Speak Out: Is the Legislative Session Too Long?

Are our state legislators working too much?

As Patch reported earlier this week, the SC House has passed a bill – for the tenth time – that would shorten the legislative work session.

If approved the legislation would cause the General Assembly to end on the first Thursday in May rather than the first Thursday in June. It would also keep the General Assembly from meeting in statewide session during the month of January, while still allowing legislative committees to meet during that time.

Previous efforts to shorten the session have failed to receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass in the Senate.

Speaker Bobby Harrell issued the following statement after the 91-9 vote:

"The House has long believed that we can accomplish the people's work in less time, and by doing so, save taxpayers more than $400,000 a year. We have seen time and time again at the State House that the work fills the time. Much as a student who waits until right before test day to cram for midterms, so does the General Assembly cram much of its work into the last part of the session.  We will be able to do the same amount of work, just in less time and with less taxpayer money. 

Harrell also said the measure would encourage more citizens to run for office, who are currently discouraged from running by the “long session calendar,” which bill supporters say is one of the longest in the country.

What do you think? Should the session be shortened? Will elected officials be able to do more in less time?