COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — With the largest number of newly elected members at least since World War II, South Carolina Republican Senate leaders are considering tackling some issues, like tax reform, that have long been too difficult to tackle.
The 13 new senators — nine Republicans and four Democrats — arrived at the Statehouse on Wednesday to meet, deliver five-minute introductory speeches, receive their committee assignments and choose their seats. The session doesn’t start for another 40 days.
When it starts, Republican Majority Leader Shane Massey plans to debate a bill to allow parents to spend public money on private schools, amending a law that was found unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court earlier this year.
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Massey wants the Senate — which now had a 34-12 Republican supermajority — to consider a broad bill that would rewrite South Carolina’s energy policy to ensure the fast-growing state has enough power.
There are criminal justice issues like combating fentanyl and major shoplifting and what many senators think is the growing problem with spikes in insurance rates because state liability laws don’t distinguish between levels of responsibility, Massey said.
But all those new members could ensure that senators can tackle issues that have long been resisted, such as reforming the entire tax system, the pension system or the civil lawsuit system.
“I think there are going to be some dynamic changes,” Massey said of all the new senators. “The personalities are different.”
But problems can wait until the session starts on January 14. Wednesday was for housekeeping and introductions, with family watching their loved ones being sworn in
One important rule change was made. The Senate President and Majority Leader can now support a resolution to remove a chairman from a committee that will appear before the Rules Committee and the entire Senate.
There have been rumblings in recent years about the way some presidents, defined by their seniority, handle their committees and the pace of legislation passed out of them. The rule sends a message to them about how they work.
Massey said he doesn’t expect the rule will ever be used, but it is there as a safeguard.
“We just want to make sure that the committees are doing the work they need to do and that the majority is able to pass legislation,” Massey said.
