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2025-2026 Bill 4604: Merit and Equal Opportunity in Higher Education Act of 2026 - South Carolina Legislature Online
South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4604
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Jones and Spann-Wilder
Document Path: LC-0459SA26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Education and Public Works
Summary: Merit and Equal Opportunity in Higher Education Act of 2026
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date
Body
Action Description with journal page number
12/16/2025
House
Prefiled
12/16/2025
House
Referred to Committee on
Education and Public Works
1/13/2026
House
Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 34
)
1/13/2026
House
Referred to Committee on
Education and Public Works
(
House Journal-page 34
)
View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/17/2025
A bill
TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS SO AS TO ENACT
THE "MERIT AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 2026"; AND BY
ADDING SECTION
59-101-680
SO AS TO ENSURE THAT IN THE ABSENCE OF DEI STRUCTURES
AND RACE-CONSCIOUS CONSIDERATIONS, ADMISSIONS, HIRING, PROMOTION, AND RETENTION
DECISIONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA'S PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM ARE TRULY
MERIT-BASED, TRANSPARENT, AND AUDITABLE.
B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
S
ECTION 1.
This act may be cited as the "Merit and Equal Opportunity in Higher
Education Act of 2026."
S
ECTION 2.
(
A) The legislative intent of this act is to protect:
(
1) equal
opportunity in admissions and employment;
(
2) lawful
nondiscrimination and due process;
(
3) public
trust in institutional fairness; and
(
4) South
Carolina's future workforce and competitiveness.
(
B) This act does
not create preferences or quotas. It only prevents hidden discrimination under
a "merit" banner.
S
ECTION 3.
A
rticle 2, Chapter 101, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:
S
ection
59-101-680
.
(
A)(1) Each public institution
of higher learning must publish before each admission and hiring cycle:
(
a)
evaluation criteria and scoring categories;
(
b)
weighting systems; and
(
c)
eligibility thresholds and required documentation.
(
2)
Undisclosed criteria may not be used in the admissions or hiring process.
(
B)
(
1) Annually, each public institution
of higher learning must publish on its website:
(
a)
applicant pools versus admitted student demographics;
(
b)
hiring pools versus faculty hires; and
(
c)
retention, graduation, tenure, and promotion outcomes.
(
2)
Institutions with persistent disparities must submit corrective action plans
focused on process improvements.
(
C)
To maintain constitutional equal protection:
(
1)
evaluators must complete bias-prevention training grounded in civil rights
compliance;
(
2)
all adverse evaluation decisions must include documented reason codes tied to
published criteria; and
(
3)
records must be retained and available for review.
(
D) Applicants
and job candidates may request anonymized comparative scorecards and challenge
procedural errors through an established appeals process.
(
E)
The Commission on Higher Education shall:
(
1)
audit institutions with unexplained disparities or inconsistent evaluation
practices;
(
2)
review anonymized decisions for adherence to published criteria; and
(
3)
require corrective enforcement where necessary.
(
F)
(
1) Each public institution of higher
learning must certify compliance with:
(
a)
equal protection standards;
(
b)
consistent application of merit criteria; and
(
c)
assurance of nondiscriminatory access.
(
2)
The commission shall review compliance reports and issue penalties as
necessary.
(
G)
The commission may promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this
section.
S
ECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.
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This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 2:42 PM