Commerce seeks $150 million for site development, boosts for Locate SC and closing fund

Secretary of Commerce Harry Lightsey told the Economic Development Budget Subcommittee that South Carolina reported $8.19 billion in announced capital investment and roughly 5,500 jobs in 2024, driven primarily by reinvestments from firms already in the state.

Lightsey asked the committee to consider several budget increases to support site development and business recruitment. He requested an additional $4.5 million in recurring funds for Locate SC to bring recurring funding to $15 million and a $150 million nonrecurring allocation to expand the state's inventory of shovel‑ready industrial sites. Lightsey said the demand is substantial: Locate SC received county proposals for more than 250 site enhancements totaling about $2.6 billion in potential investment.

The department also seeks a $3.2 million recurring increase to its closing fund used to compete for large projects, $500,000 for continuing business development marketing (following a 2024 brand rollout), $350,000 for IT and cybersecurity upgrades, $175,000 to expand the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) support and $1 million recurring for applied research centers supporting industry‑university collaboration through the SC Fraunhofer Alliance.

Lightsey described Locate SC as a key competitiveness tool and cited other states' recent large commitments (Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri) as context for the request. He said 67% of 2024 announced capital came from companies already in South Carolina and highlighted large investments in IT/data centers, automotive and aerospace, including Boeing's announced $1 billion expansion in Charleston.

Lightsey also raised a program risk: the department's recycling grant program had been funded for about 30 years through the Solid Waste Trust Fund administered by DES (formerly DHEC). He said the DES contract expired in 2024 and DES informed Commerce it does not intend to continue funding the program; Commerce therefore requested budget authority to continue the program internally. Lightsey referenced the statute(s) cited in the department's materials for the Solid Waste Trust Fund allocation as presented to the committee.

Committee members asked for additional detail on site development demand and for Commerce to review whether existing funded vacancies could cover new FTE requests. Lightsey said Deputy Secretary Ashley Teasdale, CFO Patrick Jarvis and staff would follow up with analyses for the committee.