Hello! The 2023 S.C. legislative session starts today. To kick off the year, we are rolling out a new project: the Statehouse Update. Each week SCPC will provide updates on legislation dealing with tax relief, government transparency, school choice and other important issues. Lawmakers are hitting the ground running this year with several notable bills …
What they did: This week, the General Assembly reconvened briefly to pass H.4014, which appropriates $45 million of surplus dollars to the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to address the COVID-19 outbreak. The governor suggested that these funds be deducted from a small, nonrefundable tax credit of $100 per taxpayer (with a state tax …
The legislative session began this week, and lawmakers have filed another 100 bills – in addition to the 700+ bills prefiled in advance of session (click here for an overview of that legislation). These bills, as with the prefiled legislation, focus on new regulations, more spending, and growing government. A few highlights include H.3448, which …
This week lawmakers filed an additional 84 bills, a number of which would increase the regulatory burden on citizens and businesses. H.3629 would outlaw the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, while S.379 would carve out a regulatory exemption for electric car manufacturers. Under current law, car manufacturers cannot currently sell directly to the …
This week, one of the most noteworthy bills to be filed was H.3759, an 85-page bill overhauling the education system. This bill addresses education standards and required tests and contains a student “bill of rights”, to name just a few elements. Filed the same day without nearly as much fanfare, however, was H.3757 – a …
This week, the massive House bill that would overhaul the state education system received its first subcommittee hearing. The meeting was largely to hear input from citizens and no official action was taken. The bill is scheduled to be heard again in subcommittee next Tuesday. Also, a related bill seeking to recreate last year’s data …
This week, lawmakers filed 130 new bills, 80 of which were congratulatory/honorary/sympathy resolutions. 60 individual resolutions honored boy scouts, and some of the other resolutions honored a school wrestling team, a retiring firefighter, an author, and a school softball team. 17 bills would add or amend regulations on individuals and businesses. S.472 would create a …
Lawmakers filed 82 new pieces of legislation this week, 31 of which were honorary/sympathy resolutions. One of the most notable bills in the “time waster” category is S.500, which allows the Governor to appoint an “ambassador of jazz” for South Carolina, and posthumously names a deceased individual as the inaugural ambassador. Of the remaining 50 …
What lawmakers did: This week, the House Ways and Means Committee finalized their draft of the appropriations bill, adopting a state spending plan of $30 billion. Spending highlights include a 2% employee raise, a 4% teacher raise, $40 million for a new voting system, $15 million to relocate the USC School of Medicine, $1 million …
What they did This week, a couple of significant bills passed out of committee and were added to the House floor calendar, one of which was H.3759, the education omnibus bill. This bill was revised in committee, but still includes the creation of a “Zero to Twenty Committee” to “monitor the state education and workforce …