It might seem like a gigantic waste of time, and taxpayers’ money, but South Carolina lawmakers continue to introduce bills that they know have no chance of passing because there’s not enough time left in the legislative session. The legislature adjourns for the year June 5^th, yet 67 general bills were introduced in the House and Senate in the last two weeks.

Rep. John "Bubber" Snow brought a thoroughbred horse to the Statehouse Tuesday morning as he announced a bill he’s just now introducing. It calls for a constitutional referendum to see if South Carolina voters want to allow betting on horse racing in the state. "This allows a lot of tourists to come," he said of pari-mutuel betting. "It allows our group, the Thoroughbred Association, to invite horse owners from all over the world to come race in South Carolina at the five tracks that we now have."

But isn’t introducing a bill this late in the session like having that horse start a race when the other horses are already on the homestretch? The answer is no, because this is the first year of a two-year legislative session. Any bill that hasn’t been killed is still alive for next year. And since the pari-mutuel bill would require a statewide referendum, there’s no hurry to pass it this year when the next general election isn’t until next year.

It’s common for lawmakers to introduce bills until adjournment in the first year of a session. "You can’t get enthusiasm for your bill until you start working it," explains Speaker of the House David Wilkins, R-Greenville. "So you put it in. You get, hopefully, a subcommittee looking at it. You talk to members and, next January, you’ve got some support for it."

It doesn’t have anything to do with the calendar, but Wilkins doesn’t give the pari-mutuel bill much chance of passing. He thinks lawmakers will be reluctant to legalize any other form of gambling, after outlawing video poker and setting up a state lottery.

Rep. Ralph Davenport, R-Boiling Springs, also introduced a bill recently knowing that it wouldn’t pass this year. It would make it illegal to sell or rent a video game or computer game that depicts violence aimed at law enforcement officers. He says the state of Washington passed a similar law this year.

So why introduce a bill this late in the session? "The purpose is to track the Washington legislation, to see what hurdles are thrown at them and how we can deal with those hurdles in January when we come back," he says. It also puts his bill further along in the legislative process, giving it a running start for next year.