Much emotion was shown in the House of Representatives this week as lawmakers discussed legislation that would require photograph identification for voting. Individuals that do not have a driver’s license, passport or military identification will be required to go to the DMV with a certified birth certificate to get a photo identification card in order to be able to vote.

A number of legislators believed this bill was simply a way to disenfranchise both elderly and minority voters. Some Lawmakers worried about constituents that may not possess a certified birth certificate. These constituents would need to take time and incur expense to acquire the required credential before a photo identification card could be obtained hence creating a poll tax.

Many members were concerned about a potential for action from the US Justice Department because of the requirements in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which “freezes election practices or procedures in certain states until the new procedures have been subjected to review, either after an administrative review by the United States Attorney General, or after a lawsuit before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This means that in may not be used until that review has been obtained.” South Carolina is one of the covered jurisdictions and this section is in effect until 2031.

To demonstrate the extent of their concerns, members of the Legislative Black Caucus and other Democrats filed out of the House Chamber refusing to participate in what they perceived to be so harmful to their fellow South Carolinians.

The House approved and sent to the Senate a bill pertaining to prerequisites for performing an abortion. Some lawmakers opposed to this action questioned the legality of this bill in light of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that ruled, “All state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated.”

This bill provides if an ultrasound is performed, an abortion must not be performed sooner than 24 hours following the completion of the ultrasound. The bill provides that a woman also must be informed of the probable gestational age of the embryo or fetus at least twenty-four hours before an abortion is performed.

The House also approved and sent to the Senate the ‘Born-alive’ Legislation’. The legislation provides that, in determining the meaning of any act or joint resolution of the General Assembly or in a regulation promulgated, the words 'person', 'human being', 'child', and 'individual', must include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. The term 'born alive', with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extraction from the mother of that member, at any stage of development, who breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.

Bills of interest introduced this week by their committee assignment:

• H.3604, a bill to provide that a high school student, seventeen years of age, be furnished a voter registration form and be instructed in a classroom environment or through a method approved by the local school district to be apprised of the importance of voting and to provide that a citizen otherwise ineligible to vote who is released from incarceration receive a registration form with a letter explaining that his voting rights have been restored and that he is eligible to register and vote.

• H.3614, a joint resolution relating to the constitutional officers of this state, so as to delete the adjutant general, commissioner of agriculture, secretary of state, and superintendent of education from the list of state officers which the constitution requires to be elected and provide that upon the expiration of the terms of these officers serving in office on the date of the ratification of this provision, they must be appointed by the governor, upon the advice and consent of the general assembly, to serve at his pleasure and to be removable by him for any reason and to provide for the joint election of governor and lieutenant governor beginning with the general election of 2014.

If you have a comment or opinion concerning the matters discussed in this report, or if I may be of assistance to you at any time, please feel free to call your legislative office in Columbia (803-212-6789); or write P. O. Box 26, Winnsboro, SC 29180, although email at BoydBrown@schouse.org is preferred. As always, if you happen to be around the Statehouse in Columbia, stop by my office in room 532 of the Blatt Building.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the House of Representatives.

God Bless.