By Linda Hardman
DWGC, Legislative Chair

South Carolina completed its 22nd year of holding a trifecta in state government. That’s having control of both houses and the governorship.

If you’re wondering what the Legislature does with all that power, here’s a deeper look.

Not only do Republicans have a trifecta, they also enjoy the benefits of a veto-proof supermajority. The House has 88 Republicans and 36 Democrats. In the Senate there are 34 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Thinking that having a bullet-proof way of getting business done would result in getting more accomplished with better results, would be a mistake. The General Assembly managed to pass about 81 bills — a number less than previous sessions, with the passage of over 100 bills as the average.

Things don’t always run smoothly even when you wear the same uniform. Because of special interest caucuses, there are often clashes on what direction to take. The Freedom Caucus, the right-wing arm of the House, patterns itself after the national Freedom Caucus and sees itself as the true representatives of conservative values and regards other Republicans as RINOS (Republicans in name only). Rather than contributing positively to the legislative process, they are generally viewed as unserious and are often disruptive. The Family Caucus members largely coalesce around their anti-abortion stance and far-right Christian nationalism. Oftentimes, there is disagreement between these splinter groups and Senate and House Leadership.

According to House Speaker Murrell Smith, “You don’t measure your success on the number of bills passed. You measure your success on the substance of the bills that pass and we really concentrated on big ticket items. I think you’ve seen over the past few years we‘re more concerned about making sure that we do things that benefit South Carolina and that we do big items that take a lot of time,” The State, How South Carolina’s GOP Used Its Supermajority in 2025.

Although a number of “big ticket” items gained traction during this session, among the biggest that were ratified by both houses include yet another attempt at funneling public money to private schools. This year’s iteration (the State Supreme Court quashed last year’s attempt to redirect money budgeted for state education, calling it a violation of the state’s Constitution.) is to take money from the lottery. The state lottery fully funds the South Carolina Educational Scholarship Fund, which provides a myriad of scholarship opportunities to help students afford higher education.

Unless the high court finds this to also be a sham, the state will be able to fund the school choice program which allows families to use taxpayer money at K-12 private schools. Under this plan, a trustee appointed by the South Carolina Department of Education – but separate from the department – will distribute the money. Scholarships up to $7500 can be used on education-related expenses such as tuition, tutoring, and transportation to the school. The scholarships will be available to 15,000 students at the beginning but may increase in the future. To be eligible, families can earn no more than 300% of the federal poverty level.

H. 3497 addressed liquor liability and tort reform, vital because of escalating insurance rates that forced restaurants, bars, and clubs to close due to the the required $1 million insurance premium for serving liquor. The law basically eliminates liability except in circumstances of willful, wanton, reckless, or intentional actions on the part of the establishment. Bars and restaurants can reduce their premiums by following rules such as closing before midnight, giving training to employees, following certain rules, such as closing before midnight, offering employees alcohol training courses, and using a digital ID scanner if serving alcohol between midnight and 4:00 am. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2026, 

H.3196, the Educator Assistance Act, focuses on improving working conditions for educators and streamlining processes related to teacher certification, contracts, and leave policies. (Finally, a bill to treat educators as professionals!)

H.3309 and S.12 make up much needed energy legislation which deals with South Carolina’s growing demand for energy resources. South Carolina has three major energy companies — Santee Cooper, Dominion, and Duke. Santee Cooper is one of the nation’s largest publicly-owned electric utilities. The utility companies constantly require more energy for computer data centers because they use an enormous amount of energy. The House was willing to strip basic ratepayer protections to make it easier for the utility companies to build more capacity. The Senate added provisions to require the data centers to pay for the new capacity they need rather than passing the costs on to residential, businesses, and other residential users. In a compromise bill, the current ratepayer protections were maintained and the utility companies were  granted all the shortcuts they needed. Santee Cooper had previously agreed to make data centers cover their costs, but Dominion had already offered the data centers special low rates, and Duke will likely follow Dominion’s example. 

In another bill that has now been signed into law, the Legislature has merged the Departments of Mental Health, Disabilities and Special Needs, and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services into one agency called the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

A number of bills did not pass both houses during the session. All pending bills will be given a new number and will most likely be reconsidered when the General Assembly reconvenes on January 13. Some of those that will be voted on in the second half of the 126th legislative session are: the anti-DEI bill, taxation reform, expanded family leave for state employees, hands-free cellphones, magistrate and judicial reform, and state auditor bill.