For most people, summer in South Carolina brings hot, humid days, vacations, afternoon thunderstorms, and a myriad of family outdoor activities. For the South Carolina Legislature, it brings final work on the budget, Senate and House Subcommittee hearings, and, later on this year, redistricting.
If you have been following my reports from the Legislature, you know there are several bills left over from the 2021 session that will likely be considered as early as January in the 2022 session.
According to Senate insiders, the Republican leadership has promised to bring the Compassionate Care Act (Medical Marijuana, S150) up for debate and a possible vote as early as the second week of the session. As previously pointed out in this column, just as marijuana is a gateway drug for opioid and heroin addiction, S150 would serve as gateway legislation for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Since marijuana remains an illegal drug and since it has not been approved by the FDA for medical use, doctors cannot prescribe it and pharmacists cannot dispense it. If S150 becomes law, it will require a complicated and convoluted system administered by DHEC to dispense marijuana cards for those who are deemed eligible. SLED, the South Carolina Medical Association, the South Carolina Sheriff’s Association, and a host of Christian non-profit organizations will be working hard this summer and fall to inform and rally the public to oppose S150.
On June 15, the Columbia City Council voted 4-3 to ban so-called “conversion therapy” for minors, designating it as a civil penalty that carries a $500 fine. The Council defined conversion therapy as “treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.” Similar ordinances passed in other states have been struck down by the courts, declaring them to be unconstitutional. Last November, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Florida’s ban on conversion therapy violated the First Amendment protections of free speech.
Sen. Josh Kimbrell filed the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act (S811) to shore up existing law that protects medical professionals from being forced to violate their conscience or their personal religious beliefs in order to avoid criminal, civil, or administrative penalties. Sen. Kimbrell’s bill would extend those protections to include licensed, professional, and pastoral counselors. The bill was assigned to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee, and the Subcommittee conducted its first round of public hearings on June 21. A subsequent hearing will be scheduled later this summer to allow additional testimony on the bill.
The Hate Crimes bill has been delayed in the Senate by a group of Republican Senators who are concerned about language in the bill that would add sexual orientation as a protected class in South Carolina. Once legislation is in place that recognizes sexual orientation as a legal classification under the criminal code, it will be easy to expand that language to other areas that could be used to infringe on religious liberty. The South Carolina Baptist Convention Office of Public Policy is working with other Christian grassroots groups to make sure legitimate hate crimes are prosecuted to the full extent of the law without endangering our religious liberty or threatening our free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Finally, the Save Women’s Sports bill that was voted down in the House Judiciary (six Republicans joined Democrats on the Committee to stop the bill), is now in the Senate Education Subcommittee. The first hearing took place in May, and a second hearing will be scheduled for later this summer or early fall. Since the South Carolina House Judiciary failed to pass the bill, Florida became the latest state to pass legislation protecting women’s sports. Florida’s bill protects middle and high school athletes and extends those protections to cover college and university athletes. We are hoping our Save Women’s Sports bill can be amended to include college and university athletes, and that it will have a much easier path through the Senate in January.
Thank you for staying informed on important, culture-shaping, legislative issues that are being considered in South Carolina. Please check your email each month for the SCBC Public Policy newsletter and be on the lookout every day for Action Alert emails that will let you know when our lawmakers need to hear from you. If you would like to have a user-friendly, mobile tool that will help you to follow what is happening at the State House (including the ability to watch streaming video of all committee meetings), go to the iTunes store and download the free South Carolina Legislature app.