Bills filed during 5/12/20 – 5/13/20

Government Structure

• S.1203 – Giving the legislature (or President of the Senate and Speaker of the House if it is inconvenient to convene the General Assembly) the power to revoke a declaration of a state of emergency and explicitly allowing the governor to declare successive states of emergency 
• H.5473 – Resolution expressing a limit on emergency declarations without general assembly consent
• H.5484 – Resolution to make an “essential services study committee” to decide what is essential in the crisis. Comprising 10 members all appointed by legislative leadership. 
• H.5485 – Assigning the power of declaring a state of emergency to the General Assembly, limiting crowd dispersal power of law enforcement to be explicitly bound to the constraints of the US Constitution, and to add due process protections to DHEC’s quarantine powers.
• H.5488 – Requiring the General Assembly consent to a declaration of emergency through a joint resolution, and that the governor cannot declare emergencies successively 
• H.5490 – Prohibiting state and local governments from closing public beach access except for due to inclement weather 
• H.5491 – Prohibiting state and local governments from ordering the closure of any business
• S.1200 – General Assembly must express consent to an emergency declaration within 15 days by concurrent resolution
• S.1201 – The Governor cannot declare successive states of emergency
• S.1211 – Amending the state constitution to allow the General Assembly to meet remotely or in alternative locations due to war or disease 
• S.1213 – Banning successive declarations of emergency by the governor, banning local governments from requiring businesses to compel face masks, and requiring that local declarations of emergency do not conflict with the governor’s declaration of emergency
• S.1214 – Concurrent resolution asking the governor to rescind his executive order closing business and prohibiting gatherings of three or more

Regulations 

• H.5474 – All individual and group health insurance plans must cover telemedicine, DHEC must complete a study on the practice, and licensing boards shall maintain licensure for telehealth
• H.5479 – Close-contact service providers regulated by boards and commissions administered by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation who were ordered to close on April 1, by Executive Order 2020-17 are exempt from licensure renewal fees and continuing education requirements this year
• H.5481 – Hospitals must re-label left over medicine from in-patient use that is to be sent home with the patient as “outpatient use”
• H.5482 – Adding first responders and correctional officers to people eligible for workers compensation for covid illness, and applies this retroactively to first responders who had/have covid 
• H.5486 – Joint Resolution extending permits issued by state or local entities (retroactively in the time frame from 2018-2022) for development that permit construction of structures or development or alteration of land and water resources, including; approval of erosion and sediment plans, land disturbance permit, stormwater management plans, coastal zone consistency certification, 401 water quality certification, critical area permits, and more. 
• H.5489 – Allowing people to opt out of vaccinations for health or religious reasons
• S.1206 – Designating the design of the state flag

Elections

• H.5478 – To allow absentee ballot voting for 2020 primary and primary runoff
• H.5483 – Allowing absentee ballot voting during a state of emergency or for people who are quarantining from an active pandemic, it also waives the requirement to have a witness 
• S.1204 – A person can vote by absentee ballot if their residence is in an area under a state of emergency 
• S.1212 – Temporary suspension of signed petition requirements to run for school board

Taxation and Spending

• H.5476 – Medicaid expansion as authorized pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• H.5477 – Allowing a person to deduct net covid created losses on their 2019 tax return up to 25% of their taxable income
• H.5475 – Creates a state revolving loan fund, to be administered by the Department of Commerce, to support businesses in the food and beverage industry during the COVID-19 virus emergency. Can only issue small loans but can help facilitate companies getting relief from other sources 
• S.1209 – Temporarily waiving some continuous enrollment requirements and deadlines to achieve necessary scores on standardized tests to qualify for lottery scholarships

Criminal Law

• H.5480 – State forestry cannot give tickets for fire used to prepare food or in appropriate enclosures. Allows warning tickets to be issued for illegal fires
• H.5487 – Removing the power for a citizen to conduct a citizen’s arrest
• H.5492 – Limiting citizen arrest to only when the suspect has entered a dwelling house without permission
• S.1205 – Making it illegal to have items that can be used for graffiti  in your possession on DNR owned land, carrying up to 3 years in jail for a third offense 
• S.1210 – Restricting the use of a citizen’s arrest to only when the suspect enters a home without permission

Local

• H.5493 – Placing the town of Scranton in the South Lynches Fire District

Resolutions (Highlights)

• H.5458 – Resolution for a USC football player for getting drafted
• H.5467 – Resolution for an Italian artist that died in 2008
• H.5469 – Resolution creating a holiday for amateur radio operators 
• H.5494 – Proclaiming July 11th as “The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston Day”

Road Naming

• H.5472 – DOT to name a road “Othniel Wienges, JR. Memorial Highway”
• S.1207 – DOT to name a road “Harvey Middleton Road”
• S.1218 – DOT to name a street “Vonnie Holiday Way”
• S.1221 – DOT to name a road “Arthur J. Glover Memorial highway”
• S.1222 – DOT to name a road “Betty Henderson Highway”