State lawmakers may be making good on promises to raise teachers’ pay.
The 2019-2020 state budget passed out of the Ways and Means Committee and includes:
• $159 million to give teachers a 5% pay raise.
• $44 million to freeze tuition for in-state undergraduate students.
• $63 million to improve technical college workforce partnership programs.
Criminal justice reform improvements include:
• $33.6 million for criminal justice agencies raises.
• $40 million to Department of Corrections.
Other notable expenditures include:
• $40 million for new, paper-backup voting machines.
• $20 million to exempt military veterans’ and first responders’ retirement income from income taxes.
The House in February passed H.3449 to remove the cap on the number of permitted hemp farms.
Farmers will still need to apply for a permit with the SC Department of Agriculture, but there will no longer be a cap on permits or acres that can be planted with hemp.
What to do with the $61 million in tax revenue from the Mega Millions jackpot has is expected to be strongly debated among lawmakers.
The House voted on the $9 billion state spending plan Tuesday after press time. 
Find the results of that vote on our website www.lexingtonchronicle.com .