April 5, 2024

The Senate spent most of this week on the floor working through its calendar in preparation for the Thursday, April 11 crossover deadline. This deadline requires any bill that has not crossed over to the other chamber to receive a two-thirds vote to be considered. The House was on furlough this week and the Senate will be in perfunctory session next week. However, the Senate Finance Committee will begin deliberating the budget bill (H. 5100) on Tuesday.

Online Tax Sales — S. 620. This bill would provide counties with the option to conduct delinquent tax sales online. The Senate Finance Committee adopted a subcommittee amendment to clarify that counties that choose to conduct these sales online are not required to contract with a vendor to do so. The amendment also creates a one-day grace period for remittance of funds from the sale of property to the county treasurer or tax collector after the in-person sale of a particular parcel. This is an SCAC policy position. The Senate adopted the Committee amendment and attempted to take up additional amendments before the bill was objected to. While S. 620 is not dead, it is likely that the bill will not pass this session.

License and Registration Fees for New SC Residents — S. 208. This legislation would allow a county to impose, upon conducting a successful referendum, an additional driver's license fee of $250 and an additional motor vehicle licensing and registration fee of $250 on residents who move to South Carolina. The referendum may be initiated either by an ordinance or by a petition calling for a referendum signed by at least 5% of the resident electors of the county. The county council must transmit the ordinance or petition calling for the referendum to the county election commission.

Upon receipt of the ordinance or the petition from county council, the county election commission shall conduct the referendum on the question of imposing an additional driver's license and motor vehicle licensing and registration fees on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in any year. Two weeks before the referendum, the election commission must publish in a general circulation newspaper the question on the ballot. This notice would be in lieu of any other notice otherwise required by law. The referendum must be held at the time of the General Election. The Senate amended the bill to limit the additional fees to an additional one-time only driver’s license fee of $250, thereby removing the $250 licensing and registration fee. The amendment also exempted active military personnel, their spouse, and dependents moving to South Carolina from this fee and required a person moving to this state to apply for a SC driver’s license within 45 days. A vote to give the bill second reading as amended failed, and S. 208 is likely dead for the session.

Redevelopment Authorities (RDAs): Tax Increment Financing for Affordable Housing — H. 4552. This bill would add certain affordable housing projects to what qualifies as a redevelopment project for federal military installations. It includes an affordable housing project (defined by referencing median income percentages according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) where all or a part of new property tax revenues generated in the tax increment financing district (TIF) are used to provide or support publicly and privately owned affordable housing in the district or are used to provide infrastructure projects to support affordable housing. The bill also extends the bonding period for redevelopment projects from 15 years to 30 years and allows municipalities to spend TIF dollars outside of the RDA for items such as infrastructure support. The Senate amended the effective date of H. 4552 before giving the bill second and third readings this week. The bill will be sent back to the House for consideration of the amendment.

Prosecutors Privacy — S. 841. This bill would create the “Prosecutors Personal Privacy Protection Act” and would apply to active or former solicitors, deputy or assistant solicitors, attorneys general along with their deputies and assistants, and U.S. Attorneys and their assistants for the District of South Carolina. It would ensure to these individuals that their personal identifying information held or maintained by any state or local governing entity would be confidential and must not be disclosed to the public if they have filed a formal request with the entity. The South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination is required to create the necessary request form within 30 days after this bill becomes law. Any government entity that redacts or withholds information under this article would be required to provide the requestor a description of the redacted or withheld information.

The Senate adopted the Committee amendment to include the provisions of S. 1034, a cleanup bill to Act 56 of 2023, that created the personal privacy act for current and former law enforcement officers and members of the judiciary. This amendment would limit the redaction request to county databases and online documents containing their personal identifying information, an SCAC policy position. The South Carolina Commission on Prosecution must coordinate with the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy and Court Administration to create the request form to ensure consistency. The Senate also adopted an amendment to include public defenders before giving S. 841 second and third readings this week and sending it to the House.

SC Justice Act (Joint and Several Liability) — S. 533. This bill would modify the South Carolina Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act, Chapter 38 of Title 15, to permit a court to consider the percentage of fault of any nonparty or party with a settlement agreement when determining the percentage of fault of the named parties. Section 15-38-65 specifies that Chapter 38 of Title 15 is not applicable to governmental entities. A Senate Judiciary Committee adopted an amendment to restore Section (F), which provides that the section does not apply to a defendant whose conduct is determined to be willful, wanton, reckless, grossly negligent, or intentional or to conduct involving the use, sale, or possession of alcohol or the illegal or illicit use, sale, or possession of drugs. The Senate voted to table the Committee amendment and negotiations stalled on a compromise amendment. As a result, the bill was removed from the special order slot on the Senate calendar after which several members objected to the bill.

Juveniles Offenses — S. 266. This bill would prohibit a child from being placed in confinement in an adult jail for more than six hours; limit the amount of time a child may be detained after being taken into custody to 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays; lessen the severity of the implications of status offenses; and require automatic expungement of juvenile records when the juvenile turns 18 as long as they have had no other criminal convictions and have completed any sentence or requirements imposed for a status offense. It would also require that before the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) accepts a juvenile referral for a status offense or before a petition for a status offense may be filed in family court, there must be documented evidence that the parent or guardian of the child has made reasonable efforts to resolve the issues through family counseling, therapy, or other means. The Senate tabled the Committee amendment to eliminate the automatic expungement provision and debated but failed to adopt an amendment that would have included the language from the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (S. 278). The Senate then gave S. 266 second reading, and the bill is pending third reading on the Senate calendar.

Voter Qualifications — S. 1126. This joint resolution would amend the South Carolina Constitution to clarify that only a citizen of the United States and of South Carolina who is at least 18 and properly registered is entitled to vote. The Senate gave S. 1126 second and third readings this week and sent the bill to the House.

SC Street Gang and Criminal Enterprise Prevention and Anti-Racketeering Act — S. 154. This bill provides enhanced penalties and eliminates the patterns, profits, proceeds, instrumentalities, and property facilitating criminal gang activity, including criminal gang recruitment. S. 154 revises definitions along with offenses and penalties. Additionally, the bill establishes anti-racketeering provisions to compliment the street gang and criminal enterprise prevention article and creates offenses and penalties for violations. The Senate adopted the Judiciary Committee amendment to clarify that criminal activity requires at least three people being assembled and to allow the Department of Corrections, DJJ, and local jails and detention centers to house gang members together due to spacing constraints. The Senate then adopted another amendment to strike Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the bill, leaving only the anti-racketeering provisions, and gave the bill second reading, as amended. The bill is pending third reading on the Senate calendar.

Residential Landlord and Tenant Act Eviction — S. 723. This bill would amend the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to exempt from the provisions of the Act the rental of spaces that are occupied by a vehicle or camper designed as a temporary living quarters. The bill would also enable an innkeeper to request assistance from local law enforcement to eject a person or trespasser for specified violations of the Act and provides procedures regarding disposition of possessions remaining after ejection. The Senate adopted an amendment on the floor to allow a property owner or his authorized representative to request from the sheriff of the county in which the property is located the immediate removal of a person unlawfully occupying a residential dwelling under certain circumstances. The Senate gave the bill second and third readings and sent S. 723 to the House.

Xylazine — S. 849. This bill would add xylazine to the list of Schedule III controlled substances and includes exceptions for the distribution or possession of xylazine by a licensed vet; the possession of xylazine with a prescription from a licensed vet; or the possession of xylazine in an injectable form for use in an animal. The bill also makes it unlawful for any person to produce, manufacture, distribute, or possess with intent to produce, manufacture, or distribute xylazine for a use other than use on an animal and provides for penalties. The Senate gave S. 849 second and third readings this week and sent the bill to the House.

Waste Tires — S. 763. This bill would remove the $150 per ton cap on tipping fees that a county may charge for recycling and disposal of waste tires, an SCAC policy position. The bill also would establish a stakeholder working group to explore opportunities for the end-of-life use of waste tires. The Senate Medical Affairs Committee carried the bill over at the end of the meeting this week instead of taking up a compromise amendment that was agreed to by the stakeholders. The amendment would increase the cap on tipping fees to $400 a ton and would provide a two-year sunset to incentivize drafting legislation that would provide comprehensive reform to the current waste tire program.

Private, For-Profit Pipeline Companies — S. 1088 This bill would extend the sunset provision in Section 2 of Act 205 of 2016 from June 30, 2024, to June 30, 2026, to exclude private, for-profit companies from the definition of public utility. This bill would not increase the workload of the Public Service Commission (PSC) or require the agency to retain outside experts. Therefore, the bill will have no expenditure impact on PSC. An amendment was proposed on the Senate floor to require a public hearing when a public utility modifies property in a manner that is likely to result in the condemnation of surrounding private property, but the amendment was ruled out of order. The Senate gave the bill third reading and sent S. 1088 to the House.

Veterans’ Trust Fund Authority — H. 4928. This bill would allow the Veterans’ Trust Fund of South Carolina Board of Trustees to fundraise and make disbursements from the trust fund in support of fundraising activities. The Senate Committee adopted the subcommittee amendment providing fundraising parameters and gave the bill second and third readings this week. The bill will go back to the House for consideration of the Senate amendment.

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Senate Bills

S. 1221 (Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee) — A joint resolution to approve regulations of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) - Office of Occupational Safety and Health, relating to recordkeeping, designated as Regulation Document Number 5258, pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

S. 1222 (Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee) — A joint resolution to approve regulations of LLR - State Licensing Board for Contractors, relating to State Licensing Board for Contractors, designated as Regulation Document Number 5244, pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

S. 1223 (Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee) — A joint resolution to approve regulations of LLR - South Carolina Environmental Certification Board, relating to Environmental Certification Board, designated as Regulation Document Number 5245, pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

S. 1225 (Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee) — A joint resolution to approve regulations of LLR , relating to the fee schedule for the Building Codes Council, designated as Regulation Document Number 5243, pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

S. 1227 (Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee) —    A joint resolution to approve regulations of LLR - Office of Occupational Safety and Health, relating to compensation for the Occupational Health and Safety Review Board, designated as Regulation Document Number 5236, pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.

S. 1231 (Sens. Senators Loftis, Corbin, Massey, Martin, Alexander and Kimbrell) —    Adds Section 16-11-795 to provide a criminal penalty for a person who, with the intent to detain or remain upon real property, knowingly and willfully presents to another person a false document purporting to be a valid lease agreement, deed, or other instrument conveying real property rights.