House Adjourns Sine Die;
Republican Caucus Completes Agenda

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The House Republican Caucus celebrated the completion of our ambitious 2011 agenda today as the South Carolina House adjourned sine die.

The House GOP agenda focused on creating jobs, improving education, transparency and government reform, new pro-life protections, limiting government power, and illegal immigration reform. There were 20 pieces of legislation under those topics that were passed in the 19-week session.

“The House Republicans worked hard to create a conservative game plan and we executed at least one major item each week,” said Majority Leader Kenny Bingham, R-Cayce. “This has been an extraordinary year for Republicans. We had to make compromises on some issues – notably lawsuit abuse reform and point of sale – but we can’t let perfection get in the way of the possible. These conservative reforms were possible. Now we hope more of them will become law.”

Because of the Republicans’ effectiveness in getting major legislation through – items like Voter ID, Tort Reform, the Repeal Amendment, and others – Democrat leaders began complaining about “Wicked Wednesdays.”

The final week of the session saw approval given to a number of important items, including the state budget, lawsuit abuse reform and the point of sale. Unfortunately, some items that were very close to becoming law, notably the illegal immigration reform, remained in limbo because of Senate inaction during the final week.

“The House Republican Caucus is not interested in waiting for an election year to get things accomplished,” said Assistant Majority Leader Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville. “During last year’s elections, our constituents laid out a long list of things they wanted to see completed. From day one of 2011, we were focused on that list.

“As we move into the off-session and begin preparing for 2012, we will again look to our conservative constituents to help us with a road map of what South Carolinians want their future to look like. We are committed to continuing down this conservative path.”

Majority Leader Bingham added: “As the House prepares to return to session on June 14th to debate redistricting, it is my hope that more of these items will be passed by the Senate and can make it to Governor Haley’s desk.”

A comprehensive list of the items, descriptions, and completion dates, will be posted under the "Key Issues" page of the Caucus website soon. In the meantime, here is a list of the agenda as we proposed it in January.