The 146 House Representatives and the 46 Senators returned to Columbia Tuesday, January 14, 2020. The buzz around the Statehouse is that education reform, dealing with Santee Cooper, and the fetal heartbeat bill will dominate the session. Adding to that, this is an election year for both the House and Senate, so that will play into how much gets done this session. Having said that, ACEC-SC has a robust legislative agenda this year. SCSPE is already tracking 47 pieces of legislation dealing with everything from tort issues to licensure issues and everything in between. Add to that, SCSPE is hoping to introduce up to five more bills. We’re with Senator Alexander on February 5, 2020, to finalize the language for our Designer Fair Contracting Act dealing with the duty to defend and indemnity. We hope to introduce legislation on frivolous proceedings, certificates of merit, QBS, and right of entry this year as well.