Friends, patriots, and lovers of efficient government, rejoice! The South Carolina House of Representatives is poised to solve the state's biggest problem. While citizens worry about crumbling roads and $12 sweet tea, the House has identified a different emergency. The minority party still has a pulse.
Enter H.4563, a brilliant piece of legislative wizardry. This resolution proposes a groundbreaking update to House Rule 4.2, which governs how committee seats are organized.
House Resolution H.4563 mandates that “the total membership of each of these Standing Committees shall be composed of members of the majority and minority political parties... ensuring that the majority party contains a majority of the membership within each Standing Committee”.
Simply put, this rule mandates that the majority party must hold a majority of the seats on every single standing committee.
Now about that rounding part.
“percentages of .49 or below shall be rounded down and percentages of .50 and above shall be rounded up”.
“The Speaker shall make adjustments to committee membership upon adoption of this rule…”. Do you see the word adjustments? Those adjustments are triggered by the rounding rules. Someone has to choose which member fills the rounded-up slot or which member is removed when it rounds down. Under H.4563, that responsibility belongs to the Speaker.
Now we all know the Speaker of the House already wields enormous power. H.4563 takes that unwritten reality and casts it in iron.
Yeah, winning!
But before we pop the champagne, let's play a game of What If?
What if scenario A: The Establishment Are Angels
Let’s indulge in a beautiful fantasy. Let’s assume that every Republican in the State House is a rock-ribbed, constitution-loving conservative. Let’s assume establishment Republicans don’t exist, and leadership doesn’t control the legislative show.
If that were true, H.4563 is a dream come true. It hands the good guys a sledgehammer. We could steamroll bad resolutions and fast-track freedom. We could finally ignore the whining from the other side of the aisle because, mathematically, they wouldn't matter anymore. If you trust leadership with your life, this resolution is the golden ticket to a conservative utopia.
But do you?
What if scenario B: The Establishment Takeover
The House is composed of a majority of Republican establishment members. This group is very serious about protecting its power structure and delivering on the lobbyist's wish list. Defending the rights of the people is penciled in somewhere between maintaining relationships and not rocking the boat.
So, if H.4563 passes, then what will the result be? You got it, the majority Republican establishment party will get guaranteed dominance on every committee.
The good news is that we don’t need a crystal ball to see how this plays out; we just have to look across the lobby. The Senate already operates under this rule. The result is exactly what you would expect: committees captured by the Republican establishment who ensure bad bills move efficiently.
What if scenario C: The Democrat Takeover
Imagine a future (maybe 2 years from now, maybe 10) where the Democrats manage to scrape together a 51% majority in the SC House. It’s possible. Because the House passed H.4563, that slim 51% majority would instantly grant them 100% control of every committee.
Gun control? Passed out of Judiciary without a single Republican vote to stop it. Higher taxes? Ways and Means just became Ways and Means to Take Your Money.
We are essentially building a legislative Death Star and handing the keys to whoever wins the next election, praying they don't blow up our planet.
The Verdict
This rule change assumes three things:
• Republicans will rule forever.
• Republicans will always be the real deal, constitutional defenders, true conservatives.
• The Democrats will never be in the majority.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that forever is a fairy tale and power corrupts. Do we really want to create a system where the minority voice, which might be us one day, is silenced by a calculator?
We also have to face an uncomfortable truth. Sometimes, the minority vote is the only thing protecting our rights. And minority doesn't just mean Democrats. It refers to any group that the establishment Republicans don’t want in their gang, including the principled conservatives who often stand alone against unconstitutional resolutions pushed by their own party leadership. When the majority pushes for bloated budgets or government overreach, these dissenting voices act as a necessary firewall.
If you thought the Republican establishment had a tight grip before, this proposed rule change hands them the Super Glue.
CALL TO ACTION: Contact your Representative now because the legislative session begins January 13, and this will be one of the first resolutions the House votes on. Get them to read it, question it, and flat out ask them whether they have considered the unintended consequences.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not constitute legal or professional advice. ConservaTruth assumes no liability for any actions taken based on this content. Read more.
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