COLOMBIA – A committee of the Senate of SC has chosen the preference for a standardized state flag design, but it will be up to the General Assembly as a whole to determine whether the design should be maintained.
A March 24 vote by the Senate Veterans and Family Services Committee chose an image that depicts a palm tree that was adopted in 1910 on the state’s second official flag. But amendments that would alter this appearance will certainly occur during plenary deliberations.
Committee chairwoman Katrina Shealy said that referring a single option to the SC Senate could reduce debate time.
“God knows we don’t have to give them a lot of options with 46 people,” said the Lexington Republican. “This is what we will send. If someone wants to take a closer look, attack and correct and have a flag upside down, they can do that.”
The committee’s choice includes a symmetrical tree design with sturdy leaves and a grassy trunk at its base, using elements originally sketched by AS Salley, who was the first secretary of the SC Historical Commission. The flag retains an indigo tone that goes back to a shadow of the uniforms worn by Colonel William Moultrie’s second regiment in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War.
The indigo dye was also produced in that homonymous factory in Lowcountry during Moultrie’s lifetime, and the indigo became the state’s official color in 2008.
A Senate subcommittee, which held the initial hearing on March 16 on giving the state flag a standard design for the first time in 80 years, wanted to offer policymakers options after the reaction to a proposed initial design with a thin palm that was ridiculed on social media for resembling a bathroom brush, among other colorful descriptions.
A panel of experts, who worked for two years on a project, suggested two options with more substantial trees.
If the Senate supports the bill withdrawn from the committee, it will go to the House. Representatives could choose the bill that was not chosen by the Senate.
“No matter what the Senate or the House does, it will not please everyone,” said state senator Ronnie Cromer, a Republican of Prosperity and the main sponsor of the flag design bill, during the committee’s hearing on 24 December. March.
During a legislative session filled with seemingly more pressing issues, Cromer said taking the time to ensure that South Carolina has its first standardized flag design since 1940 is a worthwhile pursuit.
“People are saying, ‘We don’t need to waste time on this, we need to do other things that are more important. Well, for some people the history of our state is very important too,” said Cromer.
This is the second choice of SC flag design offered by historians, known as Option B, which was not chosen by a Senate panel on March 24.
Historians sought a standardized state design after realizing the interpretation of the flag by different manufacturers. Nothing in state law specifies that the flag should look like its three elements – a palm tree with a crescent moon on a blue background.
While the crescent and blue background were generally uniform, the tree varied in appearance depending on who made the flag.
And it may well look different again, if senators come up with any amendments to alter their appearance.
State Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter, has plans to offer at least one. He doesn’t like the grass that grows under a heart of palm in the flag option that the committee set on March 24.
“At some point, we have something we can call ours here in Columbia,” he said. “We have one of the most recognized brands and we need to capitalize on that.”
Follow Adam Benson on Twitter @ AdamNewshound12.