NO. 67

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

The Senate assembled at 11:00 A.M., the hour to which it stood adjourned, and was called to order by the ACTING PRESIDENT, Senator KENNEDY.

The following remarks by Senator YOUNG were ordered printed in the Journal of March 26, 2026:

In recognition of our ongoing 250th anniversary observance of the American Revolution, I wanted to take just a couple of minutes to share with you some significant events that occurred in my district in Aiken County - which was not Aiken County in the 1770s and early 1780s during the Revolutionary War, but was part of the Colony of South Carolina, and eventually became the State of South Carolina.

I want to begin briefly by mentioning the Silver Bluff Audubon Sanctuary. I know that Senator CAMPSEN is familiar with that, and probably Senator GROOMS as well. The Audubon Sanctuary, located between Jackson, South Carolina, and Beech Island, South Carolina, is a beautiful property. On that site are the remnants of the Galphin Trading Post, which was established in the early 1740s as a trading post for colonial South Carolina near the Savannah River.

The post was founded and operated by Mr. George Galphin, an Irish-born Indian trader. He maintained extensive relationships and gained exceptional trust among Native American tribes and their leadership doing so in part through family ties and cultural connections.

When the American Revolution began, Mr. Galphin supported the Patriot cause. In 1775, he was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Southern Department by the Continental Congress. His primary task was to keep the Creek and Cherokee Nations neutral during the Revolution, in order to prevent them from causing havoc on the frontier and aiding the British in the backcountry of South Carolina and other parts of the lower colonies.

This effort proved strategically crucial. Henry Laurens, a distinguished South Carolinian for whom Laurens County is named, credited Galphin's diplomacy with helping secure South Carolina and Georgia for the Patriot cause by preventing a full-scale frontier war. Mr. Galphin died in 1780. His home, plantation house and surrounding buildings were fortified prior to his death. After his death, Tory - also known as Loyalist - forces occupied the site.

On May 21, 1781, Patriot forces under Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee - the father of General Robert E. Lee - along with South Carolina militia, captured Fort Galphin from the Loyalist garrison. This occurred approximately four months after the Battle of Cowpens and several months before Lord Cornwallis surrendered British forces at Yorktown.

The Patriots captured approximately 120 British and Loyalist troops, along with supplies that had been intended for Native Americans in an effort to incite unrest and violence along the South Carolina frontier. This action helped isolate British forces in Augusta, which fell just weeks later.

This is a brief but meaningful part of our history in South Carolina. It is unique to what is now Aiken County, and it serves as a reminder that in the backcountry, Patriots played a vital role in securing our victory and independence from Great Britain. Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT.

The following remarks by Senator DAVIS were ordered printed in the Journal of April 22, 2026:

Mr. PRESIDENT, this is an amendment by Senator BRIGHT which would require PEBA to monitor, store and report to the General Assembly and to the PRESIDENT, incidences of miscarriages. Now this is in addition to current requirements, already in the books, that all abortion procedures in South Carolina are reported. That is Section 44-41-60. All abortions that are reported or occur because of medical emergencies, Section 44-41-640. All abortions that occur in the State because of rape and incest exceptions, Section 44-41-650. All abortions that occur because the baby has been diagnosed with a fatal fetal anomaly, Section 44-41-660. All that is current law. I understand why we have that, because Senator MASSEY, we want to track the impact that the Heartbeat Law has on reducing the number of abortions in South Carolina. That is material information for us, I think, and that is legitimate. What I don't understand. I'm not going to yield, yet. Have a seat. What I don't understand is why we are now asking PEBA to track miscarriages, Senator HUTTO. Miscarriages.

So, I say I don't understand, but I do understand. Because I don't think most members of this Body realize what happened yesterday in Medical Affairs. Senator HUTTO, I know you know because you were there. We passed and I voted for a Fetal Heartbeat law which banned abortions, until such time as a fetal heartbeat can be detected around six or seven weeks. Except for instances, where the pregnancy is caused by rape, incest or if a physician diagnosis that the unborn child has a fatal fetal anomaly. Meaning it has a condition inconsistent with life outside of the womb. That particular law balanced what I consider to be two competing rights. The right of a woman to sovereignty over her body and the right to make her own medical decisions. And the legitimate right of the State to see that an unborn child is born and becomes a member of society. We balance those rights. We had a long debate balancing those rights and we arrived at a point that I don't think everyone is in complete agreement with. But one thing we did, is we recognized that a woman has rights. The Bill that was passed yesterday in Medical Affairs, assigns no rights to the woman, Senator CAMPSEN, it bans abortions from the moment of conception, and eliminates the exception for when the pregnancy is caused by rape. It eliminates the exception from when the pregnancy is caused by incest, Senator SABB. It eliminates the exception for when a physician says that baby in the womb cannot survive outside the womb, missing vital organs, missing a brain -- for whatever reason, forcing the woman, conscripting her body, making her carry that child with the fatal fetal anomaly to term. It is the most draconian, insensitive, disrespectful, abortion Bill in this country. It doesn't stop there, Senator MATTHEWS. Do you know what else it does? It subjects a woman to imprisonment for up to two years. So, if my daughter were raped and she decided that she wanted to have an abortion, she would go to jail. If my daughter were raped, and the physician diagnosed that unborn child with a fatal fetal anomaly, and she wanted an abortion so she would not have to carry to term, she would do to jail. Go to jail. The physician who would assist a woman in that context would be guilty of a felony and go to jail for 20 years. Not just the woman, though. Not just the physician, though. We are going to do something different. You know what we're going to do? We're going to go ahead and make it a RICO violation. We're going to take an organized crime, RICO statute, and everybody, Senator SAAB, who is associated with that decision, the doctor, nurse, physician-assistant and the receptionist, who booked the appointment, they're all going to go to jail. Now, this sounds like something Kafkaesque -- sounds like something unreal. It passed out of Medical Affairs with every single member of my party, the Republican party, voting for it. That worries me because there are thirty-four Republicans in this Senate. We are doing something extremely dangerous and this particular amendment that Senator BRIGHT put on the desk, directing PEBA to surveil and report women who have miscarriages, is yet the next step in this process. I don't want to be associated with this. I don't want the party that I'm affiliated with to be associated with this. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed.

Now, we have lots of things that we have to debate -- healthcare access. I can go on and on and on. But we spent an inordinate amount of time and a heavy lift to get this thing before y'all. It's on the Calendar. It's there before you. I rise today and I'm glad Senator BRIGHT offered this amendment because somebody has to yell stop. We have jumped the shark on this. This is ridiculous -- absolutely ridiculous -- eliminating the exceptions for rape and incest -- forcing, even worse than that, Senator HUTTO, a rapist has the right to compel the woman to carry to term. Because this Bill says that both parents have to agree before an abortion occurs. So, you have a situation where under this Bill, passed out of committee, and on this Calendar -- a rapist can stand in the way of parents wanting their child to avoid having to carry that child, conceived out of rape, to term. Now, I've heard punish the offender; don't punish the unborn child. I've heard that. There is a famous analogy back in the 70s, I can't remember. It's called the famous violinist analogy. Where imagine this. It is a thought experiment. Suppose you wake up one day in a hospital bed and you are hooked up to a famous violinist and the doctor says to you that you have to remain hooked up to that famous violinist for nine months or that violinist is going to die. That person lying there hooked up has nothing to do with that -- is innocent. Can the state then say to that person you are going to lie there for nine months and keep that violinist alive? Is that what we are going to do? That is not what we are going to do. Women are not just simply vehicles or receptacles for children to be born. They are sentient human beings with rights. This amendment and the road we're going down ignores those rights. It is extremist. It is cruel. It is not reflective of what South Carolinians are and not reflective of who I am, and I hope and I pray it is not reflective of what the Republican party is. Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT.

The following remarks by Senator CROMER were ordered printed in the Journal of April 28, 2026:

Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT. I'll be short and sweet. I just want to say it has happened again. Over the weekend, another drunk driver was arrested following a crash on South Carolina roadways. The intoxicated driver collided head-on with a Newberry County sheriff's deputy.

Thankfully, the deputy is okay and has been released from the hospital, but make no mistake, this collision, like many others, could have been deadly. Newberry County and all of South Carolina are grateful today this deputy has been spared, but this collision reminds me of the urgent need for reforming our DUI laws.

Mr. PRESIDENT, this Body spent weeks earlier this spring meticulously crafting legislation to close all those loopholes in our DUI laws and to keep repeat offenders behind bars. We passed strong bipartisan legislation to bring an end to tragedies claiming our fathers, sons, mothers and daughters on South Carolina highways. The Senate did its job. Now I want to encourage the House to do what is right - to join us - and not settle for watered down reform. Send us a strong DUI Reform Bill so that we can get it to the Governor's desk as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT.

The following Bill was read the third time and ordered sent to the House:

S. 1043 (Word version) -- Senators Adams, Zell, Leber and Graham: A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS SO AS TO ENACT THE "CIVIL AIR PATROL LEAVE ACT"; BY ADDING CHAPTER 23 TO TITLE 25 SO AS TO DEFINE TERMS RELATED TO THE CIVIL AIR PATROL LEAVE ACT, TO PROVIDE FOR THE CREATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL AIR PATROL LEAVE, TO PRESCRIBE THE DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES AND RIGHTS OF EMPLOYERS REGARDING CIVIL AIR PATROL LEAVE, TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS, AND TO PROVIDE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS PROTECTIONS.

At 11:05 A.M., on motion of Senator MASSEY, the Senate adjourned to meet next Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 12:00 P.M.

This web page was last updated on Friday, May 8, 2026 at 11:33 A.M.