What to expect during South Carolina’s 2024 legislative session

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD)- South Carolina lawmakers reconvened Tuesday for the second year of the 125th General Assembly.

The Republican-dominated legislature will spend the next several months addressing critical issues in the state like judicial reform, education, and workforce development.

Per usual, the state budget will be a top priority entering the session. But, there will be less money to work with as the state’s revenue patterns are returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Executive Director Frank Rainwater.

It is estimated that the state will have $897 million available for non-recurring funds which are typically associated with one-time costs like maintenance. The state is expected to have about $637 million available in recurring funds, which are used for ongoing costs like salaries.

Lawmakers on Monday signaled that workforce development will be a priority for both sides of the aisle during the upcoming session.

According to the Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW), the number of individuals working in the state is rebounding, having increased by 104,000 people from November 2022 to November 2023.

While those numbers are promising, Sen. Minority Leader Brad Hutto said the legislature needs to pay attention to issues that often “handicap workers,” especially in rural areas, like affordable housing, transportation, and childcare.

“We would have so many more people in the workforce if they could get to their jobs…if they could move to our communities…if we have the transportation and daycares to allow them to work,” he said.

There is currently a joint committee examining what barriers still exist to South Carolinians accessing quality, reliable childcare.

“There’s not a profession around that’s not having a challenge having the appropriate number of workforces and what we’ve seen is that childcare and providing for that is one of those barriers,” Senate President Thomas Alexander said.

Reforming the state’s judiciary, particularly the process for selecting judges, will also likely be a hot topic during the session with a special bipartisan House committee already examining possible changes.

Currently, state lawmakers are tasked with choosing judges from a pool of up to three candidates deemed qualified by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission (JMSC) following a screening process. The judicial vetting panel is made up of 10 members, six of those members are required by statute to be members of the General Assembly and all six are currently lawyer-legislators.

Critics have argued that is unfair that lawyer-legislators, who are part of the screening panel, argue cases before the judges they select, creating potential conflicts of interest.

One proposal that has gained traction would be to give the state’s executive branch, specifically the governor, more power in the process.

“I’ve crafted a bill that does not require a constitutional amendment…that would give the executive branch, essentially the ability to nominate a judicial candidate, and then the JMSC becomes part of the advice and consent process,” Sen. Chip Campsen (R-Charleston) told reporters Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R-Edgefield) said that there is more that can be done to increase transparency in the selection process, but that he does not want to “blow up the whole system.”

“I think we’re going to have to do something,” Massey said. “There’s enough of the public that is engaged on the issue and there are enough legislators…they’re going to tell you there’s a problem that needs to be addressed.”

Another issue lawmakers expect to be resolved during the session deals with the teaching of so-called “critical race theory” (CRT) in K-12 schools.

While the bill does not explicitly mention CRT, it does prohibit teaching that an individual “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past” by other members of their race, among other restrictions.

Education Committee Chairman Sen. Greg Hembree (R-Horry) said that both the House and Senate are working to reach consensus on the bill, which passed both bodies last session.

One sticking point, according to Hembree, is that the version put forth by the GOP-controlled House would allow any person in the U.S. to bring an action to enforce the law in a South Carolina court.

“There’s no other law in South Carolina jurisprudence that allows someone to bring an action that doesn’t otherwise have standing,” Hembree said.

But, with nearly all of the General Assembly up for reelection this year, it remains to be seen whether legislators take up other controversial issues.

“Sometimes we see where they maybe shy away from those in election years in hopes of not polarizing large swaths of voters,” News 2 political analyst John Brisini said. “But, at the end of the day, this could be a year where they want to make a big splash and they really want to maybe appeal to some of their bases.”