The Senate Corrections and Penology Committee voted to give a favorable report to the full Senate on Terry Sechinger’s appointment to the Parole Board at a committee meeting where Sechinger described prior state service and committee members asked standard background questions.

Sechinger, identified in the committee record as the governor’s appointee representing the First Congressional District, told the committee she has “served in state government for about 30 years,” including previous service on the juvenile parole board and later work on education initiatives such as founding Palmetto Christian Academy in Mount Pleasant. Committee staff asked standard disclosure and background questions; Sechinger answered that she had no arrests, investigations, tax liens, bankruptcies or ethics sanctions to report.

The committee moved and seconded a motion to send the appointment to the full Senate with a favorable report; the committee chair called the vote and recorded no opposition and three proxy votes. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript. With the favorable report, Sechinger’s nomination will be considered by the full Senate.

During her brief remarks Sechinger raised a safety concern for parole board members, urging the committee to consider legislation that would withhold parole board members’ names from publication in the legislative manual. She referenced a bill by number during that exchange that would limit publicizing certain officials’ personal information. Committee members said the House had recently acted on similar language and that administrative and technical difficulties could arise for agencies and offices if names and addresses are withheld. Those exchanges were discussion only and did not change the committee’s vote on her appointment.

The committee’s action was procedural: the favorable report moves the nomination forward to a full Senate confirmation process, where a final confirmation vote would be recorded.