State Legislative Updates

State Legislative Updates

THIS WEEK IN SOUTH CAROLINA
On Tuesday, February 10, the Senate Education Committee passed H.4902, which addresses public disclosure related to South Carolina’s Name, Image & Likeness statute. 
THE STATE BUDGET PROCESS
The House Ways and Means Committee will begin work on the budget today at 10am.   

The Senate Finance Committee has begun agency subcommittee hearings and will continue this process through the month of February.   

President Bob Jones and Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations and Chief Financial Officer Rick Petillo will give Clemson’s Education and General (E&G) budget presentation to the Senate Finance Higher Education Subcommittee on Thursday afternoon.  

Senate Finance Budget Subcommittees that hear Clemson’s budget requests:
Higher Education Subcommittee:
Chairman Ronnie Cromer (R-Newberry)
Senator Darrell Jackson (D-Richland)
Senator Tom Corbin Clemson ’87 (R-Greenville)
Senator Ross Turner Clemson ’86 (R-Greenville)
Senator Tom Young (R-Aiken)  

Natural Resources and Economic Development Subcommittee:
Chairman Tom Davis (R-Beaufort)
Senator Kent Williams (D-Marion)
Senator Tom Corbin Clemson ’87 (R-Greenville)
Senator Mike Gambrell Clemson ’80 (R-Abbeville)
Senator Stephen Goldfinch (R-Georgetown)  

From a state budgeting standpoint, Clemson is considered two separate state agencies: a research university that receives an educational and general (E&G) state appropriation for teaching and student support, and a land-grant Public Service and Agriculture (PSA) division that receives a state appropriation to support agriculture, forestry and natural resource Extension, research and regulatory programs.  

The university also has auxiliary operations, such as athletics, student housing and dining services, which receive no direct state funding and are considered self-supporting divisions of the University.

Clemson’s state legislative and budget priorities for FY 2026-27:
Education & General (Recurring/Nonrecurring)
Tuition Mitigation – $24.5M  
Clemson University National Security Institute – $20M 
Clemson University Energy Center – $5M 
Public Safety – $2M  Public Safety – $1.7M 
NextGen Computing Complex – $60M 
Maintenance, Replacement and Renewal Projects – $25M 
Science Lab Building Construction – $35M 
Clemson Center for Human Genetics – $20M   

Public Service Activities (Recurring/Nonrecurring)
Natural Resource Utilization and Planning Institute (NRUPI) – $3M 
Protecting South Carolina’s Food Sources and Bolstering Agricultural Services – $2.6M 
PSA Critical Infrastructure Needs – $4M 
Strengthening Statewide Cooperative Extension Programming – $800K 
Critical Infrastructure and Enhanced Biosecurity and Safety Upgrades – $18M   
BILLS OF INTEREST
The Clemson University Governmental Affairs office is monitoring several bills that have a potential impact on Clemson.   A complete listing of these bills may be found here: VIEW BILLS.
NEWS & FYI
Eleven undergraduate student leaders are traveling to Washington, DC this week for ACC Advocacy Days on Capitol Hill. Students will meet with members of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation to discuss priorities impacting higher education, research and student success. Please follow ClemsonGovAff on X.