"W" is for the West Committee. Created in 1966, at the urging of reformers in the General Assembly, the Committee to Make a Study of the South Carolina Constitution of 1895 was better known as the “West Committee” after its chairman—state senator and later governor, John C. West. It performed a major overhaul of the state’s fundamental political document and somewhat weakened legislative dominance of state government. Despite some sentiment that South Carolina should call a constitutional convention, the West Committee embarked upon three years of intensive study. In 1969, the final report proposed seventeen new articles for the Constitution. Though their power was waning, the old political barons of the General Assembly were able to slow many of the changes via a legislative steering committee. It took fifteen years for some of the proposals from the West Committee to become law.
"W" is for the West Committee
