Last week was the 8 th week of the 2023 legislative session. There are 10 legislative weeks remaining before the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on May 11, 2023. Here are the highlights from last week’ Senate action:
MUNICIPAL AUDITS – The Senate passed S. 31 2023-2024 Bill 31: Municipal Audit, a bill that would allow municipalities with less than $500,000 in annual, recurring revenue to submit an audit or compilation of financial statements annually if the municipality has a court system or once every three years if the municipality does not have a court system. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives.
FIRST STEPS – The Senate passed S. 123 2023-2024 Bill 123: First Steps, a bill that would make the First Steps to School Readiness program permanent. The program started more than 20 years ago with the goal of ensuring that children are ready to start learning when they begin first grade. The legislation that created First Steps included sunset provisions to ensure the legislature would review the progress of the program regularly. Since the program has largely been a success, the Senate decided to make the program permanent. The House will now consider the bill.
NON CERTIFIED TEACHERS – The Senate passed S. 124 2023-2024 Bill 124: Non certified Teacher Pilot Program, a bill that would allow schools to hire non certified teachers with subject matter expertise. Non certified teachers could not account for more than 10% of the teaching faculty. The House of Representatives will now consider the bill.
STIPENDS FOR EDUCATION MAJORS – In an effort to encourage high school and college students to pursue education as a career, the Senate passed S. 125 2023-2024 Bill 125: Scholarship Stipend, a bill that would grant additional scholarship stipends of up to $2,500 per year for Life Scholarship recipients and up to $3,000 per year for Palmetto Fellows Scholarship recipients who are pursuing education majors at four-year colleges and universities. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives.
EMERGENCY DRILLS IN SCHOOLS – State law requires public schools to conduct multiple drills for fire, active shooter/intruder, and severe weather/earthquakes throughout the school year. To ensure those drills are conducted but also minimize the impact on classroom instruction, the Senate passed S. 203 2023-2024 Bill 203: Public school drills, a bill that would require those emergency drills be conducted one time per semester, all within the first 15 days of the semester. The bill would require one additional fire drill during the semester. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives.
BOOSTER CLUBS – The Senate passed S. 245 2023-2024 Bill 245: Booster Clubs, a bill that would prevent convicted felons from serving as financial officers of school booster clubs. The House will now consider the bill.
ELECTION PROTESTS – The Senate passed S. 92 2023-2024 Bill 92: Election protest deadlines, a bill that would extend the deadline for filing election protests if the deadline falls on a holiday. The House will now consider the bill.
LAST WEEK’S MEETINGS
On Monday night, I held a town hall meeting in Plum Branch. We had 40-50 in attendance and discussed a number of statewide and local issues. This was my 10 th town hall meeting this Spring.
On Friday, I spoke at the annual meeting of the South Carolina Bankers Associations’ Young Bankers Division.
Constituent Interests
TOWN HALL MEETINGS – Nearly every year since I was first elected, I have held several town hall meetings across our Senate district. So far this year, I have held 10 town hall meetings, two meetings in each of our district’s five counties. I do not have any additional meetings scheduled for this Spring, but I will probably do another round of meetings in the Fall.
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 some committees here South Carolina Legislature Online – Broadcast Video
OUR SENATE DISTRICT – Senate district 25 consists of all of Edgefield County and parts of Aiken, Lexington, McCormick, and Saluda Counties. If you’d like to see the district map (effective with the 2024 general election), go here South Carolina Senate H.4493.
VOTING RECORD – If you’d like to see how I’ve voted on issues, go here. Scroll down to “Voting Record” on the right side of the page. 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.
Sincerely,
Shane Massey
P.O. Box 551
Edgefield, SC 29824
Email – shanemassey@scsenate.gov
Cell Phone – (803) 480-0419
Office Phone – (803) 212-6330