COLUMBIA, S.C. — Prefiled bills in the South Carolina House of Representatives are shedding light on the issues that could dominate the state's political landscape in the upcoming year.
"We got work to do. We got serious work to do,” said Representative Roger Kirby (D-Florence County).
Among the prominent issues are proposals related to transgender youth, with bills aiming to ban gender transition surgeries for those under 18 and requiring school staff to share a student's gender identity with parents. Another bill seeks to designate public school restrooms and changing facilities for use only by members of one sex.
Online privacy is also expected to be a focal point, as Representative Brandon Guffey (R-York County) introduced a series of bills addressing online privacy concerns.
Guffey, who passed Gavin’s Law earlier this year in honor of his son, said the issue was brought to light after meeting with constituents and going to the Southern Legislative Conference.
“I want South Carolina to be the first. Whenever people start looking at what do we do to protect this? I want them to say, what does South Carolina do?,” said Guffey.
Guffey’s proposals range from implementing default parental controls on cell phones to age verification on social media and banning data tracking of minors.
They also include restricting what students can look up on their school devices and requiring the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to develop and manage a statewide database that tracks sexual extortion investigations and outcomes.
“These are the laws that we need to have in place and we've got to move quickly with them,” said Guffey.
House Democrats are directing their legislative efforts towards childcare tax credits, raising minimum teacher pay, and recognizing Juneteenth as a state holiday.
"The healthcare issue is still front and center. So is economic development. You know, we've done well, but we've got vast areas of the state that have had no progress. And we've got to continue to work toward economic development in our rural communities,” said Kirby.
In a bipartisan move, a bill has been proposed to add Xylazine, also known as Tranq, as a Schedule Three controlled substance, with criminal penalties for its possession.
“Xylazine is the newest glam drug that's out there starting to be mixed up with fentanyl and this type of thing,” said Kirby. “It's a situation where we felt like If we could nip it in the bud, this might be an opportunity. This was a kind of a negotiated bill that's been worked out with our veterinarians.”
The General Assembly is scheduled to convene on January 9, with Senate-prefiled legislation set to be released on November 30th.