Staff reports | The S.C. House of Representatives on Wednesday again passed a near-total abortion ban and showed no signs of budging on its long-held stance. The bill included exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly and the patient’s health and life. The bill poses a possible impasse for GOP lawmakers.
S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the upper chamber lacks the votes for the House’s more restrictive bill, and has instead advanced an amended version of the prior ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected around six weeks.
“The House has taken another giant step in protecting human life,” said House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, and added that the House did not have enough votes to pass the “more lenient” Senate version, which passed last week.
The House believes its version is the only one that could withstand legal scrutiny. Earlier this year, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled that a similar law from 2021 violated constitutional rights in a 3-2 vote.
In other news this week:
State senators alarmed by Eckstrom’s $3.5 billion accounting error. The chair of the Senate Finance subcommittee said he lost confidence in S.C. Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s ability to accurately answer questions about the state’s overstated cash balance of $3.5 billion over the last 10 years.
S.C. on the verge of enacting the school voucher program. The bill that creates a program for poverty level and some middle-class families to apply for scholarships has the backing of the Republican majority.
S.C. lawmakers propose ‘Yankee Tax’ for newcomers moving to S.C. A bill sponsored by S.C. Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, would allow counties to impose an extra $250 driver’s license fee and extra $250 vehicle licensing registration fee on out-of-state newcomers.
S.C. lawmakers revive efforts to remove gun permit carry requirements. Republican lawmakers have revived efforts to allow firearm owners to carry without a permit.
S.C. bill could keep cities, counties from redistricting for short-term rentals. The bill would cut off state funding for cities and counties that redistrict short-term rentals.
Bill banning “Carolina Squat” vehicles passes S.C. Senate. The South Carolina Senate gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would ban what’s known as the “Carolina Squat.” A similar bill was introduced last session, but failed to make it to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk.
New S.C. legislation could allow minors to play pinball machines. Pinball supporters are pushing to have what many see as an outdated South Carolina law reversed so that people under the age of 18 can play legally.
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