Ambitious 2023 Agenda Achieves Many GOP Legislative Goals

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At the beginning of the 2023-2024 legislative session last December, we set an ambitious agenda in the SC General Assembly. It included improving statewide economic development, reforming our education system, implementing fiscal discipline, increasing personal freedom, and prioritizing public safety.

As I reflect on our accomplishments during the session, I feel a lot of excitement and optimism for our great state which is currently experiencing its most robust period of growth and prosperity in history. The outlook for a brighter future for our state’s citizens is as good as it has ever been.

Here are some of the key accomplishments of the final month that received very little attention in the media.

Preparing Our Workforce

We passed the SC Education and Workforce Development Act (H.3726) which aims to prepare 60% of SC students with a postsecondary degree (which means a degree or industry certification beyond high school) by 2030.

This means our education programs will mandate measures such as better preparing high school students for college-level math and reading and utilizing technical colleges for workforce training. The comprehensive bill would also require an annual analysis of how many jobs are open across the state and how many graduates there are to fill them.

We believe by improving efficiencies and achieving a more coordinated approach in the workforce and education pipeline this bill is a great starting point to prepare future generations for their career paths.

DHEC Restructuring

Modernizing government agencies and making them more efficient continues to be a major priority; and as Chairman of the House Regulations and Administration Committee, I was deeply involved in helping Bill S.399 pass the House. This bill splits the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to create the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Services. Under this new restructuring, some of the highlights include:

• Both the Department of Public Health and the Department of Environmental Services will become cabinet agencies, with their directors appointed by the Governor with advice and consent of the Senate.

• The food safety program will be trans- ferred to the Department of Agriculture.

• The flood mitigation program which currently resides with the Department of Natural Resources would be transferred to the Office of Resiliency.

• Water Resources would be transferred from the Department of Natural Resources to the Division of Water within the Department of Environmental Services.

We believe these changes, plus several others, will help citizens find our government process less cumbersome.

Death Benefit for First Responders

Additionally, I was very pleased to help pass a new law in South Carolina that mandates a one-time death benefit to all first responders who are killed in the line of duty, including law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS personnel.

The benefit ranges from $75,000 to $150,000 if the death was the result of an unlawful act by another.

Until now South Carolina was one of only 16 states that did not have a special death benefit for personnel killed in the line of duty. Our Beaufort County delegation of legislators was credited with spearheading the bill in both the Senate and House by Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner

Jeff Bradley is the representative for District 123 in the State House of Representatives.