How to testify before the South Carolina legislature

This page covers what's specific to South Carolina. For the general steps of signing up and speaking, see the general guide.

How South Carolina does it

There's no chamber-wide portal for signing up to testify. Each standing committee and subcommittee sets its own practice, and the chair decides whether to accept testimony at a given meeting. In practice, that usually means arriving before the meeting starts and signing in with committee staff, or getting the subcommittee chair's permission to speak. Some committees, like the House Legislative Oversight Committee, also take input through online surveys, direct email to committee staff, or a phone call or meeting where staff summarize your comments for the committee.

There's no confirmed statewide policy guaranteeing remote or virtual testimony. Meetings are livestreamed when technologically feasible, but that mainly supports watching, not testifying, remotely. Contact the specific committee in advance to ask about remote testimony, sign-up procedure, and whether written comments go into the record.

Deadlines and numbers

• Committee schedules: published after 3:00 p.m. each Friday, revised as changes come in
• Speaker time limit: often 3 to 5 minutes, set at the chair's discretion
• 2026 session: convened January 13, 2026 (second regular session, 126th General Assembly), sine die adjournment constitutionally due by the second Thursday in May (May 14, 2026) absent extension

Where to go

• Committee schedules and email notification sign-up (Legislative Information Tracking System): scstatehouse.gov/howdoi.php
• Committee-specific pages and testimony guidance: scstatehouse.gov, under each committee's postings and reports

Rules

South Carolina has no general written-testimony portal covering all committees, only committee-specific email addresses. Whether a given committee accepts remote testimony, and how sign-up works, depends entirely on that committee's own practice rather than a chamber-wide rule, so confirm directly with the committee before a hearing rather than assuming. If a committee's page doesn't list a clear procedure, route the question to /engage for current contacts.