Last verified: May 2026
Senate Passage
S.423 was the 2023–24 session iteration of the Compassionate Care Act, drafted by Sen. Tom Davis to eliminate the tax language that had triggered the 2022 origination-clause challenge. The Senate vote on third reading was 24–19 on February 14, 2024, with the second-reading vote 26–17 on February 13. The vote margin was tighter than the 28–15 S.150 vote in 2022, reflecting some Senate Republican retrenchment, but the bill cleared.
Referral to House 3M Committee
The bill was referred February 27, 2024 to the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee — commonly called the "3M Committee." 3M is the principal committee for medical-cannabis-related legislation; it has jurisdiction over health regulation, the medical professions, and military-affairs questions that touch on federal preemption.
The Chair as of the 2024 referral was Rep. Sylleste H. Davis (R-Moncks Corner, District 100). Sylleste Davis is no relation to Sen. Tom Davis; the shared surname has caused some confusion in coverage. District 100 covers parts of Berkeley County north of Charleston.
The Ad-Hoc Subcommittee
Chair Davis referred S.423 to an ad-hoc subcommittee of the 3M Committee. Ad-hoc subcommittees in SC House practice are temporary working groups appointed by the committee chair, typically to manage politically sensitive bills. The subcommittee held one hearing on April 30, 2024, taking testimony for several hours.
Testimony at the April 30 Hearing
Testimony at the April 30 hearing included:
- SLED Chief Mark Keel: "This bill does not follow that tradition of the medical model, which is why, in my opinion, it is not about medicine. This bill is about legalizing marijuana in South Carolina. ... Once we go down that road, we’re not gonna be able to claw it back."
- SC Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Jarrod Bruder: continuing the law-enforcement opposition.
- Patient advocates including Jill Swing of the SC Compassionate Care Alliance and parents of pediatric epilepsy patients.
- Brian Clark of the SC Pharmacy Association in support of the pharmacist-dispensing model.
- Marijuana Policy Project Senior Policy Analyst Kevin Caldwell in support.
Letting the Clock Run
The subcommittee did not advance the bill to the full 3M Committee at the April 30 hearing. With the 2024 session adjournment approaching, the subcommittee’s inaction effectively killed the bill: there was no time to schedule a full committee hearing, refer to House Floor, conduct floor debate, and pass a Senate-different-language version that would have to go to conference.
The 2023–24 session adjourned without further action. S.423 died.
Why "Letting the Clock Run" Worked
SC’s legislative calendar runs January through May. By the time S.423 reached the House 3M Committee on February 27, 2024, the session had ~10 weeks remaining. Standing committees in SC have considerable discretion over which bills receive hearings and which are quietly held. Chair Davis’s decision to refer the bill to an ad-hoc subcommittee — rather than schedule it for full-committee consideration — provided a procedural mechanism to delay action without a public vote against the bill. The single April 30 hearing satisfied the appearance of due process while running out the clock on substantive consideration.
Reform-side observers have characterized this as the "ad-hoc subcommittee burial," a tactic with parallels in other state legislatures where committee chairs hold bills they oppose without formally voting them down.
House Speaker Smith’s Posture
House Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter), who became Speaker in 2022, has consistently signaled that the bill lacks Republican-caucus support. Through a spokesperson in June 2025 he reaffirmed that his "previous statement on the medical marijuana bill holds true." Speaker Smith’s posture is significant because the Speaker controls floor scheduling; even if Chair Davis’s 3M Committee had advanced the bill, Smith could have declined to schedule it for floor consideration. See Speaker Smith page.
The Sandifer LCI Posture
House Labor, Commerce and Industry (LCI) Committee Chair Rep. Bill Sandifer (R-Seneca) — who chairs a different committee from 3M but has separately opposed the bill — offered the most often-quoted opposition line in coverage of the Compassionate Care Act: "Once you open Pandora’s box, it’s open and you cannot close it." The Sandifer LCI posture indicates that even if 3M had advanced the bill, the LCI Committee would have been a parallel obstacle.
2025–26: Will History Repeat?
S.53 (2025–26) is sitting in the Senate Medical Affairs Committee under Chair Sen. Daniel Verdin (R-Laurens) as of May 5, 2026, three days before sine die. If S.53 had cleared the Senate this session, it would have faced the same House gauntlet that killed S.423: 3M Committee referral, ad-hoc subcommittee burial, and ultimately session adjournment. There is no public evidence that the House gauntlet has changed in any structural way since 2024 — same Speaker Smith, same general 3M Committee leadership posture, same House Family Caucus opposition.
Sen. Davis has said he "now has the votes" in the House. A vote count has not been made public. Whether 2027–28 produces different mechanics — with a new governor, possible House leadership changes, and the cumulative pressure of federal Schedule III rescheduling and the November 12, 2026 federal hemp ban — is the central open question. See Senate-House asymmetry page.
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Related on this site: The 2022 Origination-Clause Kill, South Carolina Compassionate Care Act..., Sen. Tom Davis.