1. SC Chamber Calls For The General Assembly And Governor To Pass & Sign A Hate Crimes Law In 2021
This week, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce delivered a
letter to the General Assembly and the Governor calling upon them to pass and sign into law a comprehensive bill against hate crimes in South Carolina next session. The letter, signed by over 80 small and large businesses throughout South Carolina, stated that the Palmetto State must join the 47 other states around the nation who have passed such legislation and show that SC is not a place that condones crimes motivated by hate.
Currently, only South Carolina, Arkansas, and Wyoming do not have some type of hate crimes law on the books. Our neighbor directly to the South, Georgia, recently passed a hate crimes law in June.
Read more:
2. SC House of Representatives Meets for Organizational Session
The South Carolina House of Representatives met on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to swear in members and announce committee leadership and members for the upcoming session. The biggest announcement was the selection of Representative Chris Murphy (R – Dorchester, District 98) as the newest House Judiciary Committee Chairman. The Judiciary Committee has been without a chair since Representative Peter McCoy was appointed as the US Attorney for South Carolina in March of this year. The full list of committee chairmen for the 2021 session is as follows:
- Agriculture, Natural Resources, & Environmental Affairs: David R. Hiott
- Education and Public Works: Merita A. "Rita" Allison
- Ethics: Wallace H. “Jay” Jordan, Jr. (Prior: G. Murrell Smith, Jr.)
- Interstate Cooperation: Mark N. Willis
- Invitation and Memorial Resolutions: Dennis Moss (Prior: Dr. Jimmy C. Bales Ed.D.)
- Judiciary: Chris Murphy (Prior: Peter M. McCoy, Jr.)
- Labor, Commerce, & Industry: William E. "Bill" Sandifer III
- Legislative Oversight: Wm. Weston J. Newton
- Medical, Military, Public, & Municipal Affairs: Leon Howard
- Operations and Management: Garry R. Smith
- Regulations and Administrative Procedures: Chip Huggins
- Rules: Anne J. Thayer (Prior: Alan D. Clemmons)
- Ways and Means: G. Murrell Smith, Jr.
You can find the list of all committee assignments
here.
3. State Extends Nexus and Withholding Due to COVID-19
As many businesses continue to have employees work from home, it remains important to give businesses relief from current nexus requirements related to South Carolina withholding taxes. Many employees continue to work from home in border counties outside the state and many businesses located outside the state have employees working from home in South Carolina.
On May 15
th of this year, the SC Department of Revenue (DOR) issued
SC Information Letter #20-11 to announce temporary relief regarding a business’s establishment of nexus (income and sales) solely because an employee is temporarily working in a different work location due to COVID-19 and provided guidance with respect to employer withholding requirements for these employees. The original relief was set to expire in September. They extended that relief through the end of the year in a separate information letter in August. On Monday this week, DOR again
extended the relief – this time through June 30
th of next year.
