Last week, the House worked until after midnight on Wednesday to adopt numerous amendments to H.4950, the FY 2018-19 state appropriations bill.

H.4950 was returned to the Senate Thursday morning with the question of concurrence in House amendments, and the Senate quickly insisted upon its version of the budget which sent H.4950 to Conference Committee.

Conferees met this afternoon to organize and adopt all sections which are the same in each version. The Committee plans to meet next week at the call of Co-Chairs Leatherman and White. There was discussion about the General Assembly possibly returning in Special Session after the June 12th Primaries to present the Budget Conference Report for consideration. H.4950 would then be sent to Governor McMaster, who has five days excluding Sunday to issue gubernatorial vetoes. The General Assembly traditionally has come back into Special Session to consider vetoes before the new fiscal year begins on July 1st; however, last year vetoes were not considered until the 2017 session began in January. The Sine Die Resolution will be agreed to and adopted this week to determine Special Session dates and issues which can be considered.

Senate Budget Conferees: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman (R, Florence – Committee Co-Chair, also President Pro Tempore of the Senate), Senator Sean Bennett (R, Dorchester – member of Senate Finance) and Senator John Matthews (D, Orangeburg – member of Senate Finance)

House Budget Conferees: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian White (R, Anderson – Committee Co-Chair), Representative Derham Cole (R, Spartanburg – Ways and Means Higher Education and Technical Colleges Subcommittee Chairman) and Representative Bill Clyburn (D, Aiken – member of Ways and Means)

Last Day of Regular Session
The regular session ends with Sine Die adjournment at 5:00pm today. Only matters contained in the Sine Die Resolution can be considered after May 10th, such as conference committees and the consideration of conference reports.

Department of Health and Environmental Control – 2018 DRAFT State Health Plan
Click here to review the draft 2018 State Health Plan

2018 Legislative Session Timeline Reminders

  • 122nd Session of the South Carolina General Assembly – 2nd Regular Session
  • Second year of a two-year session
  • Legislation not enacted during the 2018 session will be null and void
  • Crossover deadline was April 10th – especially important in the second year of a two-year session
  • Statutory Sine Die date – Thursday, May 10th
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