Legislative Session Week in Review: May 6-10
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May 10, 2024
2024 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
This final week of session was a whirlwind — quite literally. The last day was marked by thunderstorms and tornado watches, and some legislators were stuck in traffic for hours. Despite these obstacles, both chambers managed to pass critical legislation in those final hours.
Now, the 2023-2024 South Carolina legislative session is officially over, and many laws to advance the common good have been passed. We thank our legislators, their staff members and all who have been instrumental in our government processes over the last two years.
Click HERE to thank your lawmakers for their hard work this session!
See below for updates on the final week.
May 9
First — H. 4624, the “Help, Not Harm” bill, was taken up immediately on the last day of session. The House voted to accept the Senate’s version of the bill and enroll it, sending it to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk to be signed.
This bill will protect minors from having their healthy bodies permanently changed and damaged by cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers or sex-change operations.
The South Carolina Catholic Conference thanks Rep. David Hiott for sponsoring this bill and all who made its passage a reality. We urge the governor to sign as swiftly as possible to protect children from life-altering procedures.
Second — The Child Online Safety Act (H. 3424), passed the Senate second reading calendar on Wednesday by a vote of 43-0 with amendments. On Thursday, the bill passed the third reading calendar and was sent to the House for approval. The House sent the bill back to the Senate without those amendments, and the Senate agreed. The bill is now awaiting the signature of the governor.
Currently, anyone — of any age — can access pornographic content by a simple online search, and there are no protections in place to shield minors from it. H. 3424 requires websites that host pornography to verify patrons’ ages before content can be viewed.
The Catholic Conference thanks Rep. Travis Moore for sponsoring the bill and Sens. Sean Bennett and Tom Davis for their leadership on this issue. We ask Gov. McMaster to sign this bill into law as quickly as possible to protect children from the harms of pornography.
Third – S. 445, Recovery Housing, has been enrolled and is now awaiting signature from the governor.
There is a growing need for housing options for people suffering with addictions due to the opioid crisis.
S. 445 will allow the establishment of housing specifically for people to have a clean and stable place to recover from addiction to drugs.
The Catholic Conference thanks Sens. Billy Garrett and Margie Matthews for their sponsorship of this legislation.
Fourth – H. 4617, also known as Xylazine, would criminalize the production, distribution and possession of the drug and add it to the list of Schedule III drugs.
This compound is often found in the illegal drug supply in our country and can cause an overdose when used with things like fentanyl. Xylazine is exacerbating the opioid crisis, and criminalizing the trafficking of it is an important step to protecting South Carolina citizens.
The Catholic Conference thanks Reps. Bill Hixon and Sylleste Davis for co-sponsoring this legislation to fight the drug epidemic. We call on Gov. McMaster to sign it into law quickly.
Future Action
The General Assembly will return in June to finalize the budget and conduct conference committees.
A conference committee is formed when the Senate and House cannot agree on how or if a bill will be amended. Three members from each chamber are selected to represent the wishes of the body, and they are tasked with finding common ground and settling how a final bill will be amended.
First – The House and the Senate could not come to an agreement on S. 142, Safe Harbor for Exploited Minors, and a conference committee has been appointed. This bill allows for a legal defense of minors who have been exploited by sex trafficking.
The committee will be composed of Sens. Brad Hutto, Penry Gustafson and Brian Adams, as well as Reps. Beth Bernstein, Val Guest and Ben Connell. They will debate the amendments and work out disagreements.
Second – On June 5, the conference committee for H. 3728, the Transparency and Integrity in Education bill, will reconvene. The committee met May 7 and 9 but was not able to conclude their work.
The bill aims to promote transparency in education and seeks to empower parents to be aware of what their children are being taught. It would provide a mechanism for parents to object to material that does not align with what is factually accurate.
Sens. Greg Hembree, Shane Massey and Darrell Jackson will join Reps. Shannon Erickson, Adam Morgan and Terry Alexander on the committee.