Last week was the 10th week of the 2024 legislative session. There are 8 weeks remaining before the legislature adjourns on May 9, 2024.
Here are the highlights from last week’s Senate action:
REFORM OF THE JUDICIAL SELECTION PROCESS – The Senate spent the entire week working on S. 1046 2023-2024 Bill 1046: Judicial Merit Selection Commission. This was a complicated bill with lots of differing opinions. After coming to an agreement, the Senate passed the bill on Thursday. The final version would:
- Create a new 12-member screening commission. The governor would appoint 4 of those members, while legislative leadership would appoint the other 8. No member could serve more than 4 consecutive years on the commission.
- Allow the Senate to remove Senate appointees and the House to remove House appointees.
- Require members of the screening commission to resign from the commission if a close family member seeks a judicial position screened by the commission.
- Limit the use of anonymous surveys in candidate screening
- Increase the number of candidates the screening committee must nominate from no more than 3 to no more than 6
- Require the screening commission meetings to be live-streamed
- Prohibit legislators from committing to support a candidate prior to the release of the commission’s screening report
I believe these changes will make the judicial selection process more open and transparent. It will reduce legislators’ influence on the selection process. And it will ensure that South Carolina continues to see highly qualified judges making decisions that affect us all. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for consideration.
CONSTITUENT INTERESTS
SCDOT ROAD PROJECTS – SCDOT has an interactive map to allow citizens to see the road and bridge projects going on around the state. You can see that map here.
How is the gas tax being used? – SCDOT’s website allows you to view a detailed revenue statement and project list that is funded by the Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund (IMTF). SCDOT updates this site monthly as the revenue comes in. You can see that report here.
WANT TO SEE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN ACTION? – The Senate meets in statewide session on Tuesdays at 12:00, Wednesdays at 1:00, and Thursdays at 11:00. Committees and subcommittees meet Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday mornings, and Thursday mornings. You can watch live coverage of the Senate, House of Representatives, and committees here.
OUR SENATE DISTRICT – Following the 2020 Census, the legislature redrew House and Senate districts. The new Senate districts will go into effect with the 2024 general election. Our district, Senate District 25, consists of all of Edgefield and McCormick Counties and parts of Aiken, Lexington, and Saluda Counties. If you’d like to see the district map, go here South Carolina Full Judiciary Plan. Senate District 25 is, appropriately, the peach-colored district along the western, middle part of the state. You can zoom in to see precincts and street names.
VOTING RECORD – If you’d like to see how I’ve voted on issues, go here. You can always check to see how I vote by going to my website, www.senatormassey.com, and clicking on the “Voting Record” tab.
SPEAKING WITH GROUPS – Several groups, clubs, and classes around our Senate district have invited me to attend their meetings and provide legislative updates. If you would like for me to come speak with your group, please let me know.
EMAIL UPDATES – If you know of people in or around District 25 who do not receive my updates but would like to get them, please email their names and email addresses to me. You can also forward this email to them and encourage them to sign up for the updates at www.senatormassey.com.