Senate Bill 984 (S. 984), dealing with user fee authorization, would allow counties to assess service or user fees to the nonexclusive benefit of the payers. In Burns v. Greenville County, the Supreme Court interpreted Section 6-1-300(6) of the SC Code to rule that a fee payer must receive a different benefit from paying a user fee than the general public, not merely a greater benefit. This new requirement makes road use fees especially difficult to implement.

Since the Supreme Court relied on a statute to invalidate these fees, a legislative amendment is the easiest solution to this newly-created problem. S. 984 achieves this by allowing service or user fees if the fee benefits the payer even if members of the general public not paying the fee also benefit.

“Crossover” is quickly approaching at the State House, which means bills that do not pass from one chamber to the other by April 8th will likely not pass this session.

Contact SCAC staff with any questions.