Wow. Today was an amazing day for the State of South Carolina. An issue that we all worked so hard for had its day today. On-the-Record Voting came up for debate on the floor of the House and passed 115-0!

The Spending Accountability Resolution that passed will now require votes on the record for all of the following:

* Every second reading of a bill (where debate occurs on all contested bills)
* All amended 3rd readings (Final passage of a bill)
* All conference committee reports (when the House and Senate compromise)
* all Senate amendments (bills that are amended from the Senate that come back for approval)
* every section of the budget where just one legislator calls the question (asked for a recorded vote.)

The State of South Carolina will now be able to see a full record of how each House member voted or virtually every significant piece of legislation that is debated. The Senate passed a rule that will increase the level of recorded votes in their chamber as well.

I am very thankful for the support and more importantly the actions taken by all of you. The public outcry on this issue made the difference. You wrote letters to the editor, you called legislators and you demanded accountability–and now you have it.

From this day forward you will know the spending habits of each legislator and will be able to physically see if they are representing you effectively.

We now have a level of accountability that is unprecedented in our state. Now its time to roll our sleeves up and get to work for you!

My very best,
Nikki