27 Feb Education, Ethics Reform & Judicial Update

The House adjourned Wednesday due to inclement weather, but not before we moved on education reform, advanced an omnibus ethics reform bill, and received an update on the state of South Carolina’s judicial system.

On Tuesday, our House Speaker, Jay Lucas, set priorities and expectations for the work the House Education Policy Review and Reform Task Force. The diverse task force, made up of citizens, business leaders and elected officials begins work to develop recommendations that will lead to long-term substantial education reform in South Carolina. The group is required to submit a report of their findings to Speaker Lucas by the beginning of next legislative session.

Strengthening our state’s ethics laws remains one of my top priorities. In the House we have already taken the piece-by-piece approach to enacting ethics reform by passing a series of 12 ethics bills as a part of our comprehensive overall ethics reform package. We have completed the series of smaller bills and have now combined each of those into one omnibus ethics package which is being fast-tracked on the House floor. The House Republican Caucus supports the omnibus package and our goal is to give the Senate either vehicle necessary for passage.

Each year the Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court is tasked with giving the State of the Judiciary to a joint session of both House and Senate lawmakers. Chief Justice Toal delivered her remarks on Wednesday primarily focusing on the innovation instituted in the judicial process over the past decade. State courts that previously didn’t have internet access now operate with high-speed internet access, and large portions of the judicial branch now operate in a secure web-based cloud through a partnership with Clemson University. A new pilot program begins this year in two counties that will test an online system used to file legal paperwork, streamlining the process for the citizens of South Carolina.