After casting over 600 roll call votes, this year’s legislative session ended on Thursday.
The House will reconvene briefly in June to finalize the state budget, review conference committee reports, and assess any vetoes to the budget by the Governor. We will also be back in late Summer/early Fall in an effort to complete our once-a-decade task of redistricting.
Meaningful and conservative legislation meant to protect our constitutional rights, cut government spending and regulations, preserve life, secure the integrity of our elections, and better our education system was the focus of this year’s session.
Here are some of the bills that passed this week:
Convention of States: To amend the US Constitution, Congress can propose changes, but so can a Convention of the States. We passed a bill to join the list of states who wish to participate in the convention process.
Exceptional Need Tax Credits: The House and Senate passed a bill that allows for public charities to expend extra money on children with exceptional needs and allow for money spent on these children to be claimed as a tax credit.
Tax Conformity: This week the tax conformity bill passed the House and Senate, which aligns the state and federal tax codes. This year, many people filed for unemployment due to the pandemic. This bill exempts some of this income, ensuring people are not penalized for the hardships they faced.
Beach Access Parking: A bill passed on Thursday and is now headed to Gov. McMaster’s desk that requires a municipality receive prior approval from the SCDOT before establishing, altering or restricting the use of parking facilities on a state highway. This ensures that everyone can afford a day at the beach.
Left Lane Driving: The House adopted a conference report on a bill that says slower traffic on South Carolina’s roads must move over for faster vehicles on 2+ lane highways.
Progress is still being made on COVID vaccinations. 44% of South Carolinians have started the COVID vaccination process. 35% are fully vaccinated. Over 3.1 million vaccine doses have been given to South Carolina residents to date. Click here to find a vaccination provider.
It’s an honor to represent District 108 in the House. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
Rep. Lee Hewitt