♪ opening music ♪ ♪ Welcome to This Week in South Carolina.

I'm Gavin Jackson.

For the last seven years, Beaufort Senator Tom Davis has pushed to get a Medical Marijuana law passed, and this session he was successful in the Senate, only for it to die in the House.

Davis joins us to discuss what's next as session comes to a close and University of South Carolina professor Dr. Scott White talks to us about the increase of seismic activity in the state, but first more from this week.

The second session of the 124th South Carolina General Assembly concluded on Thursday.

Several big pieces of legislation made it across the finish line by 5pm and will soon be heading to the governor's desk.

Our next episode will provide a complete recap of those bills and the session, but this week was no short on drama, as we'll hear from Senator Tom Davis shortly about the death of his Medical Marijuana bill, but other bills survived, such as the wildly popular Early Voting and Voter Integrity bill that was dead just days before and resurrected on Wednesday in a compromise between the House and Senate.

The controversial Trans Student Athlete Ban bill, which prohibits students from playing on sports teams that don't correspond to their sex assigned at birth, heads to the governor's desk.

>> After coming from the Senate.

So, they have amended it, the Senate inserted public, so private colleges are not included.

They also included private schools and colleges that compete against public schools must comply with this section.

The Senate specifically provides the actions arising under the sections are subject to the Torts Claim act.

They included Elementary and they also included an amendment to prohibit women from playing all male sports teams unless there's no comparable female team at the school.

Gavin>> While the police reform bill, which creates minimum policing standards for departments statewide, among other changes, succeeded, the House Hate Crimes bill that's been in the Senate since last May, never received debate after being blocked by multiple Republicans, to the dismay of House leaders.

>> And I want...to talk to all the members of the House.

Mr. Gilliard has worked so hard on this issue.

The South Carolina House of Representatives stood up and passed a Hate Crime bill.

We sent it... over to the Senate, and they didn't take it up.

They had an opportunity to put it into sine die resolution yesterday, and they rejected that Mr. King, so this is where we are and unfortunately both bodies have to agree when we can come back and they don't want to do that.

Gavin>> House Speaker Jay Lucas presided over his final session as Speaker, Thursday and hands the gavel over to Murrell Smith, who will lead the 124 member chamber.

It's a changing House as outgoing Majority Leader Gary Simrill pointed out in his goodbye speech.

>>...I often think about the toxicity that exists more today in politics than ever before, and that is unfortunate, but I know that the pendulum is always swinging, that the human heart over lo these many years really has not changed.

Gavin>> But lawmakers will return several times in the off season, first in June to take up bills that have passed both chambers.

The budget also remains to be finalized.

It will be taken up on June 15 as well, which is the day after primaries when some House members will know if they'll be returning next January.

Lawmakers also approved language that will allow them to return after July up through mid November to take up legislation related to the expected US Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark abortion decision, Roe vs Wade.

Joining me now to discuss his Medical Marijuana bill and the end of the legislative session is Beaufort Republican Senator Tom Davis.

Senator Davis, thanks for joining me again.

>> Great to be with you.

Gavin>> So, Senator Davis, we last spoke earlier this year.

We were talking about your Medical Marijuana bill.

It was up for debate in the Senate.

It passed the Senate and then got to the House this session, but things took a different turn.

Explain to us the latest about what happened to your Medical Marijuana bill this session.

>> Right, well, as you know, Gavin it passed the Senate 28-16 in February and then got sent over to the House and then assigned to the 3M committee over in the House, and so the bill then sat there for a little over two months, and so that was the first problem and that, you know, time is precious here in the General Assembly.

We've got until the second Thursday in May to pass things.

...So that was the first problem that there was a delay in taking the bill up.

The bill then passed out of the 3M committee, I think by a 18 - 2 or 18 - 3 vote and then went on the House calendar.

The next problem became when a couple of representatives placed about 1000 amendments on the desk to the bill, and again, the purpose here is to delay.

It's to prevent taking the bill up or if the bill is taken up, it prevents an up or down vote on the bill, and so that was the second problem.

We started to work through those things and did get the bill up for debate, and we're ready to have a debate on the merits by my whip count, and I think most everybody else's whip counts.

There were about 70 people that were for the bill, about 40 were against.

So, we had the votes.

At that time, a point of order was raised, stating that under the state constitution, revenue raising bills must originate in the House, and there is a sales tax component to this Medical Cannabis bill.

You sell the cannabis products.

Pay a sales tax, that sales tax is used to pay to cover the costs of administering the program.

The State Supreme Court precedents are very clear on this, Gavin.

The primary purpose of the bill is something else, and you're simply raising revenue incidental or ancillary to it.

It's not a revenue raising bill within the meaning of the state constitution.

You know, we pass bills all the time in the Senate that's got fees, or other revenue features that pay for the program, but they're fine, and they're never objected to by the House, because they're clearly not revenue... raising bills, the primary purpose is not to raise taxes from the general fund.

Okay, but that point of order was raised.

The presiding Speaker of the House Tommy Pope ruled in favor of the point of order and then there was an appeal of the speaker's ruling, and the appeal failed 56 to 59.

So we fell, essentially three votes short in the House, if you want to cut to the chase.

...if the public wants to know what happened out there, or up there, Senate 28 - 15 and it failed the House by a vote of 59-56 or 56-59, if you're looking at it that way, but I'm encouraged.

I know that hearts and minds have challenged it.

I know that a super majority of legislators in both chambers are in favor of this.

It is a bill that's undergone three weeks of intensive debate in the Senate.

It's been vetted.

It's a very conservative, tightly regulated bill, physicians have to authorize a patient's use of medical cannabis, pharmacists have to dispense the medical cannabis.

There are all sorts of protections against aversion, and other unintended consequences.

So, it's a very good bill, and I've said this before Gavin, I'm not resentful that there is opposition to this bill.

Opposition to legislation makes the bill better.

It makes you rethink your arguments.

It makes you look at things and think of unintended consequences and draft better language, and so this bill has been through an intense procedure this session.

It'll be first up for debate in Medical Affairs next January.

The Medical Affairs Committee Chairman, Danny Burns already told me it's going to be the very first bill up, it'll be on the Senate calendar.

We're going to get back to Senate and send it over to the House.

We're going to be right back on this thing in January.

Gavin>> So Senator, interesting that you say that you got to a couple of my questions ahead of me, but just let's pick up right there.

The Senate Medical Affairs Committee Chairman telling you that.

So, it is going originate again back in the Senate like it did before.

Are you not worried that this will have the same fate as it did before?

>> No, I think there's other ways to address how do you pay for the administration of the program, you can give DHEC the authority to assess fees against applicants who want to be a medical cannabis distributor, they want to be a pharmacist that's regulated.

There are other ways to generate fees.

You can also pay for the program in the general fund, you could just simply have an appropriation on the line in the budget to pay medical ...of this program.

I mean, so no, I'll make that adjustment next year.

I mean, there's no education in the second kick of a mule, okay.

I see, you know, I don't think the House was right, in they're ruling, but look, I can't cry about it.

I can't complain.

It's the reality, and so legislation like this, you adjust to that reality.

You adjust the bill, and you try again.

I mean, I think we got to focus on the fact that we really got to the top of the hill here, Gavin.

I mean to pass Senate 28-16, and then the Republican caucus itself, 17 Republicans were for it and only 10 against it.

It is a bill that has now got broad bipartisan support.

Poll after poll shows that South Carolinians to the tune of 70% to 75% of South Carolinians want doctors to have that option to give to patients, so patients don't have to rely on opioids or things that are more damaging.

So we've done a good job of changing hearts and minds in sessions.

We fell a bit short, but legislation isn't supposed to be easy, okay.

It's supposed to be a struggle because it then becomes better by public policy >> ...Your fellow senators have applauded you, even on both sides of this issue for working so hard on it for the past seven years, and like you're saying it's going to be kind of zooming right back through the Senate next year.

So that's very encouraging for you and your supporters, but what about the relationship with the House, in light of all this?

Has that changed when it comes to interactions with the Senate?

You'll have new leadership in the House next year too.

How does that, how does that factor into all that?

>> I think, you know, I think Murrell Smith is going to be an excellent speaker of the House.

I think he has an appreciation for the relationship between the House and the Senate.

He's been the Ways and Means Chairman for several years now.

So every year in the budget, he's got to work with the Senate to compromise and to come together for a general fund budget.

So, I'm really encouraged.

I mean, I like Jay Lucas as speaker, but I'm very encouraged about what Murrell Smith brings to the table.

I think, you know, look, people said to me, after they pulled against the Medical Marijuana bill in the House, go ahead and block every bill you can on the House calendar.

That's not the way to respond.

That's not productive.

I mean, look, I made the best argument I could.

We got three votes short in the House, but you start again next year, and so I'm greatly encouraged.

I think having Murrell Smith, as Speaker of the House, augurs well for the future relationship between the two branches.

>> ...Senator, you also tried to really make a last ditch effort essentially, this past week on Wednesday.

We're taping Thursday morning.

You guys are about to gavel in for the last day of session.

Tell us about that last ditch effort with your Pharmacy Access Act and trying to get the core of this bill onto it.

>> Right.

I mean, as you say, I have another bill that has passed the House and the Senate, it would allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives to women, without the women having to have a prescription from doctors, and so that bill talks extensively about pharmacists, the regulations they have to comply with and it opens up a new area of practice for them.

I thought there were parallels between that and the Medical Cannabis bill.

You know, pharmacists were given the authority to dispense medical cannabis.

There were going to be a lot of regulations promulgated by the Board of Pharmacy.

So, I thought there were enough similarities between the two bills to justify having it added on, but in the Senate, Gavin, the germaneness rules there are very tight, and they really don't allow for the expansion of subject matter to the degree it does in the House, and look, the President of the Senate made the right ruling yesterday.

I gave it my best shot, but I understand his ruling, and our rules, quite frankly, probably justify his position.

>> Senator, just looking at the bill overall, you were talking about having veto proof majorities on this bill, the Medical Marijuana bill, which is now dead, and we're going to go back to the drawing board, not necessarily but we're going to revisit it next year.

Do you think this also...gives the governor a little bit of an out?

I don't think he was too crazy about the Medical Marijuana bill.

He was, you know, there were some openings for him to be receptive toward it, but this is also an election year for him.

So, it kind of maybe gives him, saves a little bit of face for the governor who, you know, we know law enforcement wasn't big on this bill, too, and he has to appeal to a lot of different demographics and supporters out there.

How do you think that meshes with all this?

>> My impression of Governor McMaster is that he'll make a decision on whether to sign the bill or not based on whether he thinks it's good for South Carolinians.

I mean, this governor I don't think is swayed by interest groups.

I don't think he's going to be concerned about public outfall, outcry or the consequences.

He's going to look at the bill that's presented to him and I've had conversations with him, along the process here.

It's a it's a tight knit family here at the Statehouse.

You bump into him and talk all the time, and he would make comments to me about how impressed he was with how the bill was moving.

How we put pharmacists in charge of dispensing, how we put doctors in charge of authorizing patients' use, how we were very specific in regard to what qualifying medical conditions.

So, all the language I'm getting and the vibe from the Governor's offices.

He likes where this bill is moving, and as I've said before, I'm confident that when it does pass the House and the Senate, and it is going to pass the House and the Senate that Governor McMaster will sign the bill into law, because he is going to conclude that its in the best interest of South Carolinians.

Gavin>> Gotcha.

We'll be watching that next year, but as we wrap up this year, senator, we have two minutes left and I ask you just about some accomplishments.

I know you've been very focused on this bill, but what are some accomplishments that you see maybe for yourself or your party this past session, as we close.

>> I think, you know, having the contraceptive bill pass, allowing pharmacists to dispense contraceptives for women without a prescription.

I'm very pleased that bill is going to make it across the finish line.

There's another bill about a Green Space act which allows counties to impose a penny sales tax subject to approval by the voters, so you can buy open space and conserve lands.

That's very important in my neck of the woods.

Another piece of legislation that I sponsored and got passed were certified medical assistants, you know, increasing access to health care, allowing physicians and practitioners to delegate tasks to certify medical assistance, and so, I mean, I had a pretty good legislative session from that standpoint.

I think from an overall standpoint, I think it was a really good year for Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler.

He...got past the House and the Senate.

There's going to be a massive tax cut bill of some form.

There's going to be a rebate, some of the surplus monies we have back to taxpayers.

Those things would not have happened but for his leadership.

So, I think, that's one of the big storylines of 2022 is how Harvey Peeler stepped into that new role, and is putting his imprint on fiscal policy here in South Carolina.

Gavin>.

Gotcha.

Yeah, we'll be wrapping up today.

This is Thursday, and then I'll have a recap next week with some reporters about just everything that happened during the two year session, but thank you to Senator Tom Davis for talking to us about your Medical Marijuana bill and the session.

>> Thank you, Gavin.

Appreciate you having me.

>> Joining me now to discuss a recent string of earthquakes in the Midlands is Scott White.

He's a geology professor at the University of South Carolina.

Scott, thanks for joining us.

>> Yeah, it's my pleasure to be here.

>> So, Scott, let's jump right in now and talk about the latest news, the big activity this week, and that was a 3.3 magnitude earthquake in the Midlands area.

That was one of five on Monday.

Talk to us about that.

Give us your take on why we're seeing so much activity, 26 quakes this year alone.

>> Right.

So that's quite a bit for South Carolina, but it's not abnormal activity.

It's unexpected.

Yes.

Abnormal?

No.

Sometimes the earth just responds that way.

There's a lot we still don't know about the way the earth behaves and the way that earthquakes happen, and so it's events like this and studying them, recording those earthquake waves at our seismic network that help us understand more about the seismic hazard and the risk posed to communities and society.

>> Scott, what about the 3.3?

That was a big one that really shook a lot of people out of bed on Monday morning.

That's like you said it's not too out of the norm, but it is a big one.

What do you think that indicates?

Should we be more worried about bigger earthquakes coming?

>> Yeah, that's a really good question.

I know that magnitude three... it's actually magnitude 3.29.

We measure these things very precisely.

- magnitude 3.3 earthquake.

It was the second largest in this ongoing sequence of earthquakes out of Lugoff Elgin, the one that started it was a magnitude 3.3 on December 27th of last year, a little Christmas gift from Mother Nature maybe.

and, you know, this is not unexpected behavior.

It's something that happens every three or four years in South Carolina.

We get little swarms of earthquake events.

This one has gone on for longer than most.

I think it outstayed its welcome as far as most people that I know up in Kershaw County are concerned, but it's at the upper end of both the size and longevity for South Carolina sequences of earthquakes, and this series of earthquakes really has no impact on the likelihood of a big event happening.

It really does either increase nor decrease that likelihood, and so we're still in this mode where we're just waiting for the Earth to finish releasing the stress, you can think of it as it's building up pressure between two blocks of Earth's crust, and we're waiting for the Earth to just finish kind of relieving its pressure along that fault line that we see running through Kershaw County.

>> Gotcha.

So just to reiterate, people shouldn't be worried that this is indicative of something bigger or anything really other than just a lot of stress is what you're talking about.

>> Yeah, a lot of stress in the earth, and it's always there and sort of builds up slowly over time.

The Earth just kind of pops along a preexisting line of weakness.

In this particular case, this system is known to South Carolina geologists, and has been documented by the South Carolina Geological Survey, named the Eastern Piedmont fault system.

So, it's for sure ...you know, unexpected, but not surprising.

Gavin>>...I was going to ask you about that.

You're talking about the seismic zones where we're in.

Kind of give us an idea.

Do we have a fault line near us?

Are we just...on the middle of a plate?

...The east coast isn't really known for its seismic activity.

What about South Carolina?

What - how do you describe our state when it comes to what's underneath the surface here?

>> Right, so we're on what geologists call a passive margin, but I think people have heard about plate tectonics.

Understand that the Earth's surface is made up of a series of like about 12 major tectonic plates.

Along those edges of those plates, they kind of grind together and create all sorts of earthquake phenomenon, sometimes volcanic eruptions, and other geo hazards.

Now, South Carolina is not on a plate boundary, but it is on a edge of a continent, and that transition from the continent to the ocean happened like 200, 250 million years ago, and during that rifting, open of the Atlantic Ocean, faults formed.

You know, rifting faults, and those continue to persist as existing lines of weakness in the Earth's crust, and whenever enough stress builds up, that pre existing line of weakness, can pop, and just sort of shatter, and that's what we're experiencing now, and these swarms of earthquakes are super interesting, and that they tell us a lot about how the earth responds, but like I said, you know, we've been monitoring this very carefully with modern seismic equipment since the 1980s, or before, and we have never seen one of these earthquake swarms in the eastern United States develop into (quote) "the big one", or ramp up significantly in terms of the earthquake intensity.

>> Scott, do you think, we think of "the big one", because we look at our history.

We look at 1886 in Charleston with the 7.3 magnitude earthquake, and we just, that just sits in our mind, and we just keep, we just keep worrying that there might be another big one like that, on the horizon?

>> Absolutely, you know, it's a natural thing for humans to do to think about the big catastrophic event that might impact all of us, and to get worried about how earthquakes behave.

We don't really, you know, we're studying how earthquakes behave right now.

That's why it's important to fund earthquake monitoring.

It's not just so that we can predict the big one, or...let me just say that, you know, in terms of earthquake monitoring, the more of these earthquakes we can study, the more that we can measure them, the more that we can understand and not have to worry about things that are happening when the earth rumbles a little bit in Kershaw County, and the more that we can understand that those little rumbles are in earthquakes in Kershaw County, aren't going to create a devastating earthquake.

Gavin>> Exactly!

>> for those of us, and the more that we can understand that, you know, that also doesn't mean that we shouldn't be vigilant and prepared for a big event like 1886, in Charleston.

Again, you know, like, while we're on the subject of the 1886 earthquake, that earthquake was estimated by South Carolina seismology professors, as having a recurrence interval of 500 years.

So again, it's not something that we need to worry about in the short term.

Every year is a really, really vanishingly small probability that it will occur again, but the probability is... really darn small.

>>I was going to say in the State's a lot better position now, obviously, in so many ways than 1886, but especially when it comes to building codes and being prepared and being aware of all the tremors going on, and then it has to be a pretty strong earthquake for us to even really have any worries about structural damage.

These earthquakes in my understanding, these 3.3s aren't doing any severe damage is what I'm understanding.

>> Yeah, there haven't been any reports of severe damage.

I heard one sort of entertaining report about a chicken coop or something of that, being destroyed, but that's about the extent of the damage that I've heard reported.

>> ...Professor just to wrap up, what should people do in the future, if they hear an earthquake, if they experience one, who should they notify?

You know, what should they do if they feel worried or concerned during that event?

>> Oh, you know, I'd say that they should, if they feel worried, the safest place to be in an earthquake is in the doorway or doorframe in your house, inside and away from any hazardous objects that might be falling outside, like power lines, or windows that might shatter.

That's absolutely the safest place to be.

The kids are in school, you know, they need to follow the instructions that their teacher gives them, probably get under a desk is what we were taught, but I don't know what desks are like these days.

Just do what the teacher say, and there's a great resource that if anybody feels any earthquakes, there's a website that the US Geological Survey runs called, did you feel it?

...If you just sort of put that into a search engine, it'll come right up and they can report the amount of felt shaking from any given earthquake.

>> Yeah, it's my understanding not to call 911 if you feel the earthquake, I know EMD has been telling people not to call 911 unless it's an actual emergency.

So, just some good recommendations there.

>> Yeah, don't call, don't call EMD.

Call your local geologist, if you feel an earthquake, but you know, if there's a downed power line outside or you feel like the earthquake has cracked the gas line, you feel that in your house, then, you know, for sure, call 911, but not for just shaking.

They can't stop it.

Unfortunately, nobody can stop the shaking.

Gavin>> Yep.

that's the earth for you, And that's also Scott White.

He's a geology professor at the University of South Carolina.

Scott, thanks so much.

Scott>> Thank you.

Gavin>> To stay up to date with the latest news throughout the week.

Check out the South Carolina Lede.

It's a podcast that I host twice a week that you can find on South Carolina Public Radio.org or wherever you find podcasts.

For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.