COLUMBIA (AP) – South Carolina law would require legislators to take a roll call on most of their votes under a proposal fast-tracked by House lawmakers in their first week back in Columbia. The House bypassed the committee process to ...

Tagged with: General Assembly Legislature

As the General Assembly convenes next week, legislators will be facing a wide array of pre-filed bills. Hundreds of proposed new laws cover everything from government restructuring to texting to roadside foliage control. And while most may be of some interest to lawyers as voters and taxpayers, fewer are likely to have a direct bearing on the practice of law. Those that do include a number of bills that potentially affect state courts and their procedures, including the selection of judges and masters-in-equity, the retirement age of magistrates and approval of search warrants via electronic communications.

Tagged with: General Assembly Legislation Legislature

Dozens of state legislative proposals on subjects ranging from careless driving to government reorganization are stacking up again this year as members of the General Assembly get ready for another session of lawmaking. If pre-filed bills are any indication, legislators seem bent on not only hitting the ground running but also in covering a lot of it before they adjourn sometime early next summer. And why not? With state government reeling from repeated budget cuts and with more reductions predicted, they may be in for a busy session reminiscent of last year, when agencies lined up to ask for money that wasn't always available.

Tagged with: General Assembly Legislation

  By FRED HORLBECK, Senior Staff Writer [email protected]   For years Bar leaders have touted the benefits of having more lawyers in the legislature, saying more were needed to vet new laws and support funding for Rule 608 indigent appointments ...

Tagged with: Elections General Assembly SC Bar

The next time Gray T. Culbreath takes to the halls of the State House to lobby on behalf of the S.C. Defense Trial Attorneys' Association, he will be speaking as the association's new president. His top priority: "I plan to be over at the State House with other leaders of the bar advocating for judicial funding," the Columbia attorney told Lawyers Weekly.

Tagged with: General Assembly