Ep. 12: Deon Tedder on Bringing the Law to the Legislature

Brian Cunningham: All rise. Quiet, please. Dion, man, welcome to Off the Floor. It's excited to have you on the show, bro. Yeah, appreciate it, man. I've been watching you ⁓ wanting to hop on. So we have a good time. Good time. Definitely. I was hoping to come down to South Carolina and do this one, but we're in DC for future caucus. So I figured now is the time to kind of get it done. ⁓ a lot of people don't realize this. As state lawmakers, we have a unique opportunity to both represent our states, but also we have an opportunity to travel the country at times and go to these conferences and connect with people. I think you and I met four years ago. Right, right. Yeah. At another conference. Yeah. Was that NCSL? Yeah. I believe so, yeah. And that was probably in Denver, Colorado. That's right. And we've been tapped in ever since. I've been following your social media, following what you've been doing. ⁓ but for my listeners who don't know Dion, ⁓ I think at the time we met you were actually a state representative. That's right. I was in the house. Yeah, you was in the real house. Not that other stuff that's going on. You was in the real chamber. ⁓ and now you're in the big boy chamber. Talk about your journey. How did you get into public service? Who are you when you're not legislating? Yeah. So I mean, not legislating. So I'm I'm Dion Tetter. For those who don't know, born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, actually. Okay. ⁓ grew up there my whole life. And then I how I got to South Carolina, because people always say, Well, how'd you get to South Carolina? So ⁓ it ain't that big. It's like two is two states. Like a four hour job. But I went to ⁓ South Carolina State University. Okay. ⁓ HBCU ⁓ in South Carolina. Incredible. And ⁓ got a full academic scholarship there. So my parents were like, You're gonna go 'cause it was free. ⁓ first generation. You got a free ride. Let me find out. I'm still paying my student loans right now. Well, speaking of that, then I went to law school after that at the University of South Carolina. And I'm still paying back those loans. So at least undergrad was free. But but that's how I got there. And really, ⁓ like I said, first generation college student, first one in my family to run for office. And so what really got me into the ⁓ public policy space is when I did an internship on Capitol Hill for ⁓ Ted Kennedy, Senator Kennedy. ⁓ wow. Ted the Ted Kennedy. The Ted Kennedy, the lion of the Senate. ⁓ my God, that must have been an incredible experience. Crazy, yeah. And so like I'm just Little black boy running around the the state capitol, the US Senate. And that opened my eyes to like what was possible. And I was like, man, these people are making like real decisions about people they don't even know, about thousands of people that they represent. And so that kinda ⁓ that got me interested, you know. ⁓ and wanting to do that and just learning about government and how it really works for the people. So I'm assuming Ted is probably one of your biggest influencers in terms of politics. Yeah. I mean, just watching, I mean, like the ⁓ healthcare, like education. ⁓ was huge, huge for him and his his team. In fact, I was on his ⁓ help committee, so the health, education, labor and pensions team and ⁓ had some good mentors through that, ⁓ who like were staffers on the hill that sort of took me in and and allowed me to do more than just like I wasn't the typical intern that just like check opened the mail. I mean, they had me doing research projects ⁓ and and research papers, policy papers to try to figure out how to ⁓ craft legislation that they could use. That's crazy because I tell my interns all the time in the office, one, we get them real work, but two, always tell them that they never know what door is being opened for them in terms of the work they're doing, right? Because you here you are working on bills, HRs that are getting delivered to the floor and actually seeing those things come to light. Right. And see and so learning the process then, you know, that that gave me interest and wanting to do it later. I just didn't know when 'cause, you know, the timing has to be right. And then fast forward that was undergrad, so I then ⁓ went to law school, like I said, graduated, start practicing law, and that's where I really was like, you know what, I gotta get involved in politics because people ask, Well, how does that translate? And I say, Well, you know, in the in the courtroom, I advocate for my clients, you know, whether it's somebody who's been charged with a crime and you know, I'm there to represent their best interest to cause people sometimes people deserve a second chance. ⁓ but also people who are injured. I I represent injured persons as well. And sometimes within the law, we hit this brick wall. I can advocate as as much as I want, but the law is the law. And sometimes what I saw were a lot of unintended consequences, particularly with the criminal justice laws. ⁓ and so the only way to change that, I'd be like, hey, judge, I agree with you, but that's what the law says, so I'm bound within it. And so my thought was the only way to change that is to go work within the legislature to be able to change the laws. ⁓ and I do that, I'd use a lot of my personal experiences. And stories because a lot of as you know, our colleagues, they don't really understand the practical impact that some of these bills will do in certain communities. Yeah. It sounds good on paper in theory, but how practical, yeah, ⁓ lay out play out, they just don't understand that. Yeah. I get that. No, and so you still practice law, are you are you simply a legislator. So South Carolina, ⁓ even though they say we're part time, it's really a full time job. But we don't get it off as full time. Like you in a grocery store, you in a barbershop. Absolutely, I don't think you and I get to the barbershop as much anymore. I'm looking at Shelly and it's looking like mine. No, so you do you practice and okay so you have to have I mean if you don't have another full time job, I don't know how you can afford to to ⁓ be a legislator in South Carolina. ⁓ we're Like one of the lowest pay annually, $10,400 a year. ⁓ wow. So you have to have another job. ⁓ and that's another thing we've been fighting. We just actually raised the pay. They haven't done that since I think the last time they had a pay raise, I was like just born. And so wow. It's crazy the time that's changed and inflation and everything. So and what that would do is allow more people who are representative of their communities to be able to afford to serve. Yeah. Do you find that? lawmakers in South Carolina because of the fact that you guys work in different places and you're not just full time lawmakers in terms of that's the only thing you do. Do you find that the quality of the legislation is potentially better because people are bringing that lived experience to the chamber? Or do you find that it's a distraction because you're trying to balance, you know, putting food on the table like your constituents and you're also trying to balance ⁓ the enormous weight of ⁓ actually passing bills and doing your day job? Yeah. So that that's a good question. And so I would initially have said assume that it's better to be just full time, you know, that's your only job. But I do think that having the vast differences because I I'm a lawyer. I have colleagues who some of them are they have an insurance business, some ⁓ they they're farmers. ⁓ I mean, so so I think that that's beneficial bringing the ⁓ different backgrounds and perspectives because we're talking about all types of legislation that impacts everybody's industry. somebody can offer something tangible, like a real example that I may, you know, I don't know much about farms. ⁓ I d I grew up in the city. And so like if something comes up and we're we're talking about a bill that may affect them, I re lean over to my ⁓ colleague and he can explain it to me. Right. And so the same thing when we're passing laws that will affect the criminal justice system, like criminal penalties, and I can say, look, this is this is how it's gonna play out. This is how the judges will probably interpret it. And so we need to tidy it up. change this word to this. And so they'll lean on me for that expertise. But I I think it I think it's good to have the diverse and plus like having to work outside of that. Yeah. And I I experience what my constituents experience, you know, like ⁓ paying mortgage and like, man, I gotta I gotta keep working 'cause I gotta pay this. And then you realize the times you running back and forth between the two jobs. So you kind of get a feeling of what it's like ⁓ to work two jobs and yeah and trying to make ends meet. Certainly a working class American in that in that perspective, right? Where you're trying to balance putting groceries on the table, paying your mortgage, putting gas in the car. If you drive I I drive electric vehicles, so charging my car, yeah, extort electric bill a little bit. No, but like I think that perspective matters. When I talk to young people all the time, I kinda say the same thing. I say, Look, when I describe my work, I say I'm in a classroom with a hundred and forty nine teachers. Yeah. And I'm teaching a class with a hundred and forty nine students. Because as somebody who worked in nonprofit, the private sector and tech, ⁓ and government, I bring all those rich experiences. But certainly someone like you, ⁓ obviously who's been pretty singular in your your your legal work, right? I think that is something that from time to time I do go over to lawyers and say, you know what, I really don't understand how this is gonna play out. ⁓ particularly we're doing things like redistrican or ⁓ other things that have penal codes ⁓ and that's gonna impact ⁓ people's freedom at times. Right, right. That's a big thing. And and having those practical examples. I mean, there's times we had legislation and an amendment was about to pass and I had to get up and I'm asking questions and and then I'm I'm giving examples like, Will this happen if X, you know, to to really get it out there, shine the light to everybody else. And then people start saying, ⁓ wait, then now more people got questions like this is gonna happen? And so I was I mean, I'm able to stop some amendments from happening by that. Because I know how it will ⁓ play out and I know how the police interact with people based on certain things. And so when we're passing legislation, I'm always paying attention to pointing out what the unintended consequences could be. It's funny because you mentioned South Carolina being one of the lowest paid state legislators in the country in New York. ⁓ obviously where I represent in New York, we are one of the highest paid, I think the highest paid legislator in the country. And I know sometimes these conferences there's a little bit of banter between the colleagues, right, about New York. But obviously what I often try to contextualize to some of you guys and I'm talking about is New York's also one of the most expensive places on the planet to live right now, right? You think about the cost of housing and other things. And then we also we are limited in the amount of outside income we could make, right? I think there's been a new cap as came a part of that. People agree or disagree with it, ⁓ but we know it kind of is where it is. ⁓ but talking about the most expensive city in the world and talking about South Carolina. What are the big issues that you see from your constituents you hear when you're in the barbershop, the grocery store, pumping your gas, ⁓ when you walk around the neighborhood? What are people telling you is the most pressing thing on their minds? Yeah. So I mean, I think right now, and I just had this conversation ⁓ a few weeks ago, affordability is like the h the biggest thing. That's the buzzword. Yeah. I mean, I'm I think my I think my mayor of New York City actually coined the term the affordability crisis, right? I'm telling you, and I think that's everywhere. But I mean in South Carolina, people really care about this is what ⁓ we're here. Road roads is a concern. Roads and bridges, right? Yeah. The the roads ⁓ traffic infrastructure is bad. ⁓ it can, you know, one wreck can ⁓ scr screw up a whole day. I mean, you're talking hours shut down, because in in South Carolina and particularly where I represent in Charleston, ⁓ everything's connected by bridges. So like it's you got Johns Island, James Island, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, all of these areas or municipalities within the county, they're connected by bridges. So one thing happens, it shuts it down. And so infrastructure is a big thing, but just ⁓ affordability with housing, ⁓ childcare, like things are just have gotten so expensive where people they just they just don't know what to do. And I'm and I'm not talking about like when we think of p you know, most times we talk about housing, people assume like lower income. But this I'm talking like people that's making eighty, a hundred thousand dollars has still now like starting to see the the hurt, ⁓ because things are just so expensive compared to the the salaries and what we call a livable wage. Yeah. Now when you talk about average income, you said eighty, like what is the average income in South Carolina? 'Cause I feel like what I'm hearing is that there's a lot of ⁓ The things that we're talking about in New York are the same things in South Carolina. They're just at different scales because of the number, right? So what's the average income for a resident of South Carolina? Or one of your district, quite frankly. So so in my district, so like Charleston, the city of Charleston, the numbers came out not that long ago. Like the average median income is probably like, and this is to afford to l live there, you probably about sixty, sixty thousand. Sixty thousand. ⁓ when you average it out. And that's that's low comp compared to like the cost of living in there. Yeah. When we talk about and I know we talked about like New York is is way more expensive, but in the scheme of things, ⁓ I mean Charleston now, housing has just become so unaffordable. People can't work where they live. ⁓ so I've got constituents who who complain about that all the time. People leave their jobs because they get tired of driving an hour. They have to move an hour away. ⁓ but we still have a lot of people that move out and drive into the city. Just to work because that's where the bulk of the jobs are. It's so crazy because I am literally hearing the same thing in New York, right? We have people who work at a hospital in my district, Suey Down State, ⁓ which is right in the heart of Central Brooklyn, one of the the third largest employer in probably the borough of Brooklyn. And those hospital workers, people who provide medical care, the essential workers that we were big on during the pandemic, are driving as far as Pennsylvania. ⁓ And as far as New Jersey to drive in. So it's having a ripple effect on the economy, right? One, all that wearing tear on their bodies and driving back and forth. But also you think about it, if you're not working in the city that you live in, you're spending money that you've earned in a city somewhere else. That's true. Right. So that we're actually helping to outsource a lot of the economic development of the places, ⁓ but not really getting that impact here at home. You mentioned ⁓ something earlier that I wanted to kind of hit on, ⁓ which was you mentioned housing, and we'll get back to that. But you also mentioned childcare. Yeah. Is a am I right? Did I hear that? ⁓ you having a baby coming up soon? Yeah, a baby. Yeah, times two. Times two. Yeah. You having two babies. Twins. Now I got one. You got two. So you got two car seats, two cribs, two. Two working on all that. And so and and and looking at that too now and hearing from my friends, cause it's exciting obviously for me and my wife. ⁓ but congratulations, Bottle. That's incredible for both of you. And so my friends though, when they're telling us like, How much daycare, like I had no idea because I had no reason to really know. But dude, I'm like that's a mortgage. It's the second highest bill that my wife and I pay every single month. Yeah. Obviously, rent and then childcare. And I'm like, times two. Like, so now I gotta figure out if there's a two for one deal somewhere. Listen, I'm just glad you a lawyer and your wife a doctor. Yeah. Because my little legislative self cannot deal with two at the same time right now. But I mean, shout outs to you guys. And what's the average cost of a home? So that's a good question. In Charleston, so right now, I would say the average cost of a home is probably about well, I would say four hundred thousand now. ⁓ and that's because and it and this is a four hundred thousand dollar home is like a starter home. One yeah, I mean it's like a two maybe a two bedroom, two bath, like it's it's not a lot of space. ⁓ and I mean we have homes in my district that are less than fifteen hundred square feet. Well, let's just say a thousand square feet for a million dollars. ⁓ which is crazy. And so, but then you have certain areas where you can get a twenty two hundred square foot house for seven hundred thousand. So it depends on like where you are, but that's still h on the higher end well absolutely when you describe when you describe the income, right? And you talk about the price of the homes, it's comparable. New York, one point five million dollars is a starter home in my district. And I say that not with pride. Like that's not a flex. That's like a concern. A legit concern for so many working families across the Yeah, so like a teacher, right? So like how you know, I mean for us, like we just upped it. We just ⁓ increased the teacher's salary, I think starting at fifty five thousand, right? So I mean, that's that's not a lot of I mean, that's not a lot of money considering that if your home is half a million dollars and then you got childcare And all the other things. And and the down payment, right? Right. That's yeah, that which is the other piece. I think that's the part that trips up so many people is that a lot of people are paying rent that it's probably greater than the price of a mortgage. But in order to own that home to get that equity, they need that down payment. And and and quite frankly, you might miss a credit card bill in a way because if you're making X and your bills are Y, ⁓ at some point the break even just don't break even. That's true. That's crazy. What's one of the most important bills you're working on as you get ready to get back in a session in a couple of years? Yeah. So right now, so I've been working on this mental health kind of been ⁓ and and and working with ⁓ per persons with disabilities. That's kind of been my focus this past year. I usually always go in on criminal justice reform, yeah ⁓ type topics, but I got a lot done last year with that. So this year, ⁓ one that I did get through ⁓ is called the Safe Act. ⁓ s safeguarding American families everywhere. And so what that does is it allows persons to voluntarily opt in with the DMVs. So say for example, if I had a ⁓ certain disability that would affect my cognitive ability to react. So like epilepsy, autism, those types of things, or my child, I could ⁓ designate that on my registration within the system. It's not nothing that's like physically on your car. Yeah. But so for example, if I get pulled over by law enforcement, when they run the tag, it'll pop up and notify them that this person has one of these one of these conditions. And that's important because the person may interact with the officer differently than what they would anticipate a a a a regular, ⁓ reasonable person to react, right? But they may not know that they're reacting because of a certain medical condition. And so that's important. Also if there's a car accident or something that law enforcement ⁓ shows up on, they have that information. And so really it's to protect law enforcement, but also protect the people in the car as well. Absolutely. I mean you can imagine somebody even with the flashing lights, right? An officer might decide to turn their lights off coming towards somebody with that condition, knowing right what they know about the individual and police themselves. You know, instead of going up and shining the flashlight in your eye, they know that, ⁓ this person has epilepsy, let me not do that. They may react a certain way. So that that's one I got done and one that's also important. One an and these are things that my constituents had talked to me about. And one lady in particular, ⁓ she lost her son to suicide. And so what I'm trying to do is give parents ⁓ the power or authority to admit their child their adult child ⁓ for emergency care. So for example, what the bill would do is ⁓ if a person it has to be emergency medical cond like ⁓ condition, so it's an emergency meaning they are in that state of mind temporarily where they really don't have the capacity to make decisions for themselves. But a doctor would have to obviously ⁓ approve and and and say that it is an emergency situation. The parent would have to be there or the guardian. And then it's a it's limited to a 48 hour window that they could keep them. Cause obviously there's a concern about people's rights, you know, to refuse care. But it's really becoming a thing where parents, ⁓ they try to take their child. In this particular example, lady took her son to the hospital, ran through the halls, doctor helped. He was trying to jump out the car when he was driving, and they said, We can't do anything. He's over eighteen and he was refusing to come in. And so she she was helpless at that moment, but he was in an emergency crisis and needed help. And so because of the way the law is, she wasn't able to save her son and he ultimately committed suicide. And so I'm working ⁓ I got it I got it actually passed the Senate. ⁓ but it got stalled in the house. There were some concerns from people regarding, you know, rights of people to consent. And so th that's that's gonna be a tough challenge, but I'm gonna continue to work on that when we go back ⁓ this this session in January. Yeah. Have you seen a uptick in mental health? I mean crisis where people are experiencing mental health. I know since the pandemic a lot of people suffered from social isolation. Yeah. People were very, you know, younger people specifically with were just Talking about AI and social media and some of the impacts of it. Are you finding that to be a more trending thing where before people didn't really talk about mental health? Yeah, yeah. No, people definitely talking about it more. And in fact, I will give kudos to our our governor in our state in South Carolina. ⁓ the past couple of years, we have increased ⁓ like investment in the mental health services, right? And so trying to make sure we have mental health ⁓ social workers at the schools. ⁓ but but You mentioned AI. I mean, that's a big thing. Social media has really caused a lot of ⁓ stress and depression in in some of our younger children. ⁓ we've seen the studies. ⁓ we're trying to grapple around the legislature now. How do we ⁓ monitor this? How do we ⁓ regulate it but not over regulate it to protect the kids? So a lot of mental health issues are coming from that where you have kids because of social media, ⁓ they don't see themselves as ⁓ like like young women. They may not see themselves as pretty. So they start to hurt themselves because people say certain things and they target them on social media. So yeah, mental health has become an increasing issue. Yeah. ⁓ but more people are talking about it, which is good because you know it's that stigma, nobody they people don't want to be seen as crazy. Pray it away. Right, right, right. Right, particularly black communities communities, we hear it all the Prayed away. And so we got yeah, and yeah, but you gotta have some action. Based without works is dead. That's what I was trying to say. Yeah. and in terms of like mental health, are you seeing also because you mentioned criminal justice and your interests in the criminal justice system, are you seeing a connection between people 'cause the data point I heard at one point, and you may have heard the same thing and you may know differently, is that people who are experiencing a mental health crisis or have mental health challenges are far more likely to be a victim of crime than someone ⁓ other than that person actually committing a crime. Is that what you've heard or is there other studies out there? No, there are studies that correlate with that. ⁓ and the reason the reason is because specifically or just like that incident with the lady's son, they're in a state of mind they're in a temporary state of mind where they don't fully understand what's going on and they don't have the rationale or the cognitive ability to make those decisions. Yeah. As an adult, as a reasonable adult. And so in those moments, people react to them differently. Someone could assume that they're trying to harm them and attack them. They thus they become the victim. Or you have ⁓ moments where you know people get arrested for having mental health ⁓ breakdowns and and ultimately can can become victims of crimes because of that or harm themselves. And so that that's a big thing and which is why we have to do more education surrounding how to identify when somebody is going through episode. ⁓ and that needs to be and we talk about that with you know police training and and and and while I understand that, you know, officers are not supposed to be social workers, but the times have changed to where I mean that that that has that has to become a part of policing. I think to at least be able to identify just because of where we are versus fifty, you know, sixty years ago. It's funny you say that I have like two bills that I have done, one is a nine eighty eight hotline. ⁓ which would give more funding to nine eight eight, pretty comparable to nine one one. So that if you see someone experiencing a mental health crisis, you don't call nine one one because that goes to the police and the police know that's pro potentially a dangerous situation. And changing the vernacular to have people dial nine eight eight so the police are notified that they're gonna probably encounter someone to your point. with ⁓ a mental health challenge. The other one is like making sure that we have a unit of the of the police department. So and for us as the NYPD, having a unit like, you know, you have traffic cops, you have community affairs officers. Why don't we have a mental health track where they can actually be trained in mental health ⁓ and how to, you know, de-escalate situations. I know cops are usually generally very good at de-escalating, but you gotta remember cops are going from certainly cops that are like B cops. They're going from standing on the corner, making a drug bus, seeing somebody die of an overdose, saying a cat, and then they're dealing with somebody who's experiencing something and they themselves sometimes don't have the mental health in terms of being checked to making sure that they're processing and having no stress points throughout the day. And sometimes, you know, the decision of an a officer, like if we make a decision, we can go back and write make an amendment. Right. Yeah. Right. When an officer makes a mistake, there is a permanent loss sometimes that takes place for a family, for a community, destabilizes the trust ⁓ between law enforcement and the communities they serve, ⁓ which is really interesting. Now when I think about criminal justice, because that's that's an area you talked about and I really enjoy this thing of justice. Cause I used to work, people don't know realize this, but before coming to the state legislator, I worked at a place called the National Institute for Criminal Justice and Reform. I also work for a place called the Center for Court Innovation, trying to figure out how to innovate justice. And I think in my next life beyond the state assembly, outside of doing these wonderful podcasts, ⁓ I'm definitely gonna find myself in that space of justice because what is ⁓ law without justice, right? ⁓ how do you think we can innovate the justice space, particularly for people like yourself, ⁓ a lawyer? ⁓ I know in New York, ⁓ it's giving people more access to discovery. It's making sure that the files are neater so that both the d both the victim or or the the prosecution and the defense, the judges and everyone is playing from the same set of playbooks so that in the courtroom, you're not getting information at the last second. What can we do in terms of how we use technology and how we use tools to make sure everyone has the same set of information so that we can actually administer justice fairly for people. No, that's a good question. And so like in South Carolina, what we've doing, we call it modernizing or modernization of the court system. And so because a lot of in and certain counties, South Carolina, we have a lot of rural counties ⁓ that are like farm land and and not much ⁓ development, right? ⁓ and so you do still we do still have some court systems or courthouses that kind of lag with the paper system. ⁓ but one thing that we can do and which we've done is ⁓ modernize things. So we're now instead of me having to ⁓ print out my ⁓ filing, sign it and and drive down to the courthouse to file it, we have e-filing. ⁓ a lot of states I believe are starting to use that. I know for ⁓ example, North Carolina just recently switched maybe a year or two ago to e-filing. I remember when South Carolina started, we did sort of pilot projects for different counties. And what that allows is It streamlines things and it makes it simpler. So I can as an attorney file a pleading or a motion or what have you online. Now instead of them mailing the discovery, there's a portal. We can go online to different portals. And each county is different. They're trying to figure it out ⁓ and play with their own software. But I think that's where we're headed, where everything's sort of like in the cloud, I guess. Yeah. ⁓ but also that helps pro se defendants or pro se litigants, people who don't have an attorney who may Can I afford attorney or don't want an attorney? You know, they'll have access to certain information where they can go online because some of them may not have ⁓ a ride to go downtown the every time they need to file something, right? Or to pick up a paper so that they can have access and it's fair and transparent too. Like we know the timestamp when the prosecutor released that information. So they can't say, Well, we sent it, you know, in the mail and it never came. We can see when you uploaded it to the portal ⁓ and whether or not it was timely. within the c constitution of when you're supposed to provide that information to the other party. Absolutely. So I think it it provides transparency. ⁓ but obviously we just gotta make sure the data, everything is secure. Yeah. No, so I'm noticing recently, even today, there's been a huge focus, particularly for state lawmakers, on AI and the pace of AI. And one of the things I said earlier in the panel was that we have to innovate, right? We know that AI is changing the way we work and the way we operate and it impacts every single committee. I don't care if you sit on housing, transportation, or veterans, everything is now impacted by artificial intelligence. ⁓ how is South Carolina a state that's not as people perceive as a little slower to change, right? ⁓ I think New York also can be a little bit too rapid at times, right? So there's there's a balance enacting we can play off each other. How are you guys adjusting to AI with the workforce, with retention of people that want to live? in South Carolina and how it's impacting ⁓ both your private sector and your government side. Yeah. So we're moving a little bit slower with AI. Well, as far as regulations. I remember when this was became a thing and we were like, We have to figure this out because we don't want it to run rampant and, you know, people abuse it, ⁓ particularly to commit crimes and yeah and put out false things. And so Well we've done is slowly we've been slow to regulate to address regulation as things come up. ⁓ because we wanted to also allow us to be able to use it and figure out how to ⁓ make it benefit South Carolina and all the people. ⁓ but one concern I know constituents have because it always comes up is to make sure how do we ensure that AI doesn't replace jobs, right? And so and we see that everywhere. And and it's one of those scenes where it's kind of inevitable. it it's going to replace some jobs. We just have to make sure it doesn't replace all jobs, right? Because I don't think that we can stop it from because I mean businesses are gonna make financial decisions, right? And so we even see law f law firms are doing it now where instead of having, you know, three or four paralegals, they might have one paralegal and then like four children outsourcing things to like this AI yeah. Companies that can, you know, you can upload medical records and A AI program will will draft a whole demand for you to send to the insurance company or vice versa. You can put in, ⁓ I mean, I was introduced to a software by a young lady and I can't remember the name of it, but it's for ⁓ public defenders. And and I I like the tool because usually the public defenders have less resources than the prosecutors. That's always the case for whatever reason. Was it Justice Nexus? It's a justice something, and maybe. Yeah, I think it's like a company called AI Nexus that's doing some stuff around. It may be, yeah. It's something with justice in it. And what it does is, I mean, it allows you to ⁓ upload it. I did a sampling of it, so I can upload a body cam ⁓ footage to it. Instead of me, usually I take, you know, five you sitting there, you might watch it for a couple hours and you gotta wait and go through and write your notes and see what happens. You can upload this and it will like almost immediately transcribe the entire thing. And then you can go in and ask, when was this person read their Miranda rights or was the officer ever aggressive? And it'll point out the moments when it was, was there a physical altercation? And that's just like, I mean, that's a game changer. One, I think it will help people ⁓ in in these cases, but also put that could work. I mean, yeah, because now the you know, the assistant or whomever you would have had review that and it takes them hours, it's streamlined it. So I know businesses and companies are gonna make those financial decisions. ⁓ but again, we have to make sure that we're not ⁓ putting people out. ⁓ I've even had people ask like, are we gonna end up going to this like UB universal ⁓ income? ⁓ you universal basic income. Yeah, that was a thing that ⁓ Senator Corey Booker had talked about on the national level when he was running for president. And I think it picked up a lot of steam. Even I even think there was a mayor in ⁓ I wanna say California, who's not running for Lieutenant Governor of California. This is not a plug. certainly he had talked about universal basic income and how that may play a role as technology ⁓ deepens. Yeah, and I do a radio ⁓ show every Thursday back in ⁓ Charleston and it's called the Tetter Talk. ⁓ so we actually ⁓ the host he asked me about UBI and he was concerned about it because his thing is like, you know, who's gonna control it? Like what if If if so say you're a radio personality and you say something that the government don't like, can they cut off your UBI? Because you're not working to earn it. It's kinda almost as a given and how will that structure so it there's a lot of concerns like if we move to that, but I mean, what would be the other option if AI ⁓ continues to take over? So you have a show that comes on every Thursday. Yeah. Well it's radio. Yeah, I'm on the radio. I'm on the radio down in Charleston. Where can I find it? Yeah, yeah. So it's ⁓ Z ninety three Jam. So you can go I Heart Radio. Okay. ⁓ look it up. But ninety three point three is the station ⁓ w through Cumulus Radio. But Z ninety three Jams every Thursday at four o'clock, man. I hop and we do tether talk, we dive into ⁓ just hot topics that's going on. I'll explain, usually an update on legislation we're doing and how it will affect the constituents. And then I do legal I take legal questions. People can call in and ask questions and I'll give them advice and then you know. I knew you were doing too good on this interview to ⁓ this wasn't your first time at the rodeo. You playing games with me. I got it. Okay, copy. ⁓ in terms of South Carolina, my wife and I love, love, love, love Charleston, ⁓ South Carolina. Been there few times ⁓ and was like was blown away by everything the food, the culture, the people. ⁓ but if we were to go there now ⁓ for a date night What's your go to restaurant for us? Man, the go to restaurant. I like Italian food. And it's this ⁓ new place ⁓ that we have is called Sorelli. Sorelli, okay. Yeah. Great, great Italian. ⁓ great Italian food. Now if you want some soul food, you gotta get the soul food. But I'm Jamaica I'm Jamaican, so you I I I gotta be connected to my roots. Yeah, yeah. no, soul food, man. We got ⁓ so many places. ⁓ and it's it's one spot and actually it just closed down but ⁓ it was a barbecue spot ⁓ and and Rodney Rodney Scott's I've been around they had two locations out there. Yeah. And so that one now he does he still pops around. He'll do like pull ups on the ⁓ best smoker some of the best barbecue I had. Don't tell the folks in St. Louis that though. I don't want I don't want no smoke of nobody. See yeah and you know what's what's interesting in South Carolina is they do mustard base. ⁓ And so I'm f I grew up in North Carolina, so I'm used to vinegar-based barbecue. So I was getting that debate with them. ⁓ when we have something, I'm like, ⁓ you know, I'm I hear that. Favorite book are the book you're reading right now. Funny. The book I'm reading right now is Why a Son Needs a Father. ⁓ my wife actually gave me that book. ⁓ so I'm trying to read a lot of books about parenting. ⁓ because this is our first time and so expecting two boys? Yeah, two boys. Listen, your your wife is gonna learn about being a boy mom real quick. My wife in the morning time when my son, I'm not home and you know, you be in the chamber, he wants to wrestle with mommy, he wants to wrestle with daddy, but boys are something else, man. Senator is crazy. In fact, I don't think I ever told you this, but I named my son after you. Just name a senator. I tell all my senators this. They love it, right? I get a real quick co sponsor for that journey. Exactly. Are you a morning or night person? I'm a night person. You are? Yeah. Okay. I am not. I'm a day person. Like I could be up from five, six by nine o'clock, my head like the pillow, man. ⁓ no. I can't keep my eyes open at night. If I'm home, if I'm outside, I'm outside. Yeah. If I'm inside the house, ⁓ see, even if I'm home, I can stay up. So I'm like my wife, my mom, and say you're a night out, I stay up and just watch TV all night. I'm not an early morning person. That's like Now my wife, she's up early in the morning. She already downstairs. When this is all said and done, because end of day, ⁓ as you know, being a state lawmaker is one of the most incredible parts of our life. But it's really just that, it's a part of our lives. People really don't want their politicians staying, you know, we've seen this where ⁓ our presidents are getting older, our politicians are hanging out lot longer, our judges on the bench are staying ⁓ sometimes too long. When it's all said and done and you finish your work in the state legislator, what's gonna be a legacy that you left behind and ⁓ Charleston, South Carolina. And that's huge. And so my legacy really I want to be sort of like my my dad's, you know. So my dad, and I didn't mention so he he passed when I was eighteen. ⁓ didn't go to college, but he was and he was a janitor ⁓ at Duke Hospital ⁓ in Durham most of his life. And the legacy I want is he's all he always used whatever resources he had to help people. And so for me, the legacy is ⁓ Senator Tetter always listened. And he did what he could to try to help me solve my issues. And even if we couldn't solve it, I know that he genuinely tried to help. ⁓ and he did things to help make my life better. And and that would be the legacy. And I'll just say that because the other day I was actually in Durham, 4th of July, I went home, visited the fam. And I went to this ⁓ breakfast spot to pick up some breakfast for the family. And the lady behind the cash register, she we were just talking and she noticed my last name because I'm from there. And she's like, who was your who's your people? And I told her who my dad was, like Louis Tedder. She's like, Wow. She was like, He's the he gave me my first job at Duke ⁓ in housekeeping. And she was like, He was the nicest man and he he was willing to give her an opportunity when nobody else would. And so that's the type of legacy I wanna leave where people remember that I did what I could with what I had, ⁓ to just try to give back and help everybody else reach their potential. Well, I know three things about you, maybe four. I know you're an awesome friend. 'Cause we've shared a unshakable bond over the last four years. You're an amazing legislator. You're a wonderful husband, and I have no doubts you're gonna be a great father. Senator, I'm so proud of you. Thank you for being on the show, and I can't wait to see you in Charleston. Appreciate it. Let's level it over some over some mustard base ribs. Yeah, we'll do some shrimp and grits too. You gotta get the shrimp and grits. I love it. I love it. Appreciate you, bro. All right, man. Thanks. My listeners, make sure you join me every week on off the floor as we return the session in January. Stands adjourned.