Copper Dome Chronicle: 2025 Session Preview
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 January 7-9, 2025, is 907 words or a 3.5 minute read. The first day of the 2025 regular session of the 126th General Assembly is Tuesday, January 14. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
Resources
House Budget Calendar (TBA)
Senate Budget Calendar (TBA)
2025 Session Preview
The House and Senate convene at 12pm on Tuesday, January 14 to begin the 2025 regular session. The chambers will begin the session with the following partisan splits:
Senate: 34 Republicans, 12 Democrats (+4Rs from 2024). 13 new Senators (9R/4D).
House: 88 Republicans, 35 Democrats, 1 vacancy (no change from 2024). 19 new Representatives (15R/4D).
House Speaker Murrell Smith and the House Republican Caucus have outlined several priorities, calling their legislative agenda “6 Pillars for Progress.” The top priority is income tax relief. Currently the individual income tax rate is 6.2% and is scheduled to decrease to 6.0% if state revenue growth exceeds 5% in a fiscal year, triggering a 0.1% decline each year. Each 0.1% decline in the individual income tax cut has a budget score of approximately $97 million, using a static scoring economic analysis model. South Carolina does not use dynamic scoring for fiscal impact statements, which accounts for the fiscal impacts of the tax policy change as well as changes in taxpayer behavior in response to lower tax rates.
Another priority for both House and Senate Republican Caucuses is a legislative fix to Act 8 of 2023, which created Educational Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) accounts to pay for private school tuition and other education expenses for eligible students, predominantly those from low-income families. The South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Eidson v. Department of Education struck down the use of ESTF accounts to pay for private school tuition, but left in place allowable expenses such as tutoring and instructional materials.
Energy legislation is likely to be debated in 2025 after failing to pass last year. The Senate created the Special Committee on South Carolina’s Energy Future, which held several hearings during the offseason. A Special Joint Committee to Study Childcare met several times in 2024 but has not yet produced any legislation or legislative recommendations.
Lastly, there are 52 judicial elections in 2025 between seats on the Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, Family Court, and the Administrative Law Court. Elections have tentatively been scheduled for February 5 but that date requires the passage of a concurrent resolution and is subject to change. While all judgeships are consequential, the most closely watched will be Seat 2 on the Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy when Associate Justice Letitia Verdin was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court. Three candidates were found qualified and nominated for this seat. This will be the final set of elections under the current selection process, as the provisions of Act 219 of 2024 take effect July 1, 2025. As we have written time and time again, after the budget, judicial elections are the most important and most political activity undertaken by the General Assembly each year.
Organizational Sessions Review
The House held two organizational days on December 3 and 4. House rules were adopted and House members received committee assignments. House members prefiled 656 bills and resolutions on two prefiling days (December 5 and December 12).The House leadership remains the same as the 125th General Assembly:
House Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope
House Majority Leader Davey Hiott
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford
The Senate held one organizational day on December 4. Senate rules were adopted and Senators selected their committee assignments. Senators prefiled 152 bills and resolutions on December 11. The Senate leadership remains the same as the 125th General Assembly:
Senate President Thomas Alexander
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey
Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto
One rule change that will impact how the Senate operates is the elimination of the April 10 crossover deadline for legislation originating in the House. Previously, any House legislation received after April 10 was subject to a two-thirds vote threshold to be considered by the Senate. The new Senate rules remove this requirement. During the floor debate regarding the new rules, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey stated that the House may take up a similar rules change when it returns regarding Senate legislation received after April 10. The elimination of the crossover deadline by both chambers would be a significant change in the way the General Assembly has operated for the past two decades.
Committee Schedule Week Zero
If a live stream link is not provided with a committee meeting that means no live stream is available. Additional meetings may be added during the week and while 24 hours notice is generally given, it is not always possible to provide such notice.
Special Joint Committee to Study Childcare; January 7 at 2pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The committee will receive four presentations.
Senate Education Subcommittee; January 8 at 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The subcommittee will consider and debate S.62 (K-12 education lottery scholarships). This is the Senate response to the ESTF court case (Eidson v. Department of Education).
Senate Education Committee; January 8 at 12pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The full committee will consider and debate S.62 (K-12 education lottery scholarships), if and as amended by the previous subcommittee meeting.
Robert Smalls Monument Commission; January 8 at 11am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The agenda has not been posted yet. The commission was created by Act 183 of 2024. Read this brief biography by the University of South Carolina about Robert Smalls.
Prostate Cancer Study Committee; January 8 at 2pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The study committee will receive public testimony and discuss its workplan to produce the required study committee report.
Key Dates
January 14, 2025: Session Convenes
January 16, 2025: Judicial Merit Selection Commission final report published
January 2025: State of the State (TBA)
February 5, 2025: Judicial elections (subject to change)
February 13, 2025: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) February revenue estimate
March 10-14, 2025: House floor budget deliberations (tentative)
April 10, 2025: Crossover Day (Senate bills to the House only)
April 10, 2025: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) April revenue estimate
April 10-13, 2025: 2025 Masters Tournament*
April 17-20, 2025: 2025 RBC Heritage Tournament*
April 21-25, 2025: Senate floor budget deliberations (tentative)
May 8, 2025: Session Adjourns
May 8-11, 2025: Myrtle Beach Classic Tournament*
June 5-8, 2025: BMW Charity Pro-Am Tournament*
July 1, 2025: Fiscal Year 2025-2026 begins
*These four professional golf tournaments have impacted legislative calendars in previous sessions.
**Most school district spring breaks are during the first three full weeks of April 2025, though the largest school district in the state - Greenville County - has spring break March 17-21, 2025.
