Leadership and Civic Engagement, News, Policy Updates
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Legislative Prefile
by WREN Staff on Dec 8, 2020
It’s almost that time again, folks! The South Carolina General Assembly’s first year of the 124th Legislative Session will begin on January 12, 2021!
Before we can talk about January, we need to get through the legislative prefile dates. Prefiling is the introduction and referral to a committee of Bills prior to a legislative session.
Members of the S.C. House and S.C. Senate will be able to prefile legislation for the 2021 session on Dec. 9. House members also will be able to submit new bills on Dec. 16. Because the two-year session restarts in 2021, any legislation unapproved in 2020 must be resubmitted.
Legislators prefile bills to help show the public what their main priorities are heading into the legislative session. These bills are formal legislative proposals that allow sponsors, and opponents, time to spell out what a bill will do and to identify opportunities to find strategic allies.
Any S.C. State legislator can prefile any bill(s) they would like to see introduced in the S.C. General Assembly. The bills prefiled before the official start of the legislative session will not move within the legislature until January 12, 2021; the first day of this year’s session.
Use this link to view any prefiled bills from the SC House and Senate.
What you can do in the time between prefile and the start of session:
- Add your name to this petition to ensure pay equity.
- Share your story with WREN on how COVID has impacted your life.
- Sign up for our newsletter, here.
- Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
- Contact your legislators and tell them what your priorities are, here.