“I sort of grow up and realized quickly that that bank started to lose our vision, lose our values, lose our decision-making, and most importantly, forgot about the local people in the communities we serve,” Ballentine said. “The big banks started gobbling up the smaller banks. The money started leaving our state and that causes all kinds of problems.”

Ballentine, a Republican, said he will be seeking bipartisan support for the South Carolina Community Financial Empowerment Act. He submitted the bill to the House Wednesday, which the House will publish with other pre-filed bills on Thursday. A companion Senate bill is expected to be pre-filed on Friday. Hearings on the bills are expected to be set after the legislature convenes in January.

The news conference was called by the Palmetto Public Deposits Coalition, which includes the South Carolina Municipal Association and credit unions that have been pushing this year for such legislation.

Rick Osbon, the coalition’s chair and former mayor of Aiken from 2015 to 2023, said 77% of deposits in the state last year were held by out-of-state banks. “That's not right,” he said.

Osbon said the current law imposes restrictions on cities, counties and other municipalities, while the proposed bill provides choice.

“Currently local governments and local elected officials across the state are forced to use commercial banks – even if the bank has not offered competitive interest rates, has not provided good customer service and isn't based locally,” Osbon said. “This results in taxpayer dollars leaving South Carolina at an extremely high rate.”

The S.C. Bankers Association opposes allowing municipalities any wider choice than the current exemption for small towns.

Contact Jim DuPlessis at [email protected].