State senators preview important issues ahead of legislative session

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — With state lawmakers returning to Columbia this week, many eyes are on the statehouse and what legislation will be discussed this session.

Senate majority and minority speakers as well as some of their colleagues were at the Blatt Building today on statehouse grounds to speak about goals for the upcoming session.

The last time senators met at the statehouse, the topic was a possible abortion ban. 

“I think that if that comes back up, we won’t get anything done. I think we need to work on other legislation first,” said Sen. Katrina Shealy, a Republican from Lexington.

Shealy hopes to work on legislation addressing free meals in schools, human trafficking, domestic violence and removing taxes on feminine hygiene products.

“These are all logical, no-brainer problems that we should have no problem with getting passed in the Senate,” Shealy said.

However, not all bills passed in the Senate last year made it into law including one bill senators hope to revisit this session.

“The fentanyl legislation fits into the category of things that passed in the Senate and went to the House,” said Sen. Thomas Alexander, a Republican from Oconee County.

Senate majority leader Shane Massey says he is focusing on three topics ahead of the start of the legislative session.

“I think the plan is that we’re going to start off with education, healthcare and some criminal justice issues,” said Massey, who represents Edgefield.

As far as education, Massey says that improving schools in the Palmetto State means fixing rural school buildings. 

“I’m pleased with what we’ve done, but we can do more. The other thing is we’ve got to recruit and retain teachers,” Massey said. “Part of that is pay but there are other things we need to do to make it a better work environment.”

When it comes to healthcare, Massey believes most of the discussion will center around the issue of certificate of need.

“That has an impact on what South Carolinians are paying for healthcare costs and what access they have to healthcare,” Massey said.

“We’ve got counties without hospitals. We’ve got towns without doctors,” said Rep. Russell Hutto, minority leader. “We’ve got towns where you are lucky to have a nurse practitioner.”

Concerning criminal justice, many sheriffs statewide have expressed a concern of repeat criminals being caught and released on bond. 

“The sheriffs told me that 80 percent of the crimes are committed by 20 percent of the people,” said Rep. Ronnie Cromer of Newberry County. “We really need to do something about that.”

No matter the issue being worked on, Senator Massey hopes that no specific bill takes up weeks of the legislative session.