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by WILL FOLKS
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Vote swapping is illegal in South Carolina, but multiple state senators appear to have engaged in that practice as part of a controversial compromise reached late last week on the regulation of so-called “cannabis consumables” in the Palmetto State.
The Senate’s first attempt at passing H. 3924, the aforementioned cannabis regulatory bill, failed miserably last week – but senators twisted arms and offered inducements until they secured enough votes to pass it.
Among the inducements allegedly offered to social conservative lawmakers? Hearings on several high-profile abortion bills – and a guarantee that the Senate would take up (and pass) legislation regulating the use of bathrooms at K-12 schools and government-funded institutions of higher learning.
The bathroom bill – H. 4756 – overwhelmingly cleared the S.C. House of Representatives in late January but has been stalled in the Senate ever since. It would require government-run K-12 schools and colleges and universities which receive taxpayer funding to designate restrooms and changing facilities “for use only by members of one sex at a time.”
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“No person shall enter a restroom or changing facility that is designated for one sex unless he or she is a member of that sex; and the public school or public institution of higher learning shall take reasonable steps to ensure that all restrooms and changing facilities provide its users with privacy from members of the opposite sex,” the legislation states.
There’s a stiff punishment for violating the law, too.
“The South Carolina State Board of Education shall direct the South Carolina Department of Education to withhold twenty-five percent of the funds appropriated by the General Assembly that are used to support the school district’s operations for any district that violates any portion of this article until the South Carolina State Board of Education determines the school district is in compliance,” the text of the proposed legislation noted.
Similarly, any “public institution of higher learning that violates any portion of this article, as determined by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, shall have twenty-five percent of the funds to be appropriated by the General Assembly that are used to support the institution’s operations withheld until the institution is determined to be in compliance by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.”
According to our legislative sources, the bathroom bill was part of a backroom deal engineered by S.C. Senate majority leader Shane Massey to ensure social conservative senators – led by Richard Cash of Piedmont – voted in favor of the modified cannabis compromise. Cash and other evangelicals previously supported a total ban on cannabis consumables in South Carolina, and were sticking to that position during the debate over their regulation… until they weren’t.
What did they get for standing down?
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RELATED | CANNABIS CONSUMABLES COMPROMISE
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In addition to the forthcoming abortion hearings, the bathroom bill – H. 4756 – was set for special order in the S.C. Senate on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) by none other than Massey, the architect of the cannabis consumables compromise. That means the Senate will take the legislation up this week -and is set to pass it as soon as Wednesday (March 25, 2026).
In other words, according to our sources, this was a vote swap… pure and simple.
One bill passed in exchange for another bill…
“That’s what Cash got for his ‘yes’ vote on (cannabis),” a source familiar with the backroom negotiations told us, adding the bathroom bill “is super important to him.”
Asked whether anyone questioned the legality of the vote swap, the source said no one is going to get popped for “logrolling.”
“That’s just how this game is played,” they said. “And you couldn’t prove it anyway. It’s not like they write these things down.”
While it makes sense that a Machiavellian like Massey would engage in such conduct, the implication that Cash – a devout Christian – would trade his vote for future considerations is deeply disturbing.
Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we dig into these allegations in an effort to determine which senators were offered what inducements in exchange for switching their votes on the cannabis bill last week…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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3 comments
That’s what lost trust was all about. Maybe it’s time for the Feds to do their job, again
You scratch my back …..
The Senate is corrupt.
Senator Cash traded the very, very large number of underaged and others consuming intoxicants as they drive on our streets, go to school and work — for a very small number of trans people in bathrooms. Cash is not a rocket scientist.
Did I mention,. the Senate is corrupt.