Jason Payne for SC House District 83 — Ready to Serve

Issues

A clear, common-sense agenda for District 83.

Nine priorities. Real solutions. Built around the people who live here.

Data Centers

Data centers are an inescapable facet of our future and the Fourth Industrial Revolution because of their role in supporting artificial intelligence applications. Our country has to invest in data centers, but we must do so safely and smartly. That includes informing residents and empowering local governments with unbiased information and a state-level policy framework that works to their advantage. Finally, tech companies should be subsidizing communities they want to build in, not the other way around.

Jason's plan

  • Implement an indefinite moratorium on new data centers until we meet collective benchmarks by the state, local governments, tech companies, and citizens. This will drive government and industry partners to quickly work toward solutions that communities, not hinder growth.
  • Commission state-funded research for public state universities to study the long-term economic and environmental impacts of data centers. This will provide South Carolinians with unbiased information about data center risks, rewards, and policy suggestions.
  • Require tech companies that want to build data centers to substantially invest in workforce development programs that adequately prepare workers for meaningful industry careers. Too many middle-aged workers are already at risk of being left behind due to workforce automation.
  • Mandate tech companies to create more permanent, direct jobs at data center locations. Local reporting indicates that the most recently built data center in Aiken County only has one full-time employee on site.

Education

Pervasive education is the key to societal civility, safety, and prosperity. Quality education must be accessible to all because better-educated communities are safer, stronger, and more prosperous. In Aiken County and Edgefield County, the percentage of 18 to 24 year olds who haven’t completed high school is respectively 18.2% and 24.1% – well below the national average of 11.6% and the state average of 12.1%. We will continue leaving our children behind if we do not better support our teachers.

Jason's plan

  • Ensure that teachers’ pay continues to increase better than or on par with annual inflation rates, with a focus on providing our educators with a livable wage not just a minimum wage.
  • Reduce the cumbersome burden of teachers’ annual training requirements, which they often have to do outside of their contracted hours, by (a) re-evaluating requirements annually with their input and (b) providing them with an option to test out of these requirements.
  • Better empower teachers and school administrators to enforce disciplinary standards in schools and classrooms in a way that creates safe, optimal learning environments for students and teachers.

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Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is a basic human necessity, and government has a responsibility to help ensure citizens have access to safe, attainable housing they can build a life around.

Jason's plan

  • Support state-level incentives for workforce and starter housing in the CSRA.
  • Champion zoning flexibility that lets working families live near their jobs.
  • Protect renters from predatory practices while respecting small landlords.

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Public Safety

Our public safety officers are underpaid and overworked, asked to carry immense responsibility. Jason supports true community policing — accountability when necessary, plus the resources, training, and respect that departments need to be successful.

Jason's plan

  • Provide better pay, mental-health resources, and modern training for first responders.
  • Establish independent, non-profit organizations that exist to provide additional resource support and increased post-secondary education incentives for officers and firefighters.
  • Develop and expect community policing models built on trust, transparency, consistent and authentic community engagement, and accountability.
  • Invest in violence-prevention programs that work alongside law enforcement.
  • Secure earmarks for safety-related infrastructure in neighborhoods that desperately need it, like additional streetlights and road repair.
  • Work with the South Carolina Interagency Council on Homelessness (SCICH) to provide additional resources to reduce homelessness at a faster rate.

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Healthcare

Rising healthcare costs and restrictions on women's access to care have harmed families and degraded their access to basic human needs. Jason supports affordable care and women's holistic autonomy.

Jason's plan

  • Defend and expand access to affordable, comprehensive care across the CSRA.
  • Protect women's full reproductive freedom by ensuring that women and families can make private healthcare decisions with their doctors.
  • Strengthen rural and behavioral healthcare so neighbors don't have to drive an hour for help.

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Small Businesses

Local businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Jason will listen to business owners about economic, security, and talent challenges — and work toward real, practical solutions.

Jason's plan

  • Introduce legislation that sponsors state-backed microloans of up to $60,000 for qualified small businesses. Reducing risk for community development financial institutions will inherently provide better access to financial resources for small businesses that are navigating a turbulent economy.
  • Provide tax credits to small businesses for supporting career fairs at local high schools to address talent shortages.

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Raise the Minimum Wage

South Carolina does not have a minimum wage. The federal rate has been frozen at $7.25 per hour since 2009, and servers only make $2.13 per hour plus tips. That is not a livable wage, and there is absolutely no logical justification for paying any employee at that rate. That’s literally what I made working two jobs nearly 30 years ago – it was tough then, but it’s impossible to survive on that now let alone save for an eventual retirement.

Jason's plan

  • Introduce legislation that creates a state minimum wage above the current federal level, optimally at $15 per hour.

Fair Representation

Partisan gerrymandering undermines fair elections. Voters deserve accessible representatives who understand local issues — not oddly shaped districts designed to consolidate power.

Jason's plan

  • Support independent redistricting reform in South Carolina.
  • Make every voter feel heard — regular town halls and open office hours.
  • Refuse pay-to-play. Jason answers to neighbors, not lobbyists.

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Lawful Right to Carry

An individual's right to possess firearms is constitutionally protected unless they have forfeited that right under the rule of law. As a gun owner and former firearm instructor, Jason supports responsible gun ownership and compliance with existing laws.

Jason's plan

  • Require and enable faster reporting of felony and domestic violence convictions.
  • Improve interstate data sharing and increase funding for record digitization.
  • Promote and incentivize firearm training and safety measures.

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Agree with Jason's priorities?

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South Carolina House District 83 covers parts of Aiken County, including North Augusta. Enter your ZIP code to see if Jason will be on your ballot.

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