by Trip King, SCWF Government Relations Manager

The South Carolina General Assembly is set to adjourn at 5:00 pm on Thursday, May 14^th thus ending a two-year Legislative Session. While there are several bills still pending that the South Carolina Wildlife Federation has an interest in, we have nevertheless successfully advocated for significant pieces of legislation that have already made it across the finish line. And, we anticipate, with only a few days left in the session, we’ll be able to help shepherd a few more bills into law.  

SCWF, working closely with our advocacy partner Audubon South Carolina, was able to pass legislation that designated the Prothonotary Warbler as South Carolina’s Official State Migratory Bird. That legislation, Senate Bill S.383 now Act 98 of 2026, passed the both Senate and the House receiving a unanimous roll call vote in each chamber and was signed into law by the Governor on February 27^th.  Subsequently, we were honored to participate in a ceremonial bill signing ceremony with Governor McMaster at Audubon’s Francis Beidler Forest on April 20^th. It was a very special occasion for a very special bird that calls South Carolina home each year after traveling thousands of miles on its annual migratory journey to and from Colombia, South America.

The “Hunting Heritage Protection Act”, House bill H.3872, is poised to receive final legislative approval this week after a minor amendment in the Senate. This legislation would ensure that there is no net loss in acreage for hunting opportunities on state-owned wildlife management areas managed by South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources. This initiative was an undertaking by the Sportsman’s Caucus and was supported by and advocated for by SCWF.

Also pending is H.5069, the “South Carolina Protected Lands and Conservation Coordination Act.”  This bill, which we expect will be given final approval by the General Assembly before adjournment, establishes a bold long-range State policy goal of increasing the number of protected lands to 7 million acres by the year 2050.  Currently, approximately 3.5 million acres of South Carolina’s roughly 21 million acres total land mass are protected from development by one means or another. SCWF has been very active in its advocacy of this legislation and has worked behind the scenes with the sponsor, Representative Travis Moore, and other legislative leaders to fast-track this bill through the House and Senate this year.

As with any legislative session, there are good bill that we have supported and lent our voices to that simply don’t make it into law. One of these bills is H.3409. Introduced by Representative Patrick Haddon, this legislation would increase the qualified conservation income tax credit from $250 per acre to $1,000 per acre. The income tax credit rate available to those who are willing to place their property in a qualified conservation easement or make a qualified conservation contribution has stood at $250 per acre for more than 20 years. That rate has not been adjusted for inflation nor exploding property values and should be adjusted as H.3409 would do.  Regrettably, Rep Haddon’s bill has stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee and will not pass this year.

While we enthusiastically supported the SC Conservation Education Act, which was enacted into law in 2025, neither the House Ways and Means Committee nor the Senate Finance Committee committed any money in the respective budgets for FY26-27 to fund this program. The Conservation Education Act, housed in the SC Department of Natural Resources, would fund third-party indoor and outdoor classroom conservation education programs specifically for youth.  We hope that the General Assembly will provide adequate resources to DNR in the future to fund this important program.

While the FY2026-27 state budget has yet to be finalized, there is good news for conservation and land protection in the current spending plan. Both the House and Senate, respectively, included record “new” money for conservation grant programs, such as conservation easement funding through the SC Conservation Bank, and land acquisition funding for state resource agencies. In recent years, the Legislature has really stepped up to the plate to fund land protection efforts in our state and we thank the entire General Assembly for their efforts and Governor McMaster who has prioritized protecting our most precious natural resources, land and water, for generations yet to come.