This last legislative session has been one for the books. From dealing with COVID-19 recovery to very polarizing social issues, the South Carolina General Assembly has been very active. Wholespire has been busy building relationships and fighting for greater access to healthy lifestyles.
For the 2021-2022 Legislative Session, we have been tracking 13 bills in the Senate and House. You can check out the legislative watch list here. Two of these bills passed full House and have moved on to Senate Education Committee.
- H3319 – Under this bill, students that are eligible for free and reduced lunch must be offered the same meal as other students and these meals must be offered regardless of if the student owes money for previous meals. Districts cannot penalize students for failing to pay for school lunches and the State Department of Education will develop and provide a model policy and template for school meal debt collection to each school district.
- H3006 – Under this bill, school and school districts would be unable to use debt collectors to collect outstanding debts for school lunch or breakfast accounts. It would also prevent these entities from assessing or collecting any interest, fees, or additional charges for outstanding debts.
While the legislature may be out of session until a special session, planned for September & October, Wholespire remains committed to continue the work in the “off-season.” We will continue to build relationships with elected officials and decision makers across the state, and we will be providing resources to our advocates on the ground. Additionally, the Wholespire team has developed a 3-class advocacy training series for our chapters and partners – Government 101, Advocacy 101, & Relationship Building 101.
We look forward to sharing more with you and advocating to make South Carolina a healthier state. Please contact us at info@wholespire.org if you would like to learn more about our advocacy efforts.