2021 Session comes to a close

Today, May 13th, is the date that marks the close of the 2021 legislative session of the South Carolina state legislature. The end of the first year of a two-year term.

But just because the session has officially closed, doesn’t mean the work has ended. Legislative committees meet and activity continues over the summer. Many offices are still staffed, and many staff members know where their Senators and Representatives stand on specific issues.

So our number 1 priority continues to be — even over the summer — to identify if your legislators support ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

We got a lot done this year. We’ve continued to spread the word on why South Carolina state ratification is so necessary to improve the lives of our women and families. Economically, it’s a sound investment (to see why, visit GOP4ERA). And we’ve continued to build our network so that when the real action begins — in year two — we’ll be ready.

So beginning in January of 2022, we’ll have 3 months to make our case and get legislation through. We need to have a resolution passed by one chamber and moved to the other by early April (see crossover date). Then we’ll have till the end of the session — this time next year — to get the final vote.

This should not be hard. As Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeberg stated on December 18, 2018, when the first ERA resolution was proposed:

“The ERA is just 24 simple words. No money needs allocation; no language needs reconciliation. Just an up or down vote for equality.”

That’s all we want.  

To find out if you legislator is supportive, go to our House and Senate Scorecards to look them up. If they've not committed, click on their picture and use the contact info to track them down.  Then let us know what you hear so we can keep count. The more we know heading into next year, the likelier success we will have.

And if you need some inspiration, listen to South Carolina Senator Tom Davis’s testimony on YouTube. He’ll tell you why South Carolina needs to do our part to make equality the law of the land.

Have a great summer!  See you soon.

Onward!