From bills that would make changes to liquor liability insurance to help small businesses, to bills that would make changes to the municipal election process, or ones that would change the way retirement benefits are provided to return-to-work retirees, the General Assembly is considering many pieces of legislation this session that could have substantial impacts on cities and towns.
Municipal officials now have a better way to follow along with the process, as the Municipal Association of SC launched a new version of its Legislative Tracking System, replacing one that had been in use since 2007.
For every bill identified as one that could impact South Carolinian municipalities, the tracking system summarizes the significance of the bill and lists its sponsors. It also provides updates on legislative action from subcommittees, committees, debate on the floor and passage, and links users to the full text of the bill on the General Assembly’s website.
A critical upgrade for the new tracking system is the ability to search bills by keyword. The bills are also searchable by their bill number and sponsors. They can also be sorted based on whether they are a priority bills that involves one of the Municipal Association’s Advocacy Initiatives. These initiatives include everything from protecting the authority of municipalities to regulate their short-term rentals to allowing those municipalities with no property tax millage to establish one.
For example, a user interested in legislation relating to golf cart operations could search the keyword “golf cart.” This would turn up H3292, a bill that would allow county and municipal governments to enact ordinances allowing golf carts to operate in designated areas at night, and which was assigned to the House Education and Public Works Committee.
Using the list of sponsoring representatives, the reader could use the Legislator Online Directory to see if any have districts including their municipality. Local representatives can be the ideal members of the General Assembly for a municipal leader to contact and discuss the impact the bill would have on their community.
“Meredith Houck, the Association’s communications manager, and I worked with VC3, the Association’s technology partner, to build this system with our local municipal leaders in mind,” said Municipal Association Director of Advocacy Casey Fields. “This system is designed to make understanding legislation and the legislative process easy for local leaders to follow and get involved.”
The Legislative Tracking System also integrates into the Association’s From the Dome to Your Home legislative report, which is emailed every Friday during the legislative session to help subscribers know how to stay involved and make a difference at the State House.
The Association’s advocacy team also records a From the Dome to Your Home podcast every week, in which Casey Fields and Chief Operating Officer Jake Broom take a deeper dive into the critical legislative action as it happens.