COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina General Assembly wrapped up its regular 2025 session Thursday with a few accomplishments, but a number of things like the fate of the state treasurer and radical changes in the state's tax code are still up in the air.
In a flurry of action over the final days, the Republican-dominated legislature passed a bill they hope will reduce skyrocketing insurance rates for restaurants and clubs that serve liquor, and another measure that utilities said was necessary for them to meet the growing demand for power as the state's population booms.
And by the end of the year, it will likely be illegal for drivers to hold their cellphones in their hands.
Lawmakers also passed a bill allowing parents to spend public money on private schools. The General Assembly passed a similar voucher program in 2023 but it was struck down by the state Supreme Court. Republicans are confident they made just enough changes that the justices won't rule again that it violates the state constitution by directly benefiting private schools.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster has either signed or is expected to sign all those proposals.
This is the first of the two-year session, so all pending bills will remain where they are until January when the 2026 session begins.
But since the 2024 elections created a Republican supermajority in the Senate and locked in the one in the House, issues like a hate crimes law or medical marijuana measure that have been building support fell off the radar this session.
“In the big picture, we didn't do any momentous legislation this year that's going to be remembered long after this year other than potentially the voucher bill if it is somehow found to be constitutional,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto said.
The liquor liability proposal keeps the requirement for restaurants and bars that serve alcohol to have $1 million in liability insurance. But they can reduce the amount of coverage they must carry by doing things like closing early, having scanners to confirm IDs or showing less than 40% of their sales come from alcohol.
Lawmakers discussed tackling other issues with civil lawsuits, but mostly punted that to next year.
On energy, lawmakers decided to allow private Dominion Energy and publicly-owned Santee Cooper to work together on a large power plant run on natural gas that both utilities say is needed to meet growing energy needs. The bill also requires regulators to review permits for utility projects quicker.
The compromise did not include any limits on data centers, which can use massive amounts of power, or protections some lawmakers wanted for when utilities want to take private land to build pipelines, power lines or substations.
“You’re going to regret this,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, who several times invoked problems utilities created with too much operational freedom, such as losing billions of dollars on nuclear reactors that were never completed.
The House passed a bill that would substantially alter the state's income tax system after their original plan was criticized for raising taxes for up to 60% of filers in its first year.
The new plan would leave two rates — 1.99% on the first $30,000 of taxable income and 5.39% on everything above that. The current highest rate will likely be dropped to 6% this summer. Republicans said their goal is to slowly drop the higher rate until everyone pays 1.99%. When initially put in place, about 24% of taxpayers will pay more.
The Senate didn't take up the bill.
The Senate voted to remove Republican Treasurer Curtis Loftis from office for his role in a $1.8 billion accounting error that required millions of dollars by forensic accounts to determine it didn't involve actual money, just bad entries in the state's ledgers.
Loftis remains in office because the proposal needed a two-thirds vote from the House as well, and Republican Speaker Murrell Smith said nothing will happen next year — when Loftis plans to run for reelection — because most of the party doesn't think that is an appropriate punishment.
“We need to let the voters decide if they want to keep him in office,” Smith said.
Two perennial issues in the General Assembly — a hate crimes bill and a proposal allowing medical use of marijuana — didn't get much traction in 2025.
After passing a bill that would make South Carolina the 49th state with a hate crime laws in previous sessions, the House ignored it in 2025. The effort has failed continuously in the Senate, and Massey said he doesn't expect that to change any time soon because he sees no need for it.
Medical marijuana has passed the Senate twice in recent years but couldn't quite get through the House. This year it failed to get a hearing in either chamber.
South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, left, and South Carolina Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, right, speak before a joint session of the General Assembly on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.
Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.
By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.
“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”
Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.
It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.
Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.
Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.
“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.
Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.
The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.
Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.
When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.
Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.
“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”
Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.
“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”
And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.
Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.
Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.
While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.
Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.
Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.
“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
