Bills filed during 4/6/21 – 4/8/21

Criminal Justice

• H.4149 – Limiting the amount of monetary compensation a whistleblower on public utilities can recover from litigation and allowing the utility to fire the whistleblower if it is determined they made the claim in bad faith or on a technical violation
• H.4141 – Allowing people to participate in pretrial intervention programs (for certain criminal charges) more than once
• H.4142 – Adding hate crimes as a deciding factor for charging for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature which increases the legal penalty to the crime 
• H.4144 – Suspension of a driver’s license for failure to pay a traffic ticket cannot be considered an offense that constitutes a habitual offender
• H.4148 – Makes it illegal to make a bad faith claim of copyright infringement
• H.4154 – Mandating that prisoners in the prison industry program may not be paid less than minimum wage 
• H.4157 – Sexual assault survivors have the right to have a victim advocate to consult and be with during medical or evidentiary examinations, and has the right to have an attorney present, a prompt analysis of the sexual assault forensic evidence, and shall have a secure waiting area in the court away from the accused  
• H.4158 – If someone has a firearm stolen they have to report it to the police, first two violations are fines but the third and subsequent bar them from owning firearms for three years
• H.4173 – Making it illegal to smoke in vehicles owned by the state, local government, or school district
• H.4174 – Any synthetic marijuana chemical compound discovered is added to schedule one of controlled substances
• H.4175 – It is an unfair trade practice to require the application of laws of another states in disputes arising from the contract

Government Structure

• H.4156 – Members of the general assembly may use the gym of state agencies, local governments, or other public institution without charge 
• S.743 – Making the Dept. of Disabilities and Special Needs a cabinet agency that is run by a director who is appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and eliminates the current governing commission of the department 
• H.4177 – Creating a new position and advisory board within the Dept. of Natural Resources regarding the management of waterfowl in the state and increasing the cost of migratory waterfowl hunting permits
• H.4178 – Planning commission’s approval of plans to build developments may only be appealed by the owner of the land, and appeals of disapproval of plans may only be appealed by the owner of the land or a party that has substantial interest in the decision of the planning board
• H.4179 – Transferring the regulatory authority over the profession of athletic trainers to the Board of Medical Examiners from the Department of Health and Environmental Control 
• H.4186 – Dept. of Commerce may not grant incentives to companies who are majority owned by the China or the Chinese Communist Party

Elections

• H.4150 – Allowing two weeks of early in-person voting prior to the election, prohibiting voter drop boxes, not allowing certain categories of people to vote absentee  
• H.4162 – Mandating absentee ballots contain the driver’s license number, date of birth, and a photocopy of an ID issued by the SCDMV 

Education

• H.4176 – Increasing the amount to be spent by a research university or college ($5 million and $2 million respectively) to be considered a permanent improvement project and subject to the relevant review process, expenditures over 1 million require a review by the JBRC staff 
• H.4140 – Support staff in public schools will get minimum $10/hour for the first year and a 10% raise every year following 
• H.4152 – Allowing for entrance examinations for potential education tract students
• H.4153 – Mandating that women’s sports in schools are exclusively for biologically female students
• H.4172 – Students in middle schools and high schools must be given 90 minutes of exercise each week and the school must provide a report of students’ physical fitness 

Medical/Covid

• H.4145 – Regulating residential care facilities by mandating how many staff they need, and that they must have continuous video surveillance in certain areas which can be gathered and stored by DHEC 
• S.729  & H.4163– Renaming Kershaw County Hospital to Health Services District of Kershaw County and after removing its board members on June 2021 nine members shall be appointed and voted on by the county council
• H.4133 – General Assembly mandating that the Greenville Health Authority (GHA) oversee their lessee’s compliance with the agreement ratified between the GHA and General Assembly in 2018 
• H.4169 – A direct primary care agreement is not considered an insurance contract under state law and is therefore not regulated by the Dept. of Insurance 

Taxation/Spending

• S.726 – Allowing agribusiness building manufacturing facilities to be exempt from sale tax for construction of the facility if they are investing certain amounts of money in the area 
• H.4146 – Creating a tax credit to fix a home after purchase as long as it is to increase access for people with limited mobility
• H.4164 – Exempting ratepayers 65 year old or older from paying surcharges related to collection of payment for electricity and natural gas 
• H.4171 – Income tax deduction for employers who give up to 8 hours of time off for employees to go to their children’s school academic and administrative activities 

Regulation

• H.4161 – Allowing the manufacturing of gaming and gambling equipment that are going to be shipped out of state only
• S.727 – Amending registration rules for vehicles: making some biennial registration annual and amending prices and applications for registrations and special license plates 
• S.730 – Allowing airports to charge fees for ridesharing comanies or vehicle rental companies to operate at the airport
• S.736 – Approving the deletion of a number of regulations promulgated by the DNR as they have been encoded into statutory law
• S.737 – Eliminating regulations regarding the “Alexander Sprunt, Jr. Wildlife Refuge and Sanctuary” as it is now renamed and managed by the Audubon Society
• S.738 – Approving the deletion of a number of fishing regulations promulgated by the DNR as they have been encoded into statutory law
• S.739 – Approving the deletion of a number of marine resources division regulations promulgated by the DNR as they have been encoded into statutory law
• S.740 – Approving the deletion of a number of sea turtle protection regulations promulgated by the DNR as they have been encoded into statutory law
• S.741 – Approving a DNR promulgated regulation adding the Black and White Tegu Lizard to the list of species that is restricted in possession or trade as enabled by statutory law passed this year
• S.742 – Approving DNR promulgated regulations about when and how people can hunt turkeys on wildlife management areas
• S.744 – Allowing individual life insurance policies to be terminated in the case that both parties mutually decide to terminate the policy
• H.4143 – Wrecker trucks must use their non-red flashing warning lights when picking up another vehicle 
• H.4147 – Registered golf carts must have seat belts and occupants must wear them
• H.4151 – Amending the registration renewal process for vehicles
• H.4155 – Gas stations may not sell fuel with a price that has fractional cents 
• H.4159 – Trains may not block roads for more than 5 minutes during certain periods of the day
• H.4160 – Electric and natural gas utilities may not transfer an unpaid balance from one account to another of the same customer
• H.4170 – Restrooms in retail establishments must be available to customers on request and if there is more than one restroom, they must designate one for each gender 
• H.4184 – Requiring retailers selling tobacco to scan the ID electronically of any customer before selling them tobacco or e-tobacco products
• H.4185 – Guardians of a protected person cannot limit their communication with others without a court order

Resolutions (Highlights) (49 Total)

• H.4108 – Declaring April 14th “State Treasurer’s Office Programs Day”
• H.4134 – Resolution for Clemson’s golf coach upon his retirement 
• H.4180 – A resolution invoking Rule 3.6 to formally censure a Representative

Road Naming Resolutions

• S.745 – DOT shall name a road “Vonnie Holliday Way”
• H.4125 – DOT shall erect a sign in Richland County in Memory of Marvin Heller
• S.728 – DOT shall name a road “Professor John T. Simpson Memorial Drive”
• H.4181 – DOT shall name a pair of bridges in Lexington County “The Twin Bridges, East and West”
• H.4182 – DOT shall erect a sign saying “In memory of Sam Jerome McCall, Jr.”

Previous bills:

• Filed during 3/30/21 – 3/31/21
• Filed during 3/23/21 – 3/25/21
• Filed during 3/16/21 – 3/18/21
• Filed during 3/9/21 – 3/11/21
• Filed during 3/2/21 – 3/4/21
• Filed during 2/23/21 – 2/25/21
• Filed during 2/16/21 – 2/18/21
• Filed during 2/9/21 – 2/11/21
• Filed during 2/2/21 – 2/4/21
• Filed during 1/25/21 – 1/28/21
• Filed during 1/12/21 – 1/21/21