COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Republican South Carolina legislative leaders are unlikely this year to give permission to local governments or colleges who want to take down Confederate statues or rename buildings honoring segregationists. House Speaker Jay Lucas and Senate President Harvey Peeler have both said they have no plans to take up bills eliminating South Carolina’s Heritage Act, which requires.
SC Heritage Act lawsuit protecting Confederate monuments sparks top Republican fight John Monk, The State (Columbia, S.C.)
Dec. 30 COLUMBIA, S.C. A key part of the 20-year-old South Carolina law that makes it near impossible to take down Confederate and segregation-era monuments is the requirement that it would take a two-thirds vote a supermajority by each chamber in the General Assembly to make any changes.
But in the latest filing before the state Supreme Court in a lawsuit that challenges the state s Heritage Act, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson says the act s provision that requires a supermajority in the 124-member House and in the 46-member Senate is unconstitutional.
U.S. life expectancy inched up last year, but could decline in 2020 by the largest amount since World War II, as COVID-19 becomes the nation’s third-leading cause of death. Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that life expectancy rose to 78.8 years in 2019, an increase of one-tenth of a year. But the gain will be erased by a large drop in longevity when the government releases 2020 figures next year.
By Jamie Lovegrove
jlovegrove@postandcourier.com
The issue has been more pronounced in the House, where clusters of legislators can regularly be seen without masks while in the chamber.
S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas spokeswoman Nicolette Walters noted that Lucas, R-Hartsville, continues to always wear a mask and strongly encourages all other members to follow suit.
Walters said the House is also planning to adopt several rule changes in January, allowing committee meetings to be conducted virtually and letting members cast their votes while in the balcony or the back of the chamber for more social distancing.
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