South Carolina Statehouse Blog

51 Bills Pre-filed Today

Impeachment Resolution assigned to Judiciary Committee

(Columbia, SC) - House Speaker Bobby Harrell made the following statement about the close of the first pre-file date and the assigning of bills to committee:
 
“There were 51 bills and resolutions pre-filed today.  One of them was an impeachment resolution filed by four members, Representatives Greg Delleney, Mike Pitts, Keith Kelly, and Gary Simrill.  The resolution has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.    
 
As we have consistently said before, the House should not take any official action until it receives the Ethics Commission’s investigative report so that we can address this issue knowing all the facts.  Since, by Court order, the investigative report will be a public document once Governor Sanford receives it, I expect the committee to have access to that report. 
 
Unless the investigation contains new information about serious crimes or serious misconduct by the governor, in my opinion, the information we have to date does not rise to a level to remove him from office.  The Ethics Commission’s investigation will be used as the basis to determine whether or not the Governor’s actions rise to that level.
 
“The Judiciary Committee will conduct its work in a deliberative manner.  It is important that we take the Governor’s actions seriously and fully investigate this issue, but it is also important that we do this in a timely manner so that our state can move forward.”
 
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