Staff reports | State senators dropped a whopping 298 bills and resolutions into the hopper Wednesday during a one-day pre-filing period that included everything from a teacher’s bill of rights and a call for higher teacher pay to bills on legalized sports betting, dark money political contributions, reviewing Confederate monuments and a whole lot more.
There are proposals to fix an exception that allows pregnant girls of any age to marry, to buy voting machines, to bolster early voting, to restructure government and to expand Medicaid. See a news roundup here. There are 37 education bills alone, according to this story.
- Click here to review all 298 pre-filed Senate bills are resolutions.
Traditionally, legislative priorities of Senate leaders are showcased in bills that have low numbers. Rather than going through each bill pre-filed this week (a gargantuan task), here are the first 10 bills that were filed. They should offer an idea of what top lawmakers are going to try to push through the Senate chamber in 2019:
- How to fill executive branch vacancies when the Senate isn’t in session: (1, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence)
- Changing the Senate leadership structure ( 2, Leatherman)
- Reining in dark money political contributions ( 3, Leatherman)
- Boosting teacher pay by 5 percent ( 4, Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington)
- Establishing an Interstate expansion fund ( 5, Setzler)
- Constitutional amendment for independent redistricting commission ( 6, Setzler)
- Increasing liability amounts in tort cases ( 7, Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington)
- Restructuring the state Department of Health and Environmental Control ( 8, Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney)
- On driving in the left lane on Interstates ( 9, Peeler)
- Requiring hunter education for people under 38 ( 10, Peeler)
Next Tuesday, House members will pre-file bills.
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