Bamberg Rep. Justin Bamberg opposes Heritage Act expansion over local control

Bamberg Rep. Justin T. Bamberg is lining up with county and city leaders against a Heritage Act expansion that would shift more control over monuments from local governments to Columbia. The District 90 Democrat said the state should not further limit what communities can do with controversial memorials on public property.

At issue is Senate Bill 508, the Monument and Memorial Protection bill. The measure would expand South Carolina’s existing Heritage Act beyond Confederate monuments to cover nearly all memorials on public property, bar digital codes or informational plaques that add broader historical context, and let private groups sue to enforce the law. The House amended the bill on May 7 and then approved it 74-28 on second reading, sending it back to the Senate for more work.

Bamberg represents Bamberg, Colleton, Dorchester and Orangeburg counties, giving him a direct local stake in how much authority counties and cities retain over public symbols. His criticism lands in the middle of a long-running fight between local control and state pre-emption, with representatives of South Carolina cities and counties already saying the proposal would override local authority.

South Carolina’s Heritage Act has been on the books since 2000 and already gives the Legislature sole authority over removing or renaming certain public monuments and memorials. The state Supreme Court upheld the law’s core authority in 2021, while striking down its two-thirds legislative supermajority requirement. Senate Bill 508 would go further, broadening protections and adding stronger penalties for violations.

Support for the expansion has come from the American Heritage Association, a group formed in 2018 to fight monument removals. The push is tied to the 2020 removal of Charleston’s John C. Calhoun statue from Marion Square, where the monument had stood for 124 years before it came down after George Floyd’s killing sparked nationwide protests. For supporters, the bill is about preserving memorials. For Bamberg and local-government groups, it is about whether Columbia should decide what county and city governments can do on their own public grounds.

The House version now returns to the Senate, and the final outcome remains undecided. For Bamberg County voters, the fight goes beyond one statue or one city block. It could determine whether local councils and county boards keep any real say over how South Carolina’s public history is displayed, explained or removed.