MORNING BUZZ: Clock winds down on SC’s legislative session

The end is near.

Today is the last regularly scheduled legislative workday of 2015. That means S.C. legislators have until the gavel strikes at 5 p.m. to OK bills in both the House and Senate if they want those proposals to have a chance of becoming law this year.

A bill to help Uber – the taxi-and-ride-sharing service – operate in the Palmetto State cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate and could pass this year.

Roads-funding proposals that would raise the gas tax while decreasing income taxes will not make the cut, lawmakers said Wednesday.

State House Democrats mounted a multi-hour defense Wednesday against a bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks of pregnancy. Though their efforts to block the bill failed, the House refused to accept the Senate’s version of the bill, making it unlikely the two chambers will reach an agreement this session.

Any priorities that don’t make the cut will have to wait until next year, the second year in the two-year legislative session.

Lawmakers will return to Columbia in a couple of weeks to take up Gov. Nikki Haley’s vetoes and to approve or reject compromises on legislation that passed both chambers.

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