Month: January 2016

S.943 would require that anyone who purchases a firearm register that firearm’s serial number and their contact information with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) within 30 days of purchase.…

S.942 is truly Orwellian. The bill would require any state resident to obtain a “weapons purchase permit” from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) before buying a firearm or ammunition…

S.941 would mandate that no person or firearm dealer sell or transfer a firearm prior to the completion of a background check through the State Law Enforcement Division and the…

S.939 would prohibit the ownership, transportation, or sale of “assault weapons” by private individuals in South Carolina. The term assault weapon is vaguely defined by the bill as “semi-automatic firearms…

S.930 would eliminate adverse possession in South Carolina colloquially known as squatter’s rights. Under current law if an individual, other than the legal owner, holds or possesses a piece of…

S.917, S.918, H.4551 and H.4552 would all prohibit a licensed firearm dealer from transferring a firearm before either the completion of a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check, or…

S.913 would make police dashcam videos subject to FOIA. While this could help punish and prevent abuses of police power, it could also enable the use of dashcam video by third…

H.4496 and H.4522 each attempt to protect innocent citizens from police surveillance by respectively prohibiting automatic number plate recognition systems and cell-site simulator technology or devices (commonly known as stingrays). Both of these devices, whether through the…

H.4463, H.4485, H.4533, H.4439, H.4618 and S.915 are hate crime laws that impose additional penalties on criminals who committed a violent or threatening act against an individual, because of the individual’s race, religion, sexual…

H.4422 would allow a law enforcement agency to photograph a motor vehicle with an illegal defect and then contact the owner of the vehicle by phone or mail informing them of…

H.4421 would require an individual register any “unmanned aerial vehicle, an unpiloted aerial vehicle, or a remotely piloted aerial vehicle” (aka drone), with the aeronautics commission prior to operating such…

S.929 would allow terminally ill patients to use investigational drugs, biological products, or devices (treatments methods that have begun but not completed the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval process) upon…

H.4540 would prohibit insurers licensed in South Carolina from requiring preauthorization for a prescription medicine or treatment unless the medicine or treatment differs from FDA approved methods. This may seem…

S.921 would expand the definition of state employees, as it relates to those eligible for worker’s compensation, to include volunteer chaplains “performing their duties as a chaplain for any municipal,…

H.4569, would require $326.5 million of the projected $1.2 billion surplus (which as The State’s Cindi Scoppe explains is actually closer to $560 million) be sent to the governor’s office, which would in turn…

H.4527 mandates that the General Assembly appropriate $25 million to DHEC for a revolving fund that provides financial assistance loans to owners of damaged private dams that have public access…

H.4524, would require that before any nonprofit receive funds from a state agency, it must disclose: how it plans to use those state funds, a copy of its adopted annual…

H.4506 creates the South Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, which will be used by the Emergency Management Division for a grant program to provide financial assistance to natural disaster victims. Taxpayers…

H.4497 creates the Student Interscholastic Activities Fund, which would provide financial assistance to high school students by covering expenses related to extracurricular activities, including fees, dues, equipment, uniforms, etc. The…

H.4478 mandates that all fines South Carolina receives from the federal government for plutonium storage at the Savannah River site must be given to the State Highway Fund and used…

H.4477, H.4408, H.4488, and S.928 prohibit any state resources being used to assist in the resettlement of refugees. Another bill, H.4396, would allow the state office for refugees to suspend settlement of refugees…

H.4445 lays out a raise distribution plan for state employees, in case the General Assembly appropriates money to the Department of Administration for employee raises. Under this plan, state employees…

H.4412 would require drug tests as a prerequisite to receiving SNAP or TANF benefits. There are potential constitutional conflicts with this bill. The federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth…

H.4410 and H.4411 would impose further restrictions on food stuffs that can be purchased with SNAP. H.4410 seeks to prohibit the use of SNAP for purchasing sugary foods, and asks for federal waivers…

H.4385 would prohibit counties from adopting budgets which include project revenue from traffic tickets. It would also prohibit counties from revenue from traffic tickets/violations from being expended in the same…

S.934 and H.4575 would each require the board of trustees of each school district to prohibit students from using “wireless communication devices” (cell phones) during school hours. There may be…

S.907 would extend the application deadline for independent schools wishing to participate in the exceptional needs tax credit scholarship program from August 1 2015 to March 1 2016. Under the…

UPDATE: The bill has been amended to include an additional requirement for qualifying schools, namely that they must provide a specially designed program or learning resources center or onsite educational services…

H.4536 requires children to attend school until the age of 18 instead of 17. This is a violation of individual rights. It is the jurisdiction of the parents or legal…

H.4531 allows the University of South Carolina at Lancaster and Winthrop University to offer in-state tuition rates to residents of three bordering North Carolina counties (Mecklenberg, Gaston, and Union), provided…