Copper Dome Chronicle: 2026 Session Week 13
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Copper Dome Chronicle, sponsored by Advocatus USA. We strive for substantive writing with brevity, inspired by the book Smart Brevity.
This week’s edition, covering April 7-9 is 1,332 words or a 5.5 minute read. The General Assembly convened on January 13 and will adjourn on May 14. Thanks for reading and sharing; we welcome your feedback and commentary!
Resources
FY 2026-2027 Agency Budget Requests
2026 Candidate Tracking Portal
***There are 6 weeks remaining in the 2026 regular session***
Week 13 Preview
The House will not hold any floor sessions or committee meetings as it takes its second furlough week. When the House returns on April 14, it will have 28 bills (five on the contested calendar) eligible for consideration on its calendar. There are 24 House bills and four Senate bills on the House calendar.
The Senate will not hold any floor sessions this week. The Senate Finance Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee will meet. When the Senate returns to statewide floor sessions on April 14, it will have 57 bills (33 are contested), 14 joint resolutions (one is contested), and two concurrent resolutions eligible for consideration on its calendar. One bill in the status of Special Order: S.508 (monuments and memorials). There are 37 Senate bills and 20 House bills on the Senate calendar.
As the General Assembly races towards adjournment on May 14, it is anticipated the noise about the “House not passing Senate bills; Senate not passing House bills” will only grow. Compounding this annual tradition is that only the House is on the ballot this November. It’s a challenging climate ahead for legislative advocates.
Lastly, a friendly reminder. The fate of two critical pieces of legislation remains unknown:
S.883 (2026 sine die resolution) - Passed Senate; House possession since February 4
S.769 (FY27 continuing resolution) - Passed Senate; House possession since January 28
Week 12 Review
House floor sessions consumed 12 hours, 12 minutes excluding two lunch recesses. The House held three floor sessions, passed 14 bills, and several congratulatory and memorial resolutions. Legislation that passed the House last week included:
H.5164 (hospital beds in hallways)
H.4292 (prohibit street takeovers)
H.4804 (sexual exploitation of a minor)
H.5075 (Personal Privacy Protection Act)
H.3013 (guardian ad litem qualifications)
H.4761 (college faculty annual and post-tenure evaluations)
H.3873 (mandate child identification kits)
H.4610 (American Sign Language Symbol Act)
H.3856 (omnibus licenses and license plates bill)
H.3931 (coastal tidelands and wetlands permits)
H.4817 (Insurance Rate Reduction and Policyholder Protection Act)
H.3034 (law enforcement animals)
H.4764 (287(g) immigration agreements)
The House spent its week working the calendar with H.4817 (Insurance Rate Reduction and Policyholder Protection Act), H.3034 (law enforcement animals), and H.4764 (287(g) immigration agreements) consuming a majority of the floor time.
Senate floor sessions consumed 10 hours, 29 minutes. The Senate held two floor sessions, passed 15 bills, one joint resolution, and several congratulatory and memorial resolutions. Legislation that passed the Senate last week included:
S.862 (involuntary commitment)
H.3856 (omnibus licenses and license plates bill)
S.894 (death certificates)
S.935 (seizures informational document)
S.958 (hospital beds in hallways)
H.3931 (coastal tidelands and wetlands permits)
S.1048 (Blue Ridge Community & minimum home lot size)
S.688 (unemployment trust fund reform)
H.3557 (candidate filing)
S.97 (county treasurer qualifications)
S.98 (county auditor qualifications)
S.682 (tax credit for timber casualty loss)
H.4902 (NIL FOIA exemption)
S.146 (long-term care facilities visitation)
S.694 (Aiken County precincts)
S.893 (underground storage tanks)
S.812 (bicycles & stop signs)
S.863 (culinary arts management degree programs)
The Senate worked its calendar for two days but there wasn’t any shortage of debate.
First, H.3368 (tax conformity) failed on second reading 16-27. With the enactment of H.4216 (income taxes), state tax policy is decoupled from federal tax policy by switching to adjusted gross income (AGI) from federal taxable income (FTI) for tax year 2026 as the basis for individual income tax. H.3368 would conform the current state tax code to the federal tax code changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill for tax year 2025, which has a one-time revenue impact of $288.5M. However, a majority of the Senate was persuaded by the argument that conformity is a one-time patch when the General Assembly just passed H.4216.
However, remember Senate Rule 12, the motion to reconsider a vote:
No motion for the reconsideration of any vote shall be in order unless the matter is in the possession of the Senate, nor shall any motion to reconsider be in order unless made within the next two statewide legislative days of the actual session of the Senate thereafter and by a Senator voting with the prevailing side. Except for procedural motions, a motion to reconsider may be made immediately after the act or motion to which it applies has occurred, during the motion period, during the time between the call of orders of business after the introduction and reference of new Bills and Resolutions, or during the time the Bill or Resolution is being debated.
Second reading took place on March 31. The first statewide legislative day under Senate Rule 12 was April 1. The Senate will stand in local session under Senate Rule 1B until April 14. The second statewide legislative day will be April 14. Between April 1 and April 14 ,the Senate Finance Committee will meet and pass its version of the H.5126 (FY27 Budget).
Maybe hearts and minds will change such that H.3368 is revived on April 14 - or maybe not. As Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler said at the beginning of the debate on H.3368: “To conform, or not to conform, that’s the question.”
Second, the Senate overrode Governor McMaster’s veto of H.4902 (NIL FOIA exemption) by a 30-12 vote, meaning the bill has become law. With three excused absences, the threshold required to override was 29 votes. For the athletics departments at the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, and Coastal Carolina University, this is significant legislation given the current ultra-competitive climate in college athletics. Spending at the individual student-athlete and individual team/sport levels will not be subject to FOIA, but overall spending will remain a matter of public record.
Lastly, the Senate spent considerable time on S.508 (monuments and memorials) and the bill may tie up the Senate until it begins debating its version of the budget the week of April 20. If this occurs that leaves the Senate with not much time to debate other priority legislation for Senate leadership, such data centers, criminal gang/anti-racketeering, local government concurrency, and tax legislation. And of course: House legislation that has been waiting for consideration; in some cases since 2025.
Committee Schedule
If a livestream link is not provided with a committee meeting that means livestream is not 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.
Senate Finance Committee
Full Finance, April 7, TBA; Agenda; Livestream
Full Finance, April 8, TBA; Agenda; Livestream
Full Finance, April 9, TBA; Agenda; Livestream
Full Finance, April 10, TBA; Agenda; Livestream
Senate Meetings
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
April 8, 10am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are four bills on the agenda: S.1100 (law enforcement animals), H.5120 (youth offender fingerprints), H.4151 (youth offenders & weapons crimes), and H.4292 (prohibit street takeovers).
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
April 8, 11am; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The subcommittee will screen Mr. Conway Belangia for the position of Director of the State Election Commission.
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
April 8, 12pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are three bills on the agenda: S.902 (regulate data centers), S.724 (data center water usage reporting), and H.3474 (transportation network companies).
Senate Judiciary Committee
April 8, 2pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: There are 12 bills on the agenda:
S.447 (license plate readers)
S.765 (South Carolina Wildlife Law Enforcement Officers' Association dues)
S.822 (deed theft)
S.879 (Master-in-Equity terms of office)
S.903 (homeowners associations)
S.915 (Medicaid fraud)
S.983 (remove personal information & eviction orders)
S.1005 (judicial salaries)
S.1100 (law enforcement animals)
H.3020 (delete crime of playing pinball)
H.3285 (law enforcement autism spectrum disorder training)
H.4720 (pretrial intervention programs)
House Meetings
House committees will not meet due to the furlough week.
Joint Meetings
Joint Bond Review Committee
June 9, 1pm; Agenda; Livestream
Summary: The JBRC agenda has not yet been posted.
2026 Key Dates
January 13, 2026: Session Convenes
January 28, 2026: Judicial Merit Selection Commission draft report published
January 28, 2026: State of the State Address
February 12, 2026: BEA revenue forecast update
March 4, 2026: Judicial elections
March 9-13, 2026: House floor budget deliberations
March 16-20: House furlough week
March 16, 2026: Candidate filing opens (all statewide constitutional offices, federal offices, SC House of Representatives)
March 30, 2026: Candidate filing closes
April 9, 2026: BEA revenue forecast update
April 6-10: House furlough week (confirmed)
April 20-24, 2026: Senate floor budget deliberations (projected)
May 14, 2026: Session Adjourns
May 19, 2026: BEA revenue forecast update
