COLUMBIA, SC  Abortions. Bloated classroom sizes. A proposal to make the state’s only historically black technical college a trade school. Those were the issues that stirred the most controversy in the S.C. House Tuesday, as the chamber’s 124 members debated through the night how to spend roughly $9.3 billion in state money. The state’s budget takes effect every year on July 1. The House voted 100-2 Wednesday to adopt the budget, capping an often contentious debate that lasted roughly 13 hours. [...]

South Carolina is one of only five states with no law against hate crimes South Carolina's Legislative Black Caucus is hoping to pass a bill that would provide additional punishment for crimes committed because of a victim's identity or circumstance. Introduced on Jan. 8, H. 3063 would add an extra charge to a person convicted of a crime "with the intent to assault, intimidate, or threaten a person because of his race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, [...]

Pro-LGBT bills aimed at ending discriminatory practices in South Carolina. When the General Assembly convenes today in Columbia, a years-long push to protect the LGBTQ community in South Carolina will continue. SC Equality has teamed up with our coalition partners, and a bi-partisan group of elected officials again to file bills that ensure protections against discrimination for the LGBTQ community. The bills range from offering anti-bulling protections for LGBTQ students in our schools to redefining hate crimes in [...]