2024 Week 2 Update

As your State Representative, I am proud to share with you the significant strides we made this week in the House. Our accomplishments reflect a unified theme: safeguarding the future of our state and its citizens through prudent, conservative stewardship. From protecting our economic interests to ensuring the safety and well-being of our children, each action we have taken is a testament to my commitment to uphold South Carolina's conservative values.

This week, we saw the successful passage of the ESG Pension Protection Act in the Senate, a crucial step in securing the $39 billion in our state's pension system. This legislation, which I supported last year when it first passed the House, is designed as a defense against the pressures of liberal Environmental-Social-Governance objectives, ensuring that the pensions of over 600,000 state and local government employees are invested wisely and free from ideological influence. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

Another landmark achievement was the passage of the 'Help Not Harm' bill. This critical piece of legislation aligns with conservative principles and prohibits gender transition procedures for minors and bans any Medicaid or public funding for such treatments for those under 26. This bill took great steps to ensure we maintain access to mental health services, protect our teachers from being responsible for diagnosing children, and hold doctors criminally accountable for performing these procedures. My dedication to protecting the physical and mental well-being of our youth remains unwavering.

Building on our commitment to safeguard our children in the digital age, two pivotal bills, currently under review by the House Judiciary Committee, are set to reshape online safety for minors. H.4700 aims to regulate social media usage among young users by prohibiting minors from holding social media accounts, requiring companies to provide pertinent information to parents or guardians, and enforcing time-based access restrictions. H.3424 targets the accessibility of pornographic content, making it illegal for operators to expose minors to such material. Together, these bills form a comprehensive framework for protecting minors from the diverse risks of the digital landscape, and I expect both to move quickly through committee and be on the House floor in the coming weeks.

My commitment to tackling the drug crisis also saw a significant victory last week with the unanimous House vote to classify xylazine as a scheduled III controlled substance. This move is integral to our ongoing battle against the deadly combinations of drugs like fentanyl and xylazine, ensuring the safety of our communities.

As we continue to navigate through this session, I am committed to ensuring that our actions in the House reflect the conservative values and priorities of our great state. Our focus remains on driving economic prosperity, safeguarding our families, and upholding the freedoms and rights that define us as South Carolinians.

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