Friday Report - Jan. 17, 2025

Tuesday marked the beginning of the General Assembly’s 126th Legislative Session. Because this is the first year of a two-year session, a plethora of bills were pre-filed and introduced this week in both chambers.

The House Ways and Means budget subcommittees began hearing from various state agencies and groups, including SCAC, on budget requests for 2025-26. The House also took testimony in subcommittee on a comprehensive energy bill (H. 3309). Like last year’s energy bill that did not pass, this bill has a provision that would require solar arrays larger than 125 acres coming into a county to also get approval from the Public Service Commission. H. 3309 is a House Republican caucus priority, and SCAC will continue to monitor and report on any other provisions in the bill that impact counties. 

The Senate began debating a school voucher bill (S. 62) that would allow for public funds to be used for private and religious schools in response to the South Carolina Supreme Court striking down the legislature’s first attempt (Act 8 of 2023).

Check out this week’s Friday Report for the details and bill discussions relevant to counties at https://conta.cc/4alTc8B