With 13 newcomers, South Carolina Senate may tackle tough issues

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican South Carolina Senate leaders are thinking about tackling some issues like tax reform that have been too tough to handle now that they have the largest number of newly elected members since at least World War II. The 13 new senators — nine Republicans and four Democrats — came to the Statehouse on Wednesday. They met, gave brief introductory speeches and collected their committee assignments. The session doesn’t start for 40 more days. When it does start Republican Majority Leader Shane Massey expects education vouchers, lawsuit reform and energy policy to be some of the first issues debated.