SC Freedom Caucus Defeats Health Czar!

Major Wins on Final Day of Session

Earlier this year, the Uniparty establishment made multiple attempts to force through a “Health Czar” Bill under the guise of restructuring and consolidating public health departments in SC. Today, the SC Freedom Caucus defeated the effort!

You may remember a few months ago we wrote:

“Rather than standing up to the WHO, banning vaccine mandates, or ensuring that the legislature will have a voice to stop lockdowns and runaway ‘health emergencies,’ the General Assembly is focused on passing legislation recommended by the Boston Consulting Group, a partner of the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”

Our SC Freedom Caucus had numerous objections to this unprecedented bill including the unknown cost to taxpayers, dangerous powers placed in the hands of a sole unelected bureaucrat, and failure to actually “consolidate” or cut any government whatsoever.

We attempted to amend the bill to make it less egregious; however, moderate Republicans joined with Democrats to defeat every conservative amendment. In the end a House version of the bill passed and a Senate version of the bill passed. But these different versions of the bill had to be reconciled. That just so happened to fall on the final week of session. The House took up the Senate Bill, S915 (a less bad version of the bill), and passed it with a few amendments.

Because the House amended the bill, it had to return to the Senate. The Senate then amended the bill again which meant the bill had to return to the House for final approval.

However, the clock was running out. Any bill not passed by “Sine Die” or 5PM on Thursday, May 9 could not become law this year. The bill returned to the House at 4:40PM.

But the establishment had made a major mistake. Under House rules, any amended bill must be given 2 readings on two separate days. The only way to avoid that rule is a “unanimous consent” motion to take up a bill. Any single member can object to this motion and a bill dies immediately on Sine Die. Thankfully Rep. Jordan Pace (Summerville) remembered this rarely used rule and brought it up to Rep. Josiah Magnuson (Spartanburg). Immediately, Rep. Magnuson sprang into action and objected to unanimous consent.

The House chamber was stunned. The bill, a major priority of the establishment, was defeated on the spot.

The establishment was shellshocked, and learned a hard lesson best summarized by our Chairman Adam Morgan, “Play stupid games—win stupid prizes.” If House Leadership had listened to conservatives’ concerns and made an attempt to legislate in good faith, then their pet legislation would not have been killed on the final day of session.

Thankfully, we were able to kill a bad bill, and South Carolina will be Fauci-free for another year!

But that wasn’t the only win—and we’re still not sick of winning!

The “Help Not Harm” bill banning transgender sex changes on minors passed the Legislature! The Senate changes included mandatory notification of parents if their child expresses a desire to transition while at school.

FC Member Rep. Thomas Beach (Anderson) offered Amendment #10, which would have inserted that language, on 1/17/2024 for the House’s consideration. Unfortunately, “Republican” Majority Leader Davey Hiott cobbled together a coalition of D’s and moderate R’s to kill it and keep a child’s transition hidden from their parents.

Thankfully, the Senate stood up for parental rights and demanded Rep Beach’s language be reinserted. Even Majority Leader Hiott flip-flopped in a major way and voted for the bill which included the reporting requirement to parents. A huge win for parents and kids across South Carolina!

Session may be out for the year, but we will continue fighting for your freedom every day! Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

For Liberty,

The South Carolina Freedom Caucus