NFIB continues to urge South Carolina lawmakers to pass legislation stopping lawsuit abuse
Small businesses scored some important victories in this year’s session of the South Carolina Legislature.
“Our members really stepped up and engaged with their senators and representatives and succeeded in passing several key components of the Small Business Bill of Rights,” NFIB State Director Ben Homeyer said.
Those measures include:
- HB 4832, creating private insurance that would cover paid family leave.
- HB 3992, establishing a payment plan for delinquent unemployment insurance taxes.
- HB 4187, making organized retail theft a felony, also passed, but House and Senate members disagreed on the details. The bill was assigned to a conference committee, but it might not be settled until lawmakers return to Columbia in January.
“One important piece of legislation that didn’t pass was Senate Bill 533, a measure that would have helped small businesses by helping stop lawsuit abuse in the state,” Homeyer said. “Our elected leaders must remember that small businesses can’t afford big legal departments to swat away every frivolous claim brought against them.
“The cost of defending itself against a single meritless lawsuit could be enough to force a small business to close its doors for good,” he said. “We’ll continue to press for commonsense tort reforms when the legislature returns to Columbia in 2025.”
The Small Business Bill of Rights was NFIB’s top priority in this year’s session of the South Carolina Legislature. In March, NFIB launched the first of two statewide radio and digital ad campaigns urging voters to tell their legislators to stop lawsuit abuse and “pass pro-small business legislation that will reinvigorate Main Street and protect our small business owners and employees.”
