The second year of the 2025 – 2026 legislative session is starting up, and the Municipal Association’s 2026 Hometown Legislative Action Day is almost here — the day when hundreds of municipal officials come together in Columbia from across the state to advocate on behalf of cities and towns.
This year’s HLAD is Tuesday, January 20, and will take place for the first time at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Meeting topics include civility in local government, with a keynote address from Tami Pyfer, co-creator of the Dignity Index, a project aimed at improving the effectiveness and decency of public discourse. Political strategists Antijuan Seawright and Dave Wilson will also tackle this concept in their session, “Agreeing to Disagree.”
A session on the federal earmark process will include staffers from the offices of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham as well as U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, and South Carolina Secretary of Transportation Justin Powell will talk about how local governments can work with the SC Department of Transportation.
The meeting is not the only way for city and town officials to keep up with what’s happening at the State House. Here are numerous ways that local leaders can follow along with as the legislative session progresses:
- Subscribe to the From the Dome to Your Home weekly legislative reports. The report is sent out by email every Friday throughout the session. It examines everything happening with legislation that could impact South Carolina’s municipalities, and covers those action steps that local officials can take to advocate on behalf of their cities and towns.
- Listen to the From the Dome to Your Home podcast. This weekly podcast takes a deeper dive into legislative action as it happens, including how the Municipal Association’s advocacy team is working on behalf of cities at the State House, and how local officials can get involved. A related podcast series, SC/DC, examines the Municipal Association’s work with South Carolina’s congressional delegation, and features Association Executive Director Todd Glover and Legislative and Public Policy Advocate Erica Wright.
- Learn about the Association’s Advocacy Initiatives. For each two-year session, the Association works with cities and towns to establish a list of legislative actions that can help municipalities serve their residents. The 2025 – 2026 Advocacy Initiatives include allowing cities and towns with no property tax millage to establish one, protecting the authority of cities and towns to regular short-term rentals within their boundaries, and helping to solve the liquor liability insurance burden on small businesses.