♪♪ <Gavin>: Welcome to a special edition of This Week in South Carolina.

I'm Gavin Jackson at the Statehouse in Columbia.

We just heard Governor Henry McMaster lay out his policy priorities for the 2023 legislative session and his spending priorities including how he wants lawmakers to spend an extra $3.8 billion based on the current needs of state agencies.

This week, we also sat down with Andrew Yang is the former Democratic presidential candidate and co founder of the Forward Party, which is looking to grow its moderate influence in an increasingly polarized political environment.

We discuss how after we hear from the governor, and get reaction from lawmakers on his State Of The State address right now.

Gov.

McMaster: Today, we are presented with an opportunity to take bold, transformative actions that will build prosperity for generations to come.

The foundations of our successes rests on three pillars economic strength, education and our natural environment.

This past November, South Carolinians overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment increasing the minimum required balance in the rainy day reserve fund.

It was increased from 5% to 7% of the total amount of general appropriate Appropriations Act funds available to be appropriated in any year.

I'll now ask the General Assembly to set aside an additional $500 million to voluntarily increase the rainy day reserve fund minimum balance from 7% to 10%.

By saving this money instead of spending it we can once again be prepared for any future economic uncertainties should they arise.

Teacher pay.

My executive budget also proposes to continue the remarkable progress we have made in raising teacher pay, and we must do more.

New teaching positions are being created every year, and new schools constructed to keep up with our growing population.

Six years ago, the minimum starting salary of our teachers was $30,113.

And the average teacher salary was below the southeastern average.

Today, the minimum starting salary of our teachers is $40,000.

And the average teacher salary now exceeds the southeastern average.

That is progress.

My executive budget proposes increasing ta... teacher salaries by $2,500 at every step in the state salary schedule, making the new minimum starting teacher salary $42,500.

My goal by 2026 is a minimum starting salary of at least at least... $50,000.

In addition, my executive budget provides every eligible public school teacher for the upcoming school year with a one time $2,500 retention supplement half in December the other half in May.

Law enforcement needs our help, they need stronger laws to keep the illegal guns out of the hands of criminals and juveniles.

They need new laws to close the revolving door and keep career criminals behind bars and not out on bond.

That means we need no bond no bond for recruit... repeat criminals.

Those who commit a crime while out on bond should receive an automatic mandatory five year felony sentence with no early release or parole on top of the sentence for the previous crimes.

Currently, there are no graduated criminal penalties for illegal gun possession in state law.

That means the penalty is the same no matter how many times the criminal gets caught.

This provides no deterrent.

Graduated felony penalties with no bond will help keep repeat criminals behind bars and not out on bail where they can commit more crimes.

We must also ensure that the public has confidence in whom and how our state's judges are selected by making the process more transparent and accountable.

South Carolina is one of the two states in which the General Assembly selects the members of the judiciary.

It appears that the confidence in this arrangement is waning.

Too often the people's business is unattended Justice delayed is due That's just denied, as suggests that our founding fathers prescribed a method for judicial selection that has served our federal government well, and with which the public is quite familiar.

gubernatorial appointment of all judges with the advice and consent of the Senate requires no reinvention of the wheel will inspire the confidence of our people, and will encour... encourage more excellent attorneys to seek public service.

We should do that.

Last year, the US Supreme Court ruling do that.

and Dobbs against Jackson women's health organization gave us cause for confidence when it recognized that Roe against Wade was egregiously wrong and quote, on the day it was decided, and that the US Constitution does not prohibit states from regulating or prohibiting abortion.

Unfortunately, the South Carolina Supreme Court delivered a temporary setback earlier this month.

And a three two decision the Court struck down the fetal heartbeat and protection from abortion act.

Our court concluded that it violated a South Carolina constitutional provision that was proposed and adopted before Roe v. Wade.

At a time when nearly all abortions were illegal in South Carolina, I say respectively.

Respectfully, the court's decision is at odds with the law and the facts, and the lead opinions results oriented reasoning threatens to disrupt our constitutional separation of powers.

When I sign the heartbeat Act into law, I was confident that it was constitutional.

I still am.

Therefore I will be filing a petition for rehearing next week along with other state officials.

And I remain optimistic that we will prevail in our historic fight to protect and defend the right to, and the sanctity of life.

(applause) <Gavin>: Williamsburg Democratic senator Ronnie Sabb gave the democratic message in response to McMaster speech.

Here are some key parts from that message.

Sen. Sabb: Democrats support the plans to improve our state roads and bridges, expand sewer and water services and make broadband accessible to all South Carolinians.

But let's be clear, many of these investments are made possible because of the passage of the federal infrastructure bill.

Under President Joe Biden.

This is a classic example of our federal and state government working together to accomplish great things that benefit everyone.

Our State Supreme Court has acknowledged that a woman has a constitutional right to privacy and has struck down the repeated attacks from Republicans seeking to limit a woman's access to health care during pregnancy.

Women have a fundamental right to control their own bodies.

Any decision they make is between them and their doctor.

Not I repeat, not a group of male politicians sitting in judgment in Colombia.

We trust South Carolinians and hope you do too.

This issue should be placed on the ballot for a referendum vote, which will allow all South Carolinians to decide the issue.

And weigh in.

<Gavin>: And for the first time in three years, we brought back lawmakers to give their reaction to McMaster speech and their thoughts on the two year legislative session that began two weeks ago.

Rep. Gilliard: I think he should have mentioned the fact that we're one of only two states in the country that don't have a hate crime law.

You know, House Bill 3014.

You know, we dubbed it the late after the late Senator Clemente Pinckney, we had a Bishop.

Bishop Green came up today with about 300 plus reverence.

And they had a great outing trying to talk to the governor to get him to make sure that this hate crime bill passes.

Okay, we need it.

We can't just be in the category one of only two states and have a tragedy like the Mother Emanuel 9 or the Walter Scott.

Okay.

So I think he would have done right by the citizens here in South Carolina, if he had just mentioned that.

<Gavin>: What about your bill did make it out of the house before last year died in the Senate on the calendar made through Senate Judiciary sat on the calendar because it got blocked by some senators.

A lot of times they have concerns about chilling effect maybe on free speech has result of this bill, can you address those concerns?

Rep. Gilliard: Uh, you know, that bill, believe it or not, we made a lot of concessions.

And I think the people have to understand what the 48 other states did was right by their citizens, and we ought to do the same here to South Carolina, that bill will, you know, it's we can ill afford to take any more language out of that bill.

And hopefully, it'll come, we gone get it back to the house and get it back to the Senate.

And through prayer, I know, we can make a difference with the help of the faith based community and everything else.

Rep. Tedder: And one of the things that stood out to me really, um, and I think this is very important, being a criminal defense lawyer, as well, when he talked about the bond system, I will agree that our bond system is not perfect.

However, I think that's a slippery slope, where he's going with the mandatory five year sentence, if you reoffend while out on bond.

Here's why.

Because you can simply a professional person with no prior record could get pulled over for DUI, and they just simply refuse the breathalyzer and they're arrested.

And they then say you're defending your spouse, and you just hit someone, you can be re arrested for assault and battery, third offense, third degree, and that's every a re-arrest and based on his language that would put that person a five year additional sentence.

And I think that's a slippery slope and a dangerous way that we're headed.

<Gavin>: You can catch the entire state estate program on youtube.com/southcarolinaetv, now let's go to my sit down interview with Andrew Yang, who joined me in studio at South Carolina ETV, earlier this week.

Andrew Yang is a former 2020, Democratic presidential candidate and co founder of the Foward Party, and he's in Columbia with us today.

Andrew Yang, welcome to TWISC.

Mr. Yang: It's great to be back.

Thanks for having me.

<Gavin>: Great to see you.

Now tell Mr. Yang: I'm running for president.

(Laughter) <Gavin>: Big news just to start off with.

But do tell us what brings you to South Carolina, Mr. Yang and what the former party that you co founded back in October 2021 is all about?

Mr. Yang: Well, we're about creating more choice for people here in South Carolina and around the country.

I'll be part of an instant runoff rally a little bit later today.

And there's going to be a proposal in the statehouse to shift to instant runoff voting.

But those of you who don't know what instant runoff voting is, just know that you can get rid of those annoying run offs, where you have to go and vote again.

And by the way, the state of South Carolina is spending millions of dollars unnecessarily on run offs that you can actually just get rid of by adopting instant runoff voting from the get go.

<Gavin>: So we're talking about rank choice voting, something we saw play out in that midterm race and 2022 Last year, of course, in Alaska, what's what's the big reason we're not seeing more states use rank choice voting?

Mr. Yang: Well, there are proposals in about half the states around the country now.

it started in Maine, then went to Alaska, then the voters of Nevada approved it.

So it's about empowering voters.

Because right now, when we show up to the ballot box, let's be honest, what are we voting for?

We're voting for the Democrat or the Republican going in, we know pretty much what the way it's going to go.

Now, we think that you should be able to vote for folks who maybe are an independent, or maybe don't fall neatly into one bucket or another.

And so instant runoff voting, it saves the state millions of dollars, because you don't have unnecessary runoffs.

But it also makes it so that there's more variety, independence, by the way, almost half of military veterans are independents.

And in Nevada, the winning argument was that a military veteran said, Look, I went overseas to defend the country.

And now I can't vote in the primaries.

And we don't think that's right.

<Gavin>: So this is a main issue of the Forward Party.

Tell us more about the Forward Party what you're trying to accomplish with that?

Mr. Yang: Well, the Forward Party stands for three things, free people, thriving communities, and a vibrant democracy.

And if you look around your state, can you say that those three things are happening?

A lot of us are fed up for a variety of different reasons.

I ran for President, as you said, and I came off the trail, unfortunately, with a deep, deep awareness of the fact that right now our political system is not designed for us to succeed for our communities to succeed it's designed for a group of insiders to have power, and just traded among themselves instead of doing anything that's going to improve our lives and not the lives of our neighbors.

<Gavin>: So when you talk about it like that, there's no way to make internal change to the Democratic or Republican parties, as you see it?

Mr. Yang: Well, the Democratic Party is going to do what's right for the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party is going to do what's right for the Republican Party.

And that's what you should expect.

The question is who's going to do right by you, your family, your neighbors, your town, the people here in South Carolina and around the country.

And if you look around the country, you can tell that the political atmosphere is getting more and more nasty and polarized, where almost half of Democrats regard Republicans as as corrupt are a threat to the country.

And by the way, same percentage of Republicans feel that way about Democrats.

What does that mean for the country?

What does that mean for the state?

What does that mean for us in our families, it means, unfortunately, that a lot of us feel negatively about the country will be leaving to our kids.

Gavin: So you're saying we're pretty much too far gone for the current party structure that we have.

So we need 3rd party like Forward?

Mr. Yang: Well Forward Party is about trying to bring people together.

It's trying to say, look, let's let's put down the attacks of the nastiness.

And as someone who is a child of immigrants to this country, I love and appreciate this country.

And I never was raised thinking that you have to agree with me.

Like we could disagree, it still be friends and colleagues and fellow Americans.

That's what the Forward Party stands for.

Gavin: But range choice fight like we're talking about seems like an uphill battle to I mean, what what needs to be overcome here in South Carolina to get that more more prevalence, more people aware of it, what needs to be done?

And do you see that there's momentum to do that here?

Mr. Yang: Well, we'll see with this rally today, but if voters understand that this puts the power in our hands, instead of the party elites, hands, then they get behind it like that.

And it really is what that military veteran in Nevada said is like, look, it should be about the country, not the party.

And if you love this country, and you you serve this country, you should be able to vote for the candidate of your choice.

<Gavin>: So when we talk about voting, we talked about looking forward to the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans will be coming to our state Donald Trump's coming here on Saturday, we'll see.

Possibly Joe Biden, of course, possibly re running again, like we haven't heard him announced yet.

But there's also the possibility of other folks jumping in that race, too.

Are you yourself gearing up for 2024 presidential bid.

Mr. Yang: Right now I'm laser focused on helping build the Forward Party, we're going to be recognized in about 25 states by the end of this year.

And if you want to help make that happen in South Carolina, just go to forwardparty.com/southcarolina, we have incredible leaders, and activists and volunteers who just want to do right by us by the families here in the state and around the country.

<Gavin>: So what role will the Forward Party play in the 2024 elections?

Not just the presidential race, but maybe what you want to see at the state level as well?

What do you hope to accomplish?

Mr. Yang: Oh, what we say internally, and this is kind of funny.

But the one of the wonderful things about being part of the Forward Party is you can get behind a good person who's running for office, whether they're Republican and independent, a Democrat, or libertarian, whomever, because the Forward Party is more about the individual, and what they stand for, than the letter next to their name.

That's our vision for the future of American politics.

And it's something that most people want.

So what level of endorsement will the Forward Party carry when it comes to, you know, backing some of these candidates in the presidential election year?

Mr.Yang: Well, we're already the third biggest political party in the country by resources and growing very, very quickly.

At the end of year one, we have chapters in all 50 states and 10s of 1000s of members and volunteers.

So I dare say that we could be pivotal in any national race, particularly when you see that the 24 race is going to be determined in only six states, Arizona and Nevada, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which by the way, is a sign of just how messed up and broken the system is.

I mean, South Carolina is going to be a hotbed during the primaries, but then the presidential candidates will disappear and not come back because they know that this is going to be a red state in the general.

That's true in 44 of the states around the country.

So the Forward Party can go to the swing states rally the the moderates and the independents and the people who want a different sort of politics and say, Look, this is how we get there.

<Gavin>: So you're really hoping that this will be a pretty big launching pad for the Forward Party in the since the role will play in 2024.

Mr. Yang: Well, if you look at the numbers, and I'm a math guy, I don't know if people recall.

But now 42 to 50% of Americans say that we're independents, more than either major party, by the way, and 62% of Americans say that they want a third party.

58% of Americans are not excited about either Joe Biden or Donald Trump, who may want when wind up being the party's nominees.

So the question is, why do our politics not reflect anything I just said, <Yeah.> The answer is that right now, this system is designed to suppress the true will of the American people.

And the Forward Party is about unlocking what it is that we want so that our representatives actually are accountable.

Gavin: So you see more momentum when it comes to a third party.

I mean, we typically hear about the Libertarian Party, which will be at your rally today on Monday here at the Statehouse.

Are you seeing some really big partnerships and alliances to help create a stronger third party?

Mr.Yang: Yeah, everyone who's actually been trying to create A more independent approach to politics knows that we are in it together.

And then we'll work with anyone who wants to help the system become more genuinely representative and accountable.

One thing we're for as an example, we're for term limits, which you probably are too.

And I know this because the vast majority of Americans are for term limits.

Why won't the major parties come out of thier term limits?

Because they're enjoying themselves too much?

You know, so if you want term limits, check out the Forward Party, because that's one of the main things we're about.

<Gavin>: What about the possibility of being a spoiler candidate when we talk about third parties is always a concern for folks?

What role?

What's your response to that when you hear people say, we just can't do it, because it's going to cause too much one way or the other?

Mr. Yang: You know, Gavin, I'm so glad you brought that up, because that's one of the powerful virtues of instant runoff voting is that you can vote for whomever you want.

And there's no more spoiler effect, there's no more you're gonna waste your vote.

There's no more, you know, strategic voting, it all just goes away, and you can vote for whomever you want.

And then they'll decide the winner.

And it'll be based on the will of the people.

That's one reason I love instant runoff voting and why I'm here in South Carolina, trying to make it a reality, because I know it will improve your lives.

Gavin: We talked about some more issues for the Forward Party universal basic income, that was always a big issue of yours back in 2020.

During that presidential run, can you talk about UBI and why you see a need for it, and maybe what some studies have been shown about its effectiveness.

Mr. Yang: I ran for president on the premise that our economy is transforming in fundamental ways that are going to push more and more Americans to the side, we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs over the last number of years.

And those communities never recovered in many cases.

Now, I know there's been some new investment in South Carolina, which I'm very excited about.

At the same time, technology keeps on getting faster and stronger chat GPT, which is this new AI bot that can essentially respond to any question at a college level, is going to eat up a lot of call center jobs, a lot of customer service jobs.

And we were joking before this interview started, maybe some journalists, I think you'll be fine.

But if people really dig into what this is going to mean for our educational system for our labor market, they'll know that we have to evolve, and South Carolina is going to be one of the most influential places in the country moving forward, if we are going to have the chance to address the challenges of the 21st century for our kids.

I think it's really important that the people here in South Carolina have a genuine choice in our leaders.

Gavin; So we talked about UBI, though, I mean, there's a lot of people who call it handouts, so they don't see it as being effective.

How do you combat that?

Mr. Yang: So there are a lot of families here in South Carolina that remember getting 300 or $600 check every month for the enhanced Child Tax Credit throughout the calendar year 2021.

And economist said that that lifted several million American families out of poverty.

And I think that we should still have those checks going out.

I think most people who were getting those checks, by the numbers, by the way, use them on school supplies, on food, on gas and fuel on things that helped keep their, their their family in a good place.

And that's just data.

You know, like, I think that that child tax credit is a sign of where we should be heading.

<Gavin>: And not the fact that it's going to maybe incentivize people not to work, which is a popular refrain, especially during the stimulus payouts to from some Republicans.

Mr. Yang: Well, again, I like to follow the information.

And when people have money in their hands, particular family, particularly families, and I've got two young kids, it's one reason I got into public life is because I wanted, you know, people to have prosperous family lives.

But if you put parents in a better situation, they're going to end up spending money on their kids, you know, in most every instance.

Gavin: So we have a couple of minutes left, I'm gonna ask you just about your concerns when we look toward the future.

And we look toward the future of automation, manufacturing, especially in Sou... South Carolina, where we have so many manufacturing dependent jobs.

Do you worry when we you know, talk to a high schooler who's considering a job in the manufacturing industry that maybe that job won't be there when he's 30 years old?

Mr. Yang: Gavin we'll have to face facts.

I mean, the fact is that our labor market has been slipping away from most American families for years and decades, and our leaders have not done anything about it.

And so if if we want to play make believe with that high schooler, I mean, you know, we're doing them a disservice.

What we should be doing as a country is investing in vocational schools and technical training and apprenticeship programs and not pretend that everyone's going to go to college.

But unfortunately, our leaders are not accountable for solving the real problems in front of us, which is why too many families in South Carolina feel like their kids will not live a better life than they've lived.

Gavin: Any big predictions for this year going forward.

Mr. Yang: You know, it's gonna be a big year here in South Carolina.

I mean, they're going to be presidential candidates here.

Gavin: Would you want to hear from them as they come through?

What's What are the some of the big questions you would have for them?

Mr. Yang: You know, I would want the people of South Carolina to use your power to try and genuinely address the problems that you see around you in your community.

Not, you know, hey, like, you know, this this person you know, is snap, you're on the, on the soundbite.

<Or the pop culture thread of the week.> Mr. Yang: I mean, we're in desperate times as a country.

It's why I'm here.

It's why I think the Forward Party is so important.

Is politics as usual, going to be our way out of this.

I say no.

And so to the people of South Carolina, please, please, please take your responsibility seriously, and help create a path forward for our kids.

You know, like I'm deeply concerned as a parent about the country that we're going to leave to the next generation.

I think you are too.

And the question is, what are we going to do about it?

<Gavin>: Andrew Yang, co founder the Forward Party thank you for joining us, sir.

Mr. Yang: It's great to be here.

Thanks, Gavin.

Gavin: You can stay up to date with the latest statewide news throughout the week by subscribing to the South Carolina lead.

It's a podcast that I host on Tuesdays and Saturdays that you can find on: southcarolinapublicradio.org or wherever you find podcasts for South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.

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