When my youngest daughter was in high school, she was fast. How fast? She ran the 800-meter run, which is two laps around the track in 2:19. But it was the way she ran that kept me on the edge of my seat. When the gun sounded, she would come out near the back of the pack. During the first lap, she would work her way up to the middle, where she would hang out until she made the first turn of lap two. She would start moving up toward the front until she was in second place. When they came around the last turn headed into the final stretch, she would turn on the jets, pass the leader, and win the race.
All while I was on the front row, screaming my lungs out, close to having a coronary.
The 2024 Legislative Session pretty much followed the same pattern. From opening day, the bills supported by resolutions passed at the 2023 South Carolina Baptist Convention advanced quickly through the House but stayed toward the back of the pack in the Senate until the final week. The Do No Harm Bill passed the Senate the week of April 29 and the House concurred on May 9, the last day of the session, by a 67-26 vote. By the time you read this, the governor will have signed it into law. The bill will protect minors from receiving puberty blockers, cross hormone treatments, and transgender surgery. The resolution passed by our convention supporting this legislation played a role in its final passage, as did your prayers, calls, and emails to House and Senate members. Thank you for staying informed and choosing to be engaged.
On Tuesday of the final week, it appeared the Child Online Safety Act, requiring online porn companies to verify no minors are exposed to their filth, would die in the Senate. But in a surprising move, it made it to the Senate floor on the last day. It was amended and sent over to the House. The House would not concur with the Senate amendments, so they voted to send the original bill back to the Senate without the amendments. In a rare demonstration of bipartisan cooperation, a prominent Democrat senator, who serves as the Senate Minority Leader, and one Republican senator agreed to allow the original bill to come to the floor for a vote without their amendments. Both senators addressed the Senate, agreeing the bill was too important to fail to receive a vote. The bill passed on a voice vote.
The Judicial Reform Bill, also supported by an SCBC resolution, passed in the House and the Senate but they were not able to reconcile the different versions of the bill. A Conference Committee was formed with three members of the Senate and three from the House to work out the differences. Hopefully, they will be able to bring the two bills together, creating a version that can pass the General Assembly.
There are four bills we hoped would not pass before the end of the session. All four failed to come to either the House or Senate floor for a vote. They will have to be refiled for the 2025 session, meaning they will need to go through the entire process again to be considered. The four bills that failed were medical marijuana (the Compassionate Care Act), pari-mutuel betting on horse racing (SC Equine Advancement Act), and two alcohol bills (Alcohol Delivery and Curbside Service Act, Liquor Sales on Sunday). If you called or in any way contacted your senator or representative to oppose these bills, you played a vital role in making sure they would not pass during this session.
All in all, it was a very productive session! Thank you for praying and participating in the legislative process. There were times when I thought the bills we worked so hard to pass were going to close out the session in the middle of the pack. But the final sprint turned the 2024 legislative session into a winner for our children.
— Tony Beam is senior director of Church and Community Engagement and Public Affairs for North Greenville University and policy consultant for the SCBC.