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Do you ever wonder how South Carolina could afford to roll out the red carpet for a German company bringing in German workers? Well, let’s walk through exactly how the Uniparty in South Carolina led by Governor Henry McMaster did it.

As previously reported, the SC General Assembly and Governor Henry McMaster passed a workforce bill in less than two weeks that gave Scout Motors $1.2 billion in state incentives, including $400 million in CASH. And trust me, once you read the nearly 200 page contract between the State of SC, SC Department of Commerce, SC Coordinating Council for Economic Development, the City of Columbia, Richland County, the Town of Blythewood and Scout Motors you will see how this is just the tip of the iceberg. (But that’s a conversation for another article… 😉 )

In our last article, we covered the dangerous history of Volkswagen, the Scout Motors CEO, Scott Keogh, and a quick glimpse of how residents in Blythewood have continuously been ignored. How exactly did we get into this situation? Let’s take a look.

Contingency Reserve Fund

In the Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022, the Contingency Reserve Fund, a “rainy day” surplus created by the General Assembly in 2007 to bypass the stringent post-budgetary spending limitations placed on the legislature by the South Carolina Constitution, was padded with $500 million to be used in “the event virus-related economic hardship” so that “South Carolina will be prepared for any eventuality.” How is this funded? Well, this executive budget places “38 cents of every new dollar” into this contingency fund.

In 2022, the Contingency Reserve Fund balance totaled $1.024 billion:

How much money was sitting in the contingency fund for this year? Over $1.2 billion. Check out a screenshot from the 2023-2024 Appropriation Bill for the complete breakdown.

Check out the first part of H4088, the resolution funding Scout Motors/Project Connect (also known as the workforce bill):

Do you ever wonder why the Department of Commerce has so much control over the spending and direction of this project?

Projected General Fund Surplus?

The remaining $86,248,470 used to fund the Scout project came from a “projected general fund surplus” from the 2022-2023 budget.

In 5 other locations in SC Code, if the General Assembly wants to make any financial decisions outside the budget, a 2/3 vote is required. However, there are no such restraints with the Contingency Reserve Fund. In fact, the legislature has made it such that ALL monies from other funds are placed back into the General Fund, which in turn at the end of the fiscal year must place any excess in the Contingency Reserve Fund, where there are no limitations on how this money is to be spent. Compare to the SC Constitution, which places stringent spending restraints on spending out of the Capital Reserve Fund:

Section 36(B)(2) “After March first of a fiscal year, monies from the Capital Reserve Fund may be appropriated by the General Assembly in separate legislation upon an affirmative vote in each branch of the General Assembly by two-thirds of the members present and voting, but not less than three-fifths of the total membership in each branch for the following purposes:

projects;

(a) to finance in cash previously authorized capital improvement bond

(b) to retire interest or principal on bonds previously issued;

(c) for capital improvements or other nonrecurring purposes.

(3)(a) Any appropriation of monies from the Capital Reserve Fund as provided in this subsection must be ranked in priority of expenditure and is effective thirty days after completion of the fiscal year. If it is determined that the fiscal year has ended with an operating deficit, then the monies appropriated from the Capital Reserve Fund must be reduced based on the rank of priority, beginning with the lowest priority, to the extent necessary and applied to the year-end operating deficit before withdrawing monies from the General Reserve Fund.”

Compare to the ease of spending the legislature gave themselves vis a vis the Contingency Reserve Fund:

Where is the Statement of Fiscal Impact?

The SC Constitution states that bills that require “expenditure of funds” must have a statement of the “estimated fiscal impact”:

Compare these two bills from the SC Statehouse website. You can view the Fiscal Impact of bill H*3083, but there is no option to view the Fiscal Impact of H 4088, the bill funding Scout Motors/Project Connect:

Volkswagen Brings ESG Legislation

While this money is directly deducted from taxpayer dollars, it is up to your legislators to decide how it is spent. And where did they decide to allocate these funds to? Governor McMaster’s latest Project Connect, which is being spearheaded by none other than Scout Motors (aka Volkswagen.)

As ConservaTruth stated in one of their articles, this Contingency Fund lacks one key factor that other “funds” have: its not mentioned in the SC State Constitution which leaves a gaping hole for structured oversight and management of the fund.

Maybe I’m just delusional, but it seems that funds committed for a “virus-related economic hardship” shouldn’t be diverted to a foreign company (with ties to the CCP) that initiates ESG legislation in every state they move into. Don’t believe me? We have heard that Volkswagen told the General Assembly that they wouldn’t move to South Carolina unless they were promised that Hate Crimes legislation was passed. Ever wonder how the Hate Crimes bill was passed so quickly at the end of the last session filled with a Republican supermajority?

To learn more of this Hate Crimes bill and how it will affect you, read our series here.

Players Revealed

The Uniparty is alive and well in the state of South Carolina and it feels like everyone is in on it but the taxpayers. The lack of representation is being felt in Blythewood and across the state with foreign companies moving in at breakneck speed.

The Nerve recently uncovered secret meetings that were held among SC politicians (on every level) and found an important comment made by Trey Walker, the Governor’s Chief of Staff in an email to S.C. Commerce Secretary Harry Lightsey: “If the voters don’t like it, there is a process for expressing their displeasure. Elections.”

Blythewood took that to heart. In the last election, Blythewood residents replaced their mayor with the only town council member that voted AGAINST Scout Motors moving in.

Remember, you do have a voice. Ask your legislator if and why they voted for the workforce bill/Hate Crimes legislation. Watch their voting record and compare it to their Freedom Scorecard. If they won’t listen, replace them in the next election. As we have seen, it is possible.