The first half of the 2023-2024 legislative session has come to an end in the Palmetto State, and we have already achieved historic wins for the common good. Ranging from the issue of abortion to fentanyl drug-trafficking and adoption laws, many crucial steps have been taken towards creating a better South Carolina for all who call her home. 

Below see our charted achievements for the year: 

SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOVERNOR 

• S. 474: Fetal Heartbeat Act 

• • Protects the unborn from abortion upon detection of a baby’s heartbeat. 

• • Signed into law May 25 and challenged in court by Planned Parenthood on May 26.  

• • Currently pending action at the S.C. Supreme Court.  

• S. 39: Educational Scholarship Trust Fund (Education Savings Accounts)

• • Gives qualifying families appropriate funding to select the best institution of learning for their child’s individual needs.  

• S. 164: State Health Facility Licensure Act 

• • Repeals and amends the state’s Certificate of Need law, which monopolized the hospital system and limited healthcare access to rural communities. 

• H. 3360: Center for School Safety and Targeted Violence 

• • Establishes a division within the S.C. Law Enforcement Division to train law enforcement, teachers, administrators, school personnel and parents on school safety to identify and prevent future threats.   

• H. 3553: Adoption 

• • Cuts bureaucratic red-tape and eliminates the 90-day waiting period to finalize adoption. 

• H. 3605: Occupational License Reform 

• • Expands employment and “second chance” opportunities for individuals with criminal records. 

• H. 3908: Paid Family Leave 

• • Provides six weeks of paid family leave for public school teachers and other full-time district employees.  

• H. 4023: First Steps 

• • Restructures First Steps – free private 4K program – to increase access for more communities.  

 

AWAITING ACTION FROM GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

S.C. Senate Legislation 

• S. 1: Drug-Induced Homicide 

• • Strengthens criminal penalties for trafficking fentanyl. 

• S. 142: Safe Harbor for Exploited Minors 

• • Protects minors who have been coerced or forced into the sex trafficking industry. 

• • Provides affirmative defense of and expungement for victims.   

• S. 148: Free School Meals 

• • Provides free school meals to students in qualifying public schools. 

• S. 161: Private School Students in Public School Sports 

• • Permits non-public school students to participate in public school extracurricular activities, such as sports. 

• S. 285: Providing Academic Choice in Education (PACE) 

• • Provides tax-credit scholarships for qualifying families to be used for school expenditures, including private tuition.  

• S. 315: Open Enrollment 

• • Permits students to attend a public school outside of their zone pending space availability. 

• • Expands educational opportunities for families.  

• S. 445: Recovery Housing 

• • Builds and funds infrastructure to assist men and women in their recovery from addiction. 

• S. 518: Unfair Trade Practice – Consumer Loans 

• • Reduces predatory lending and unfair banking practices in the state.  

• S. 627: Gender Identity 

• • Bans doctors from performing “sex reassignment” surgeries or prescribing “hormone therapies” on and for minors.  

S.C. House Legislation 

• H. 3108: Exceptional Needs Children’s Tax Credit 

• • Reforms Exceptional SC – a tax-credit scholarship program for special needs students in the state.  

• H. 3197: Parental Bill of Rights 

• • Protects and honors parental rights in education and in the formation of their children. 

• H. 3308: School Psychologists 

• • Reforms requirements and funding model to increase the number of school psychologists in public schools. 

• H. 3467: Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) 

• • Protects students' free speech and First Amendment rights. 

• • Eliminates “free speech zones” on university grounds. 

• H. 3503: Trafficking in Fentanyl 

• • Makes fentanyl a Schedule I drug in the state and increases felony penalties for traffickers. 

• H. 3554-3558: Adoption 

• • Reforms and expedites the state’s adoption procedures to place children in loving homes. 

• HJR. 3591: Constitutional Amendment 

• • Repeals the Blaine Amendment — racist and anti-Catholic provision prohibiting state funding to private institutions — from the state’s constitution.   

• H. 3593: Adoption Tax Credit 

• • Provides tax-credits to adopting families in the state.    

• H. 3728: Transparency and Integrity in Education 

• • Requires teachers to provide fact-based instruction and protects parental rights in the classroom.  

• H. 3800: Religious Institution Immunity for Sharing Clergy Misconduct 

• • Provides protection for individuals who disclose information about the sexual misconduct of religious institution employees to the appropriate entity within the organization.

• H. 4159: Telehealth and Telemedicine Modernization Act 

• • Provides safeguards for telehealth and telemedicine practices in the state.  

We are excited to for the second half of the legislation that begins in Janaury 2024. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.