The Primary Election are just a few days away and we had an opportunity to sit down with District 121 Representative Michael Rivers to discuss his successes and priorities in Columbia. Rivers grew up on the family farm in Beaufort County, he graduated from Beaufort High School in 1976, He gave me his background, “ I’m a minister, I’ve served as a chaplain for both the Democratic and the Black Caucus. I’m currently the incoming chairperson for the Legislative Black Caucus and have been in leadership ever since I’ve been there. I’m a country boy at heart, the lowcountry is near and dear to my heart. I’m an Air Force veteran, where I worked in accounting, I worked at Scientific Atlanta, building electronic equipment and weather satellite equipment. I’m the technician that built those back in Scientific Atlanta, back in the 70s.” Rivers served on the Beaufort County School Board for 18 years.
Since being elected in 2016, Rivers, a legislator representing parts of Beaufort, Colleton, and Jasper counties, I asked Rivers about his accomplishments in the State House, “I’m most proud of being able to pass a Heir’s Property Bill that will make it much easier for people to navigate through some of the hoops of ownership, because a lot of people have property that they can’t do anything with. I’m also happy about my cursive writing bill, the Robert Smalls Holiday bill and the Penn Center Heritage Day bill. Holiday is my bill. These are the bills that I’m very excited about but this year the Heirs Property Bill has been the one that we’ve been trying to get that over the finish line.”
Rivers has a number bill he is working on this session, he explains, “The first one I would love to see that cursive writing bill cross the finish line, because it’s super critical to make sure that young people still have that skill. We must make sure that we don’t do anything that takes away young people’s ability to compete globally by making sure they learn everything they need to need to learn. I want to make sure that our culture is protected from development, and as development comes in, it doesn’t displace the people who have been living here for a very long time by protecting the environment that’s very important for Colleton and Beaufort County landowners.”
After being in Columbia for 10 years Rivers has built seniority, “. When I first got to Columbia, they gave me legislative license plate, and my license plate number was 121 that meant that I was a rookie, now my tag number is 52. So, I’ve gone from 121 to 52 in seniority, as well as being in leadership. at the table when decisions are made. Part of being the chairperson of the Legislative Black Caucus, is that in Columbia there are only three people that the speaker of the house has to meet with regularly, and that’s the chairman of the Republican Caucus, the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and the Chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, so, we are blessed to have influence in Columbia that can work for District 121 that is only a win-win situation.
