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PUBLIC SERVICE IS AN Honor
By Neil Rashley, Jr., Senior Vice President & Counsel, Legislative & Regulatory, South Carolina Bankers Association
Leadership and public service have been the hallmarks of Representative Weston Newton’s career, and his ten years in the House of Representatives have been no exception. Elected in 2013 to represent parts of Beaufort and Jasper counties, Newton rose quickly through House leadership and was recently elected chairman of the House Judiciary committee in December 2022. Before that he served from 2014–2022 as the inaugural chair of the House Legislative Oversight committee and was the architect of its rules and standard practices. Nine of his ten years have been as a committee chair – an impressive achievement for any elected official.
Newton is an attorney in Bluffton and he and his wife, Rose, reside there with their three children, Reedy, William and Eliza Rose. He is on the board of directors for the Bank of Clarendon, where Rose is also the chair of the board.
With his deep experience in law and banking, Representative Newton is a critical House leader when it comes to legislative issues affecting banking.
The House Judiciary committee is one of the most important committees as it oversees a broad range of significant legislative issues relating to constitutional law, elections and redistricting, criminal law, gun rights, and social issues such as abortion and hate crimes. As for banking, the committee handles bills concerning mortgages, probate law, and many uniform laws. Newton got the committee working quickly this year, focusing first on public safety issues such as bond reform and fentanyl abuse. He is proud that the committee’s work on these issues resulted in the House passing bills that created, in bond reform, a five-year enhancement to protect the public and placed a wedge in the revolving door for repeat, violent offenders making it harder for them to obtain bond; and concerning fentanyl, making it a Schedule 1 drug, increasing the penalties on dealers who purvey this dangerous drug.
