 33.

“The following is a list of the sections in Part IB of the Appropriation Bill, H. 4300, [as] as Reported by the Senate Finance Committee.”

See Provisos 33.12, 33.25, and 108.4 in Part 1B of the State Budget. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess125_2023-2024/appropriations2023/sfb23ndx.php

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ESG battles heating up over state pension plan

As S.C. lawmakers move closer to banning liberal ESG factors in state pension plan investments, the commission overseeing those funds is reducing at least one global management firm’s control over shareholder votes that come with the billions of public retirement dollars flowing to companies.

But some conservatives are skeptical of the commission’s latest actions.

Michael Hitchcock, the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission’s (RSIC) chief executive officer, recently told The Nerve that in “response to the criticism over ESG” (environmental, social and governance) policies, New York-based BlackRock Inc., which as of last fiscal year managed more than $10 billion in state pension investments,  developed a “Voter’s Choice Program” that will allow the commission to direct how its shareholder proxy votes will be cast “as if we owned the shares directly.”

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Policy Council Advocating Title Insurance Reform

Bills under consideration in the S.C. Legislature would remove a quirk in state law that unnecessarily regulates the relationship between title insurance agencies and their underwriters.

A recently filed state House bill along with its Senate counterpart would embrace the free-market system and allow the two parties to negotiate commission payments on their own terms.

South Carolina and Connecticut are the only two states that impose a cap on the commission paid to a title examiner (agent) when someone buys title insurance.

“This change will free small business owners (title insurance agencies) to negotiate commissions with big out-of-state insurance companies that do business here,” said real estate lawyer Nathan Galbreath of Greenville, managing partner of Nelson & Galbreath, which has offices statewide and in Atlanta. “The net result will be to immediately put over $45 million into small businesses throughout South Carolina every year.”

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States Following Canadas Lead With Lax Euthanasia Laws

Canada is a country led by liberals known for open-mindedness and tolerance, which has led them to allow the most permissive rules on euthanasia, or medical assistance in dying (MAID), in the world. Some U.S. states where assisted suicide is legal are now following Canada’s lead, making the practice much easier — even allowing patients suffering from eating disorders to receive prescribed lethal doses to end their lives. 

Daily Mailshared that “euthanasia laws in the US are nothing like those of its neighbor to the north. But American acceptance of the practice has been growing for decades despite warnings that legalized suicide is a slippery slope toward a calamitous debasement of human life.” 

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WASHINGTON -- U. S. Senator Jim Risch along with Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the Pregnancy Center Security Act to enhance security for pro-life centers and to protect staff and patients from potential violence and extremism.

The legislation would establish a grant program for pregnancy-help organizations to implement security upgrades, including the installation of security cameras and systems. Stanton Public Policy Center/Purple Sash Revolution applauds Senator Risch for leading the way on protecting life-affirming women's centers and encourages democrats in Congress and the Biden Administration to support it.

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In the last two weeks, most of our SC Freedom Caucus members, including myself, have become the target of false and misleading text messages that attempt to confuse and misinform voters. This is a statewide effort by anonymous dark money groups who pretend to be conservative but are attacking the most conservative legislators in the House. It is the height of hypocrisy. Don't be deceived!

The first text message sent about me states that I voted to keep a pro-abortion judge on the State Supreme Court bench. This is false.

In reality, I voted No on a ten-year term for Gary Hill, a judge who I had reason to believe was likely not pro-life. Since he was the only option on the ballot (more reason why we need judicial reform), If he was defeated it would have meant a new judicial election would have to be held with new candidates, giving us another shot to elect a strong conservative as a Justice.

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H 3774 SC Table Amendment 5

Last week on Feb 15, the so-called "Human Life Protection Act" [sic] H3774 was given Second Reading in the SC House (Third Reading, Feb 16).

SC House Journal for 2/15/2023 - https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess125_2023-2024/hj23/20230215.htm

A personhood amendment was offered (Amdt No. 1) which would have supplanted the greatly flawed language of H3774, and would have instead established personhood at fertilization, thereby providing equal protection at fertilization, and therefore establishing justice, but it was tabled on a voice vote without a Roll Call vote record.

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SC Freedom Caucus

James Madison once said, “Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.”

As Conservative South Carolinians, we understand Madison’s words more than most. From the ineffectual reign of “Republicans” for 30 years to now the recent attempt to suppress the 1st Amendment rights of a group of the most conservative Republicans in the State House through a loyalty pledge, we know firsthand the danger of oppression inflicted on conservative values by a government focused on only growing its own power. The loyalty pledge presents two particularly egregious problems. They are affronts to the dignity of the relationship between elected members and the constituents that put them in office within our state.

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