Standing General Assembly rules require House bills introduced in the Senate after May 1 to have 30 supporters among the Senate's 46 members to be considered before the assembly reconvenes in January. Senate bills introduced in the House after May 1 need 82 supporters of the 124-member House.
"It's hard to get two-thirds of anything," said Rep. Thayer Rivers, D-Ridgeland. "Everything that doesn't leave the House (this week) is more than likely dead."
The Senate has taken on many statewide issues, sending its own bills on mini-bottles and tort reform to the House for consideration, said Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island.
"We decided we'd try to get the major league stuff out of the way," he said.
And with the state budget all but locked up this week, lawmakers have said they hope they can hammer out significant legislation before heading home June 2.
The House debated its own mini-bottle bill Wednesday, giving a key approval on second reading of the bill before a final, procedural vote expected today.
After overwhelming approval by voters in November, legislators have been crafting bills designed to eliminate state requirements that liquor sold per-drink be distributed in minibottles.
The new legislation would allow free-pour from larger bottles.
Other priority legislation has not moved as quickly.
Bills expected to freeze property values on owner-occupied homes and allow municipalities and school districts to collect a 1 cent sales tax for capital improvements were delayed until today but still may be able to may beat the Sunday deadline.
"They'll get their time on the floor," said Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort.
A bill that Ceips authored increasing penalties for indentured servitude cleared the House with strong support Wednesday. But her bill prohibiting techno-savvy scavenger hunts using a hand-held Global Positioning System at historical sites or cemeteries was delayed until today.
The so-called Put Parents In Charge Act, instituting a pilot program enabling tax credits for parents transferring children to private schools in two school districts, has been delayed until next week. Original legislation calling for a statewide tax credit had been pared back over concerns about adequate public school funding.
Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, said after the session Wednesday that he was glad the bill was delayed to give legislators time to consider the impact of the bill and refine it if necessary.
"It's such a huge, huge bill," he said. "It's going to be pretty hotly debated."
The fast pace this week may leave some questions unanswered, Rivers said, pointing to a bill reducing property tax bills for large boats that was approved by the House earlier this week, despite lacking a clear indication of whether the bill would entice state boaters to register their boats in South Carolina or if it will mean a reduction in tax collections.
"Bills are just roaring through," he said.