Copper Dome Chronicle: 2024 Session Week 15
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Copper Dome Chronicle, sponsored by Advocatus. We strive for substantive writing with brevity, inspired by the book Smart Brevity.
This week’s edition, covering April 16-18, 2024, is 967 words or a 4 minute read. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
Resources
SC Election Commission Candidate Filing Tracker
Week 15 Preview
The most important activity this week is the joint assembly on Wednesday, April 17 to elect judges and trustees to various college/university boards. When the Judicial Merit Selection Commission report was released January 16, there were 15 contested elections. Since that time some candidates allegedly have indicated that they would withdraw from their contests, so it is likely there will not be 15 contested elections. Regarding the College and University Trustee Screening Commission report, there is only one contested contest among 28 elections. After the budget, the most important activity in the General Assembly each year is the election of judges.
The House has four bills on its calendar eligible for debate to begin the week and there are no contested bills on the calendar.
The Senate has 53 bills, two concurrent resolutions, 14 joint resolutions, and one Senate resolution on its calendar to begin the week. No bills are in Special Order status, but it is expected H.5118 (comprehensive energy bill) will be set for Special Order. There are 31 bills and joint resolutions without a printed objection on the Senate calendar:
H.5231 (Bamberg County School District)
H.5267 (Saluda County Council districts)
H.5014 (Lexington County School District sales tax-property tax swap)
H.5356 (Laurens County School Districts 55 and 56)
S.154 (SC Street Gang And Criminal Enterprise Prevention and Anti-Racketeering Act)
S.266 (juvenile justice code amendments)
S.1117 (wilderness therapeutic camps regulations)
H.4957 (name, image, likeness)
S.1215 (DNR antlerless deer regulations)
S.1216 (DNR wild turkey regulations)
S.1217 (DNR deer depredation regulations)
S.1218 (DSS family child care homes)
H.4029 (housing authorities and magistrates)
S.1221 (Office of Occupational Safety and Health regulations)
S.1222 (contractors regulations)
S.1223 (environmental certification board regulations)
S.1224 (land surveyor regulations)
S.1225 (building codes council fee schedule regulations)
S.1226 (real estate commission regulations)
S.1227 (Office of Occupational Safety and Health regulations)
S.1228 (radioactive waste regulations)
S.1158 (graduated penalties for illegal firearm possession)
S.1076 (work zones and driver’s licenses)
S.1166 (dismissal of pending handgun possession charges)
S.1220 (county delegation approval of state park access)
H.4674 (display license plates)
H.5023 (work zones and driver’s licenses)
H.3865 (coroner qualifications)
H.4042 (definition of antisemitism)
H.4871 (farm animal transportation)
H.5169 (Farmers Protection Act)
Crossover Day
An important legislative deadline was met last week: Crossover Day on April 10. If a bill has not passed its originating chamber (i.e. a House bill passing the House) and received by the other chamber by April 10, then that bill cannot be considered without a two-thirds procedural vote. Associated with Crossover Day is a change in committee activity. Committees will start debating the other chamber’s bills (i.e. House committees debating Senate bills) because those bills have already met the crossover deadline and don’t have the two-thirds procedural vote requirement to meet.
Below are some “crossover casualties,” which are House bills with at least 25 sponsors (20% of the House membership) but did not pass the House before crossover and don’t have a companion bill that is still alive for this session. While the number of sponsors is not a perfect predictor of a bill’s likelihood of passage, it says something about the support for a bill.
Bills on House Calendar
None
Bills in House Committees
H.3115 (disabled veteran income tax credit)
H.3430 (state health plan eligibility for school board members)
H.3473 (political parties)
H.3481 (child custody)
H.3509 (prohibit local government economic incentives)
H.3510 (prohibit state government economic incentives)
H.3617 (increase paid parental leave for state employees)
H.3618 (cost sharing for insurers and PBMs)
H.3742 (kratom schedule IV controlled substance)
H.3928 (EMS preretirement benefits)
H.3930 (Beach Restoration and Improvement Trust Fund)
H.3933 (joint and several liability)
H.4019 (Pregnancy Resource Act)
H.4027 (Medicaid expansion study committee)
H.4083 (COVID-19 sunset provisions)
H.4125 (allow private school student participation in athletics)
H.4411 (exclude income earned by a minor for SNAP benefits)
H.4442 (definition of money excludes central bank digital currency)
H.4473 (Department of Corrections work program)
H.4485 (display the Ten Commandments in public schools)
H.4538 (Student Physical Privacy Act)
H.4591 (prohibit ranked choice voting)
H.4844 (mandatory marine recovery insurance)
H.4954 (electromagnetic pulse protection)
H.4971 (remove law enforcement earnings limitation)
H.5022 (no cost to students school meals)
Lastly, this is the second session of the two-year legislature. After the legislature adjourns for the year, any legislation that has not passed both chambers and presented to the governor for his decision is dead. All legislation that did not pass in 2024 must be introduced as new legislation in 2025 to coincide with the new, two-year legislature that begins in January 2025.
Week 14 Review
House floor sessions consumed exactly 7 hours and passed 14 bills and resolutions.
The Senate met in perfunctory session all week due to the Senate Finance Committee (SFC) budget deliberations, so no floor sessions were held. Read our recap of the SFC budget; it’s only a 4 minute read.
Committee Schedule Week 15
There are 22 House full and subcommittee meetings; all House standing committees that meet regularly during session have at least one meeting this week. There are 13 Senate full and subcommittee meetings; all but two Senate standing committees that meet regularly during session have at least one meeting this week. And for good measure, there are two joint legislative committee meetings this week. For brevity sake, the committee schedules are not posted below but links to the meeting schedule are included in this paragraph.
Key Dates
January 9: Session Convenes
January 16: Judicial Merit Selection Commission final report published
January 24: State of the State
February 7: Judicial elections (subject to change)
February 15: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) February revenue estimate
February 20-22: House Ways & Means Committee budget deliberations
March 6: Election of the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court
March 11-14: House floor budget deliberations
March 16: Candidate filing opens for all House and Senate seats at 12pm
April 1: Candidate filing closes for all House and Senate seats at 12pm
April 1-5: House furlough week
April 9-11: Senate Finance Committee budget deliberations
April 10: Crossover Day
April 17: Judicial Elections
April 23-25: Senate floor budget deliberations
May 9: Session Adjourns
June 5: Election of an Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court (tentative)
June 11: Nominating Primary Elections
June 12: Senate budget conference report vote (tentative)
June 18-20: House budget conference report vote (tentative)
June 25: Nominating Primary Runoff Elections
June 26-28: Budget vetoes session (tentative)
July 1: Fiscal Year 2024-2025 begins
October 6: Last day to register to vote
October 21: Early voting opens
November 2: Early voting closes
November 5: General Election Day
