SC Senate

Democrats in the South Carolina Senate have turned debate about a bill to set guidelines for history curriculum on subjects like slavery and segregation into discussion about why the body can't take a vote on a hate crimes bill. South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states in the U.S. without a law allowing extra punishment for a violent act that a judge or jury has determined is a hate crime. Democrats have vented their frustration that the bill probably won't pass again in 2023. Republican leaders say crafting lessons to teach children about the wrongs of slavery and segregation would do more to stop hate than the hate crimes bill.

Abortion bans in deeply conservative Nebraska and South Carolina each fell a single vote short of passing in their legislatures amid heated debates among Republicans. It's another sign that abortion is becoming a difficult issue for the GOP. Cheers erupted outside the legislative chamber in Nebraska on Thursday as the last vote was counted. Opponents of the bill waved signs and chanted, "Whose house? Our house!" In South Carolina, Thursday's vote was the third attempt since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer to strict bans on abortion.

The South Carolina Senate is no closer to passing a near-total abortion ban than the last time they shot down the proposal. A 22-21 vote Thursday marks the third time a near-total abortion ban has failed to pass the Republican-led chamber since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last summer. The chamber's five women filibustered the proposal in speeches highlighting the Senate's male majority. The result maintains a legislative stalemate between the House and Senate over when to ban abortion. Majority Leader Shane Massey says the House must pass a different Senate bill if lawmakers have any shot at restricting abortion by the time the session ends on May 11.

The Republican-controlled South Carolina Senate is set to rehash an ongoing disagreement with the GOP-dominated House over when the conservative state should ban abortion. With less than three weeks left to pass any new restrictions, the Senate this week will take up a near-total ban that already cleared the House. It is unclear why. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has repeatedly said he can't get the 26 Senate votes for the stricter House bill. Meanwhile, abortion has remained legal through 22 weeks, and out-of-state patients have increasingly turned to South Carolina for abortion care in a region that has largely curtailed access.

The South Carolina Legislature is looking to change a bond system that the Republican governor has repeatedly criticized for enabling a "revolving door" of defendants he says rack up violent charges while on pretrial release. The state Senate on Wednesday gave unanimous approval to the bill to revoke the initial bond for anyone charged with a violent crime or gun-involved felony while out on bond for a similar charge. But a provision for an additional five-year penalty, backed by the House and governor, was removed by senators who questioned its constitutionality and effectiveness.

South Carolina advocacy groups are showing out in opposition to a ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors as it moves through the state Legislature. About five dozen opponents rallied outside the South Carolina State House Wednesday as a Senate subcommittee advanced a ban on gender-transition surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers for people under the age of 18. The vote joins South Carolina with a broader effort in Republican-dominated legislatures across the country. At least 10 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors. Republican state Sen. Josh Kimbrell says children need to be protected from "whims." Transgender youth and their parents say the treatment can be life-saving.

Two survivors of a 2015 racist massacre that killed nine of their friends at a Charleston church say South Carolina's lack of a hate crimes law is an insult to what they suffered through at their Bible study. Polly Sheppard and Felicia Sanders told a group of state senators Tuesday it sends a message that the state isn't serious about stopping the kind of wickedness that led to the massacre at Emanuel AME. South Carolina and Wyoming are the only U.S. states without a law giving stiffer penalties for crimes motivated by someone's race, sexual orientation, religion or disability. The House and a Senate subcommittee have approved the bill, which died on the Senate floor last year.

South Carolina's Republican-controlled Senate is moving to bar citizens of a "foreign adversary" from buying property in the state in an anti-espionage measure that critics fear will chill overseas investments over outsize concerns. The bill in question was approved Thursday by a 31-5 vote. It would apply to citizens of so-called adversary nations on a U.S. Department of Commerce list that currently includes China, Russia, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

In an un-precedented move Wednesday, March 15, a special committee of the State Senate recommended that the General Assembly remove from office Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom for "willful neglect" of duty.

The South Carolina House has passed a hate crimes bill. But Wednesday's vote sends the bill to the Senate where such a proposal has died in the past. Senate Republicans refused to hear it last year, even at the urging of a survivor of one of the 2015 killing of nine black members of a Charleston church.