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Crossover Week in Columbia

April 9, 2021

In Columbia it was crossover week, meaning if a bill doesn’t pass either the House or Senate by Thursday, it’s virtually dead for the year. 

The big news this week that I’m sure you saw earlier is that the Hate Crimes bill H.3620 received final passage in the House of Representatives. Every member of our delegation supported the bill with the exception of two members who didn’t vote. As one of three states that doesn’t have a Hate Crime statute on the books, we were thrilled by the leadership of Speaker of the House Jay Lucas, Chairman of Judiciary Chris Murphy, lead sponsor Representative Wendell Gilliard and our legislative delegation for helping ensure its passage. The bill now moves to the Senate; when the time is right, we will need your help to reach out to your Senator.

Here is where some of our other key priorities stand going into the last month of legislative session:

  • The Port Bond bill passed the Senate earlier this year and is now in the House Ways and Means Committee. We expect subcommittee hearings to begin in the next couple of weeks.
  • COVID liability protections for businesses S.147 passed the Senate earlier this session and now resides in full House Judiciary Committee after passing out of its subcommittee last month.
  • H.3144 SC Workforce Industry Needs Scholarships (SC WINS) passed the House this week. The bill now moves to the Senate.
  • Many of our small business members will be happy to hear that S.627, which allows S-Corps and LLC’s to pay income taxes at the entity level rather than the business owner’s personal returns, passed the Senate. The bill now moves to the House.
  • The Abandoned Buildings Tax Credit reauthorization S.271 previously passed the Senate and is on the House floor.

As always, we will keep you up to date as the priorities move. The Senate will begin budget deliberations in a couple of weeks. Have a great weekend!

George Ramsey
Senior Director of Legislative Relations

Posted on
April 9th 2021
Written by
Charleston Metro Chamber
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