Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill Tuesday distributing roughly $350 million for community projects across South Carolina, sending millions into Greenville and the surrounding Upstate after months of budget gridlock in Columbia. The supplemental appropriations bill includes nearly $1 million for neighborhood infrastructure in the city of Greenville and another $1 million for a real-time crime center there, along with $4 million for hangar development at the Greenville Downtown Airport.
The signing caps a rocky stretch for South Carolina lawmakers, who according to Greenville News struggled for weeks to reach a compromise on property tax relief and earmarks. A budget conference committee ultimately stripped every earmark out of the $15 billion state spending plan the General Assembly approved on August 11, punting the local project money into a separate fight altogether.
That separate fight took an unusual legislative detour. Lawmakers moved the earmarks package through the statehouse as House Bill 3305 by stripping out an unrelated anti-SLAPP measure, the Public Expression Protection Act, on third reading and substituting the $350 million funding compromise in its place, according to Advocatus. The South Carolina Senate passed the resulting bill 30-6 while the House approved it 96-15, both votes coming on August 25.
How the Money Got Divided Up
The final package split $220 million toward House-sponsored projects and $131 million toward Senate-sponsored ones, after House leaders pared down an initial $320 million request, per the South Carolina Association of Counties. Public safety items were fully funded, while other requests over $300,000 were cut by 39 percent, and every non-profit earmark was eliminated entirely.
House Ways and Means Chairman Davey Hiott commended committee staff for their work on the budget before the House vote, and said every request for state funding came with proper documentation and detailed project explanations, Greenville News reports. Some lawmakers had opposed the earmarks process, arguing it lacked transparency, but Hiott said the documentation had been available all along in the Ways and Means office.
McMaster, for his part, said earmarks have long been part of the budget process and that the state has continued to strengthen its review of proposed earmarks before taxpayer dollars are committed, according to the same Greenville News account. He has not yet signed the full state budget into law, even as this supplemental bill moves ahead on its own track.
Healthcare and Workforce Money Flowing Into the Upstate
Beyond Greenville's crime center and airport funding, the bill steers substantial healthcare dollars into the region. Prisma Health in Greenville was allocated $10.7 million to expand hospital capacity specifically for cardiovascular procedures, per Greenville Business Magazine — the largest direct healthcare earmark in the county. Nearby, AnMed Health in Anderson County received $11.2 million to expand its emergency department, the outlet reports.
Greenville Technical College was awarded $2.98 million for welding equipment, building on the college's newly opened $32 million advanced welding center in Simpsonville — a facility Hoodline covered when it tripled its training seats last month. The city of Greenville also saw about $2 million directed toward the Greenville Zoo and Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia.
Golden Strip Towns and Neighboring Counties Cash In
Municipalities in Greenville County's Golden Strip region secured more than $9.2 million combined, led by $7.3 million for Mauldin, according to Who's On the Move. That includes $6 million for a new multipurpose stadium funneled through the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Fountain Inn received more than $1 million for municipal improvements and a new water tanker for its Canebrake Fire Department, while Simpsonville received $915,000 for citywide infrastructure upgrades, per the same report.
Just west of Greenville, Laurens County received $5.1 million from the bill, headlined by $4 million routed through the state Department of Environmental Services to Laurens County Water and Sewer for the Gray Court sewer project. The regional spread of funding underscores how the earmark package reached well beyond any single city, touching public safety, water infrastructure and municipal facilities across the Upstate.
Transparency Rules Still Govern the Payouts
Before any of the money moves, H. 3305 requires the State Treasurer to verify that recipient organizations are registered businesses or charitable entities with the South Carolina Secretary of State, a safeguard reported by Who's On the Move in its coverage of the Laurens County allocations. Project funding is expected to be distributed by September 30, and South Carolina officials say they are working to make the earmark review process more transparent going forward.
That push builds on standing executive orders from McMaster's office. Under Executive Order 2025-24, issued in June 2025, and an earlier order from July 2022, the governor has required state agencies to publicly disclose all lawmaker earmark requests online within 48 hours of legislative ratification and to maintain quarterly public spending updates. Those disclosure rules remain in place as the newly signed funding works its way to Greenville, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, Simpsonville, Laurens County and the other Upstate recipients named in the bill.
