Last day of first of two-year Legislative Session

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – Today is the last day of the legislative session in South Carolina.

Governor Henry McMaster has signed several bills into law, and more are sitting on his desk, waiting for approval.

Lawmakers have been working since January, and won’t return again until next year. At that time, they’ll have one more chance to push any bills through to the governor’s desk.

This legislative session lawmakers passed the Hands-Free Act, which cracks down on using cell phones while driving. The law also states if police can pull people over if they have a reason to suspect the driver is on their phone. Despite its passage, the bill had strong opposition from some Democrats, who said police could use the cell phones as an excuse to pull someone over.

“I think we all want to see safer roads. We all want to see drivers that are less distracted. My greatest concern is that the bill will allow for discrimination,” said Representative Kambrell Garvin (D – Richland), who voted against the bill.

Representative Bill Taylor (R – Aiken) has tried to pass this bill many times, saying that the state’s seatbelt rule is equivalent.

“Discrimination, that hasn’t been proven, and no one’s ever said that. It’s the same with this. If they see you with a phone in your hand, you’re breaking the law.”

Another bill that pushed through this week deals with the state’s energy supply. It creates a partnership between Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper to build a natural gas plant in the midlands. Senator Shane Massey (R – Edgefield) said if this bill were not passed, it would hurt every South Carolinian.

“Your constituents are going to be paying more for energy. They’re going to be paying more for energy because of the cost of generation.”

On the education front, Lawmakers pushed forward a bill that would give K-12 students public money to attend private schools. The original law was ruled unconstitutional because of how the public’s funds were used. Lawmakers hope that adding a third-party person to oversee the funds will help.

“The education scholarship trust fund has been a long and rocky path sometimes. We’ve been working on it now for 5 years,” said bill’s main supporter and advocator Senator Greg Hembree (R – Horry).

But still, not everyone’s in agreement.

“I think there’s a strong chance that this ends up in court again. That it potentially gets struck down again. Ultimately this should be left for voters to decide if they want this,” said Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association.

There are still hundreds of bills left to be debated, but remember this was just the first year of a two-year legislative session. Lawmakers will pick back up where they left off in January of next year.