Legislative Update

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Multiple special committees appointed by the General Assembly met last week to receive testimony and have discussions ahead of the 2025 legislative session, including: 

  • The Insurance Study Committee, tasked with examining South Carolina’s civil justice system and insurance market, held its first meeting to organize and hear from the Director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance, Michael Wise, who gave an update on the status of the insurance market in the state. The committee will be holding subsequent meetings on this topic over the next few weeks and months and is required to submit a report with recommendations to the General Assembly by January 31, 2025. Watch the meeting here.
  • The Special Joint Committee to Study Childcare met this week to receive testimony from business stakeholders including the South Carolina Hospital Association, Prisma Health and others, and to discuss data compiled about the challenges facing families, childcare workers and childcare providers. The committee plans to continue meeting in the coming months with the hope of generating a report with policy recommendations ahead of the 2025 legislative session. Watch the meeting here.
  • The Senate Special Committee on South Carolina’s Energy Future met to continue discussions regarding the state’s need for increased energy generation. The committee received testimony from a wide variety of stakeholders including industrial energy users, economic developers, and data center companies. Also testifying was South Carolina Department of Commerce Secretary Harry Lightsey, who shared his belief that South Carolina must bring new energy generation sources online in order to sustain the state’s growth and record economic development success. He also shared additional information regarding the role SC NEXUS will play in helping alleviate South Carolina’s energy shortage through grid resiliency and technological advances, and discussed why data center projects are important to the state’s economy. The committee plans to meet again this week to begin discussing potential legislation. More information on the meeting can be found here.