Friday Reports
The Friday Report, is prepared and distributed every Friday of the legislative session. The most recent Friday Report will always appear on the home page.
SCAC President Debbie Summers this week received a resolution honoring her as the President of the Association and acknowledging her many accomplishments and acts of service to Lexington County and the Midlands. She is pictured here with House members of the Lexington County Delegation.
This week in the General Assembly, the House spent time on the floor debating and passing the Bond Reform bill (H. 3532) and a joint resolution to amend the South Carolina Constitution to repeal the prohibition against the state or its political subdivisions providing direct aid to the religious or other private educational institutions (H. 3591). The Senate continued working through its calendar and passed several bills relevant to county government. Bills of interest are discussed below:
Revenue, Finance and Economic Development
Thanks to the more than 200 county officials who came to Columbia this week to take part in SCAC’s Counties Connect: A Legislative Action Day. The event was very successful, and members of the General Assembly were grateful for the time spent with their county officials! You all truly demonstrated the #statewideimpact of #localleaders. Check out our Facebook album for more photos of Counties Connect, the Institute of Government and Council Chairperson’s Workshop.
This week in the General Assembly, the House spent time on the floor debating and passing the “Open Carry Without Training Act” (H. 3594) and the Ways and Means Committee passed its version of the budget (H. 4300). The Senate debated and passed two bills in an effort to combat the effects that fentanyl is having in South Carolina (S. 1 and S. 153) as well as a bill to shield the manufacturer of drugs used to administer death by lethal injection (S.Read Full Report
Revenue, Finance, and Economic Development
This week in the General Assembly, the Senate completed its debate and passed the Certificate of Need bill, S. 164, and debated and passed a fetal heartbeat bill, S. 474. The House debated and passed an education bill, H. 3728, that would prohibit certain concepts from being taught in public schools and professional development. Bills of interest are discussed below:
Public Safety, Corrections, and Judicial
SCAC Director of Governmental Affairs Kent Lesesne testifies before a House Judiciary subcommittee.
H. 3532 would provide for a five-year sentencing enhancement for persons who commit certain additional crimes while they are out on bond, and it prohibits bond for certain crimes. It would also require a full cash bond for
Read Full ReportThis week in the General Assembly, the Senate debated and passed S. 39, an educational scholarship bill that would allow public funds to be used for students to attend private and religious schools. The Senate also debated S. 164, a bill that would repeal the Certificate of Need requirement for certain health care facilities. The House spent the week debating and passing H. 3503, a bill creating the criminal offense of trafficking in fentanyl, while also taking testimony from state agencies in budget subcommittees. Bills of interest are discussed below:
Revenue, Finance and Economic Development
Trafficking Fentanyl – H. 3503/S.153. H. 3503 would create the criminal offense of trafficking in fentanyl and would provide substantial penalties for such offenses. The House debated the bill for several hours and adopted several amendments on the floor. The House gave H. 3503 a second and third reading and the bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
S. 153 would add fentanyl-related substances to the list of Schedule I controlled substances and would create the felonyRead Full Report
This week in the General Assembly, the Senate continued to debate an education scholarship bill that would allow public funds to be used for students to attend private and religious schools. The House did very little on the floor, continuing to work mostly in subcommittees taking up budget requests and other bills. Governor Henry McMaster also gave his State of the State before the General Assembly on Wednesday evening. Bills of interest are discussed below:
Revenue, Finance and Economic Development
testifies before the House Judiciary
Criminal Laws subcommittee.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) – H. 3604. This legislation would provide for the expenditure of funds from the Contingency Reserve Fund for economic development projects and for the expenditure of federal ARPA funds that were disbursed to the State under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. H. 3604 also clarifies that funds previously distributed to the ARPA Resilience Account under Act 244 of 2022 may be used for the acquisition of property throughout the state in an effort to increase resilience.
Under the current House proposal, $500 million would be appropriated from the Contingency Reserve Fund to the Department of Commerce for infrastructure funding for qualifying economic development projects that were authorized by the Joint Bond ReviewRead Full Report
This is the second week of the 2023 Legislative Session of the General Assembly. The Senate spent the week debating an education scholarship bill that would allow public funds to be used for students to attend private and religious schools. The House debated a bill allocating funds distributed to South Carolina in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and continued to work in subcommittees taking budget requests. Bills of interest will be discussed below in this week’s Friday Report.
The South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC) will host Counties Connect: A Legislative Action Day on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at the USC Alumni Center in downtown Columbia. Formerly known as the Association’s Mid-Year Conference, this is an excellent opportunity to meet with your legislators and discuss issues important to your county. See the detailed information regarding Counties Connect as well as Institute classes that follow the legislative items in this week’s Friday Report.
Revenue, Finance, and Economic Development
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) – H. 3604. This legislation would provide for the expenditure of funds from the Contingency Reserve Fund for economic development projects and for the expenditure of federal ARPA funds that were disbursed to the state under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. H. 3604 also clarifies that funds previouslyRead Full Report
The General Assembly began the 2023 Legislative Session this week. Because this is the first year of a two-year session, a plethora of bills were prefiled and introduced this week on both side of the chamber. Bills of interest to the counties will be found in the Newly-Introduced Legislation below. There was very little legislative action other than the House Ways and Means subcommittees taking testimony on budget requests and the full committee voting out of committee a bill regarding the use of the state American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The Senate indicated it will be taking up an education bill next week that would pave the way for public funds to be used for private and religious schools.
The South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC) will host Counties Connect: A Legislative Action Day on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at the USC Alumni Center in downtown Columbia. Formerly known as the association’s Mid-Year Conference, this is an excellent opportunity to meet with your legislators and discuss issues important to your county. See the detailed information regarding Counties Connect as well as Institute classes that follows the legislative items in this week’s Friday Report.
Revenue, Finance, and Economic Development
Affairs, testifies before the House Ways and Means
Constitutional Budget Subcommittee.
Local Government Fund – The Ways and Means Constitutional Subcommittee met on Tuesday to hear the budget requests for several stateRead Full Report
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