Tag: South Carolina General Assembly

Speaker Lucas on Sine Die

June 4, 2015
House Adjourns Regular Legislative Session for 2015

(Columbia, SC) – House Speaker Jay Lucas (District 65-Darlington) released the following statement after the House adjourned Sine Die. By law, the South Carolina General Assembly is required to complete its legislative business by 5pm on the first Thursday in June. The adopted Sine Die resolution recognizes the completion of business, but allows the House of Representatives to return in the coming weeks to debate and consider gubernatorial vetoes, conference reports and budgetary matters.

At the beginning of the year, Speaker Lucas outlined four priorities for this year’s legislative session: (1) Infrastructure reform, (2) Ethics reform, (3) Criminal domestic violence reform, and (4) Education reform.

“The House of Representatives kept our promises to the people of South Carolina and we did everything we said we would do. We overwhelmingly passed a three-part roads bill that reforms the Department of Transportation and puts forth a responsible plan to fix our roads. We rallied around domestic violence survivors by working with the Senate to pass a bill that protects our citizens from senseless abuse. We reformed our ethics laws to restore public confidence in elected officials. And we continue to work on an education improvement package so that every child in every part of our state will be given access to a twenty-first century education. The progress made on these issues is a reflection of the steadfast efforts our members put forth over the last nine months.

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Contact: Caroline Delleney
(803) 734-3125
CarolineDelleney@schouse.gov

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Rep. John King, H 3108 and Getting Paid

Prefiled bills for a new legislative session are usually good for a laugh or two and this year is no different. But, one filed last week would give S.C. legislators a substantial increase in pay.

Our favorite this year is H 3108, a bill submitted by Rep. John King, (D-49). Simply put, King is looking for a pay raise.

We’ll let the language of the bill speak for itself, “MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY MUST RECEIVE TOTAL ANNUAL COMPENSATION FOR THEIR LEGISLATIVE SERVICE FOR A REGULAR SESSION IN AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, TO PROVIDE THAT THIS COMPENSATION CONSISTS OF PER DIEM AND SALARY…”

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Voters Need Complete Home Rule

The election mess in Richland County is another example of why Home Rule should be totally implemented throughout the state of South Carolina.

We know combining Home Rule and South Carolina in the same sentence is an oxymoron, but we’ll give it a try anyway.

Back in the days before the Supreme Court issued its “one man, one vote” ruling, one senator was elected from each of the state’s 46 counties. For all intents and purposes, the senator was county government, ruling in almost a feudal manner.

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South Carolina, High Risk for Government Corruption

A nationwide analysis of state governments released over the weekend ranked South Carolina 45th out of the 50 states for potential for government corruption. This, of course, only enforces what those of us who cover government on a regular basis already know.

Citing government secrecy, little accountability for legislators and the executive branch, weak ethics enforcement and little disclosure of legislators’ finances, the state received an F in nine out of the 14 categories studied and a D- in a 10th category.

The only areas where South Carolina received adequate grades were procurement, redistricting, lobbying disclosure and internal auditing.

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