What's been happening in the House this morning is real interesting.
Today, lawmakers were considering a bill to allow Lancaster County to have partisan elections for school boards.
They would be just the third county in the state to do so. But Democrats are not happy.
Some argued it will close seats to those who will not be able to afford to campaign.
Others think it's the beginning of an effort to bring politics into otherwise bureaucratic roles during a time of extreme political tension in the state’s education system.
“It starts in Lancaster, and it is like a cancer,” said Rep. Cezar McKnight, D-Kingstree. “It will start to spread and from Lancaster, it moves down 77 to Richland."
Says that it will lead to fewer qualified candidates in school board elections, adding "There's a mob loose."
Senate will now vote to table an amendment from Sen. Hembree to effectively gut the medical marijuana bill and turn it into a bill authorizing the state to conduct a clinical trial, significantly downsizing the program from thousands of eligible patients to a handful.
The amendment has been tabled, 26-18. This was the first key show of support for Davis' bill, and a significant moment indicating it is likely to pass.
Davis' purported whip count was right around this number.
The South Carolina Senate will return today to debate @SenTomDavisSC's medical marijuana after 8 hours of amendments yesterday.
Many were carried over. Only a handful passed outright. Here's some of the most significant/potential changes.
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ADOPTED: A dual Davis/Kimbrell amendment reducing the maximum size of grow operations from 15 to 2 acres. Would also eliminate dispensaries from the equation, creating something more akin to a pharmacy, with a program to track cannabis products like opioids or other meds.
ADOPTED: An opt-out provision for municipalities that don't want to participate in medical cannabis.
Since the bill only allows a limited number per county anyway, I assume there could be counties that could just go ahead and ban it outright, but I'd welcome a fact check.
"Serving in Congress is the honor of my lifetime, and I atl east partially have her 2018 loss in our District to thank for that," se said in a statement to the P&C.
Starting to get numbers in from the FEC today. Keeping an eye on a few races just for kicks, but seeing some interesting numbers from last quarter in the crowded race to unseat @TomRiceSC7.
Here's what we've got so far...
@GarrettBartonSC: $14.5k raised, $63.5k spent, and $131.8k COH. Also has $150k in loans from the candidate himself.
Ken Richardson: $45k raised, $44k spent. $99k COH. $100k in loans.
@GrahamAllen_1 dropped out of the race this wknd, raised $89.4k, spent nearly $200k. $194k COH.
Allen's decline was steep. After outraising Rice in the first quarter of his race with $409k, he raised just $237,000 in the fall, and up until this quarter had a burn rate of 59%.
He spent more than twice what he took in for the third quarter of his campaign.
Reporting live from the floor of Gressette 209, where a Senate committee is considering two abortion bills. One would effectively treat abortion as a crime in-line with murder.
There's no live stream option available, and it's a tight room. Press is on the floor.
It's a big week in abortion rights here in SC. Tomorrow is a hearing to overturn a pause on its ban on abortions after six weeks.
The state has spent $182K on outside counsel to defend the law, according to invoices we obtained via public records request. postandcourier.com/politics/sc-ha…
Notably, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee -- chaired by Sen. Corbin -- is made up of five men, and one woman: Democrat Margie Bright Matthews.