This is the tenth week of the 2025-26 legislative session. Here’s what we’re watching.
A spirited defense of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The House Education and Public Works Committee has announced a second hearing date on House Bill 3927, a sweeping attack on programs of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Wednesday, March 19 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 110 of the Blatt Building (1105 Pendleton St., Columbia). The agenda is here, and a video livestream will be available here.
The last time the committee held a hearing, South Carolinians from all walks of life showed up and did something remarkable: We delivered four-and-a-half straight hours of testimony against the bill. You can see a 10-minute highlight reel on our Instagram. Not a single person spoke in favor of the bill. And last week during budget negotiations in the State House of Representatives, state lawmakers including Reps. Annie McDaniel (D-Fairfield) and Jermaine Johnson (D-Hopkins) defeated a budget amendment that would have attacked DEI via a budget proviso.
DEFEND DIVERSITY EQUITY & INCLUSION
In case it wasn’t clear by now, the coordinated nationwide campaigns against Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility are not-so-thinly-veiled attacks on the very infrastructure of civil rights law in this country. From the president’s anti-equity executive orders to the U.S. Department of Education’s cynical attack on programs like The Ph.D. Project at Clemson, we need to keep showing up when powerful people seek to return us to an era of Homogeneity, Inequality, and Exclusion.
An opportunity for public input
The House Government Efficiency & Legislative Oversight Committee will host a public input meeting on Wednesday, March 19, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 110 of the Blatt Building (1105 Pendleton St., Columbia).
The committee is reviewing the performance of numerous state agencies including the S.C. Department of Education and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division. The agenda is here. To provide testimony, you must register by 9 a.m. on March 19 by calling 803-212-6810 or emailing hcommlegov@schouse.gov.
Get ready to advocate with us
Interested in joining local and state-level efforts to defend civil liberties? Please register for our next virtual Advocacy 101 training on Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. Let us know which issues matter most to you, and we’ll get you plugged in with advocates from across our state.
If you haven’t taken this virtual training before, it’s a good primer on how to use your influence as a constituent to push for positive change in our state legislature. Whether you are interested in reproductive rights, LGBTQ liberation, academic freedom, or any of our other vital freedoms, we can use your help – and we can all find ways to show up together.
Mandatory cursive lessons?
This isn’t exactly a hot-button civil liberties issue, but since we mentioned it on the podcast, it’s worth mentioning here: A bill requiring cursive writing to be taught in all public elementary schools will receive its first hearing before the House K-12 Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 19, at 10 a.m. in Room 110 of the Blatt Building (1105 Pendleton St., Columbia). Agenda here.
It’s House Bill 3578 if you want to read the full text.
