How Columbia writes the rules South Carolina lives by

Most of the rules South Carolinians live under come from Columbia. The General Assembly's 46 senators and 124 House members write the criminal code, pass the state budget and decide how much authority counties and cities get.

This section explains how that process works: how a bill moves from committee to floor, what three readings means, when the governor's line-item veto applies and how an override happens. We follow the roll-call votes and fiscal impact statements, not just the floor speeches.

We also cover state agencies, like the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Public Safety, because they carry out what lawmakers pass. Our first explainer walks through who actually writes DUI law in South Carolina and why no county or city can override it. Coming up: how to track a bill on scstatehouse.gov from filing to signature.