Copper Dome Chronicle: 2025 Session Week 2
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Copper Dome Chronicle, sponsored by Advocatus. We strive for substantive writing with brevity, inspired by the book Smart Brevity.
State government will be closed on January 20 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; the annual King Day at the Dome will begin at 10am. In Washington D.C., the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump will begin approximately around 11:30am, though live coverage will begin much earlier.
This week’s edition, covering January 21-23, 2025, is 1,139 words or a 5 minute read. The 126th South Carolina General Assembly convened on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 and will adjourn on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
Resources
Senate Budget Calendar (TBA)
FY 2025-2026 Agency Budget Requests
Week 2 Preview
The House and Senate will meet in local session this week, which means floor sessions will be perfunctory only and no votes taken. The chambers made this decision to allow committees to meet, debate legislation, and begin populating floor calendars. The Senate committee meeting calendar is quite full while the House Ways & Means Committee continues its budget hearings. Inclement weather (maybe snow) is expected Tuesday and Wednesday, which could result in cancellations or fully-virtual meetings.
Week 1 Review
House floor sessions consumed 2 hours, 52 minutes. One bill was passed: H.3727 (adopting SC Code of Laws).
Senate floor sessions consumed 7 hours, 2 minutes. The overwhelming majority of Senate floor time was during the debate on S.62 (K-12 lottery scholarships). This is the Senate bill to respond to the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Eidson v. Department of Education, where the Court struck down the use of Educational Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) accounts to pay for private school tuition as created by Act 8 of 2023.
There are 52 judicial elections in 2025 between seats on the Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, Family Court, and the Administrative Law Court. The Judicial Merit Selection Committee report was published on January 16. Elections have tentatively been scheduled for February 5 via H.3760, which passed the House and is awaiting consideration in the Senate. While all judgeships are consequential, the most closely watched will be Seat 2 on the Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy when Associate Justice Letitia Verdin was elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court. Three candidates were found qualified and nominated for this seat. This will be the final set of elections under the current selection process, as the provisions of Act 219 of 2024 take effect July 1, 2025. As we have written time and time again, after the budget, judicial elections are the most important and most political activity undertaken by the General Assembly each year.
Governor Henry McMaster released his FY 2025-2026 Executive Budget on January 13. Check out our Executive Budget Brief for more information about what was included in it.
Committee Schedule Week 2
If a live stream link is not provided with a committee meeting that means no live stream is available. Additional meetings may be added during the week and while 24 hours notice is generally given, it is not always possible to provide such notice. ***January 21 UPDATE: Due to wintery weather several committee meetings have been cancelled with more cancellations likely.***
House Ways & Means Budget Subcommittees (7 budget hearings)
Higher Education; January 21, 2:30pm; Agenda; Livestream
Constitutional; January 22, 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Healthcare; January 22, 10am; Agenda; Livestream ***VIRTUAL ONLY MEETING***
Economic Development; January 22, 10:30am; Agenda; Livestream
Higher Education; January 22, 11am; Agenda; Livestream
Economic Development; January 22, 2:30pm; Agenda; Livestream
Higher Education; January 23, 9am1pm; Agenda; Livestream
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
January 21, 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: S.184 (dram shop/liquor liability). This is priority legislation for the hospitality and alcohol industries.
Senate Finance Constitutional Subcommittee
January 21, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: an unfiled joint resolution authorizing the hiring of an independent compliance consultant and implementation of recommendations in the AlixPartners report released January 15. This hearing is in regards to the mysterious $1.8B in state funds discovered in 2024 that ultimately turned out to be non-existent as the result of accounting errors.
Senate LCI Labor and Commerce Subcommittee
January 21, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream (none)
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: S.46 (prohibit physician non-compete contracts).
Senate Education Subcommittee
January 21, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream (none)
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: S.169 (lottery tickets). South Carolina is one of only three states that do not permit the use of debit cards to purchase lottery tickets (Tennessee and Wyoming are the others). If enacted, an additional $52M in lottery revenue may be generated.
Senate Finance Committee
January 21, 2pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda, pending action by the Constitutional Subcommittee: an unfiled joint resolution authorizing the hiring of an independent compliance consultant and implementation of recommendations in the AlixPartners report released January 15.
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
January 21, 2pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are four bills on the agenda: S.35 (comptroller general constitutional amendment), S.36 (polling locations), S.37 (municipal elections), and S.38 (special elections). All four bills are sponsored by Senator Chip Campsen, who is the subcommittee chair.
Senate Education Committee
January 22, 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are four bills on the agenda: S.77 (livestream school board meetings), S.78 (educator credential prior work experience credit), S.79 (school district noncertified teachers), and S.169 (lottery tickets).
Senate Banking & Insurance Subcommittee on Insurance
January 22 23, 11am; Agenda; Livestream (none)
Summary: There are three bills on the agenda: S.196 (insurance adjusters), S.210 (captive insurance companies), and S.220 (Insurance Holding Company Regulatory Act).
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
January 22, 12pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are three bills on the agenda: S.12 (authorize Santee Cooper joint venture), S.51 (V.C. Summer joint resolution), and S.157 (utility storm recovery costs). These bills are part of the larger Senate plan to address energy generation in the 2025 session.
Senate Special Committee on South Carolina’s Energy Future
January 22, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The special committee will hear testimony on possible legislation solutions for large energy users.
Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee
January 22, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream (none)
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: S.103 (Truth in Meat Labeling).
Senate Family & Veterans Services Committee
January 23, 9am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There is one bill and two resolutions on the agenda: S.89 (SC Military Affairs Council), S.195 (Honoring Marquis de Lafayette), and S.224 (designate January as Mentoring Month). For fun, have a listen to Cabinet Battle #1, Cabinet Battle #2, and Guns and Ships from the musical Hamilton.
Senate LCI Committee
January 23, 9am; Agenda (TBA); Livestream
Summary: There are nine regulations on the agenda for consideration. As of January 19 an agenda had not been posted. But on January 16 several agency regulations were reported favorable from a subcommittee and S.46 (prohibit physician non-compete contracts) could be on the agenda pending subcommittee action on January 21.
Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee
January 23, 10am; Agenda; Livestream (none)
Summary: There is one bill on the agenda: S.2 (behavioral healthcare agency restructuring). This legislation is a top priority for Governor McMaster and several members of legislative leadership.
Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
January 23, 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are no bills listed on the agenda; however, S.103 (Truth in Meat Labeling) could be added to the agenda pending subcommittee action.
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
January 23, 11:30am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are five bills on the agenda: S.28 (child abuse via artificial intelligence), S.29 (morphed images of minors), S.74 (electronic records disclosure), S.143 (orders of protection), and S.180 (orders of protection).
Joint Surface Water Study Committee
January 23, 11:15am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: This is the first meeting of the Joint Surface Water Study Committee. Committee offers will be elected as well as a discussion of the committee’s workplan.
Joint Insurance Study Committee
January 23, 1:30pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: This is the final meeting and the committee will consider its study report.
Key Dates
January 14, 2025: Session Convenes
January 16, 2025: Judicial Merit Selection Commission final report published
January 29, 2025: State of the State
February 5, 2025: Judicial elections (subject to change)
February 13, 2025: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) February revenue estimate
March 10-14, 2025: House floor budget deliberations
March 17-21, 2025: House Furlough Week (tentative)
April 10, 2025: Crossover Day (Senate bills to the House only)
April 10, 2025: Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) April revenue estimate
April 14-18, 2025: House Furlough Week
April 21-25, 2025: Senate floor budget deliberations (tentative)
May 8, 2025: Session Adjourns
July 1, 2025: Fiscal Year 2025-2026 begins
