---
type: "Bill"
title: "Family Court Judges, additional"
description: "AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 63-3-40, RELATING TO FAMILY COURT JUDGES ELECTED FROM EACH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, SO AS TO INCREASE BY ONE THE NUMBER OF FAMILY COURT JUDGES IN THE NINTH, ELEVENTH, AND FOURTEENTH CIRCUITS. - RATIFIED TITLE"
jurisdiction: "us/states/sc"
legislature: "South Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2025-2026"
identifier: "H 3529"
citation: "South Carolina H 3529 (2025-2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ballentine", "Bannister", "C. Mitchell", "Calhoon", "Caskey", "Robbins", "Spann-Wilder", "W. Newton", "Weeks", "Wooten"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-12-05"
last_action: "2025-05-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/681a8dec-ca14-464a-8ba1-03e046e36653"
source_url: "https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=3529&session=126&summary=B"
source_hash: "257ba50458b6e15616877593a684a6f8697c2c7e95eb02a359ba45e1901f163f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-sc"]
---

# South Carolina H 3529 (2025-2026) — Family Court Judges, additional

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 63-3-40, RELATING TO FAMILY COURT JUDGES ELECTED FROM EACH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, SO AS TO INCREASE BY ONE THE NUMBER OF FAMILY COURT JUDGES IN THE NINTH, ELEVENTH, AND FOURTEENTH CIRCUITS. - RATIFIED TITLE

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Filed** (filed) — [source](https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3529.htm)
2. **02/06/2025** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/prever/3529_20250206.htm)
3. **03/12/2025** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/prever/3529_20250312.htm)
4. **03/13/2025** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/prever/3529_20250313.htm)
5. **12/05/2024** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/prever/3529_20241205.htm)

## Votes

- Passage of Bill — **106–0** (pass) · lower
- 2nd Reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ballentine — primary (person)
- Bannister — primary (person)
- C. Mitchell — primary (person)
- Calhoon — primary (person)
- Caskey — primary (person)
- Robbins — primary (person)
- Spann-Wilder — primary (person)
- W. Newton — primary (person)
- Weeks — primary (person)
- Wooten — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2024-12-05** Prefiled `filing`
- **2024-12-05** Referred to Committee on Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-14** Introduced and read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-01-14** Referred to Committee on Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-05** Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Calhoon, Ballentine
- **2025-02-06** Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Robbins, C.Mitchell
- **2025-02-06** Committee report: Favorable Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-02-12** Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Weeks
- **2025-02-12** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-02-12** Roll call Yeas-106 Nays-0
- **2025-02-13** Read third time and sent to Senate `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-13** Introduced and read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-13** Referred to Committee on Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-27** Referred to Subcommittee: Elliott (ch), Cash, Tedder, Devine, Fernandez, Kennedy, Walker
- **2025-03-12** Committee report: Favorable Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-13** Scrivener's error corrected
- **2025-03-18** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2025-03-18** Roll call Ayes-44 Nays-0
- **2025-03-19** Read third time and enrolled `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-24** Ratified R 18
- **2025-04-28** Signed By Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-07** Effective date 04/28/25
- **2025-05-07** Act No. 7

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/681a8dec-ca14-464a-8ba1-03e046e36653`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official South Carolina legislature records).