Bills filed during 1/25/21 – 1/28/21

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Spending

• S.491 – Issuance of $550 million in General Obligation bonds (backed by every taxpayer in the state) for a Charleston Port expansion project
• H.3707 – Appropriating $45,000,000 to MUSC and $63,000,000 to DHEC from the Contingency Relief Fund (and another $100,000,000 to a vaccine reserve account)
• H.3770 – Authorizing the use of federal funds from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, but the distribution orders were left blank upon filing of the bill
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Taxation

• H.3726 – Excluding “buydowns” (manufacturer paying retailer to decrease retail cost of product) from gross proceeds of sales  
• S.502 – Toys bought by the Marines Toys for Tots are sales tax exempt
• H.3706 – Diverting property tax levied against airplanes from the General Fund to the State Aviation Fund 
• H.3709 – Lowering the age from 85 to 70 that a person becomes exempt from the 1% sales tax on accommodations
• H.3747 – Exempting feminine hygiene products from state and local sales and use tax 
• H.3752 – Toys bought by the Marines Toys for Tots are sales tax exempt
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Government Structure

• S.499 – Establishes that legislative leadership have an “unconditional right” to intervene on behalf of their respective legislative bodies in a state court action, including in election matters; requiring State Election Commissioners to be confirmed by the Senate (after the governor appoints)
• H.3743 – State agencies and instrumentalities may not use public funds to hire lobbyists
• H.3744 – The State, it’s agencies and local governments may not use public funding (tax incentives, funds, grants, loans, donated land) to aid, maintain, or construct professional sports stadiums (unless such funds are available to everyone)
• H.3733 – Restricting clerks of court authority only to areas of a court which have been designated as under the Court Administration
• H.3758 – Creating a “Joint Committee on Women’s Reproductive Rights” to review relevant legislation and make recommendations to the General Assembly; would be entitled to per diem 
• H.3766 – Splitting DHEC into two agencies, one to focus on public health and one to focus on environmental concerns 
• S.490 – Directing the State Board of Ed. and Dept. of Ed. to create milestones for tracking language skill progress in deaf children, and creating a committee to solicit advice from experts
• H.3751 – Makes overseeing construction of public school buildings the duty of the local school board (currently done by the Department of Education) and eliminating the requirement that the Dept. of Ed. approves or denies new school buildings
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Regulations

• H.3754 – Further regulating tobacco retailers, defining e-cigarettes as tobacco products, making law enforcement conduct two attempts at underage purchase of tobacco every year per store
• S.497 – Requiring a boating safety license for anyone born after 2006
• S.500 – Applying the same regulatory requirements to attached single family homes (houses that structurally are connected) as are currently applied to detached single family homes
• H.3731 – Requiring behavior analysts to be licensed 
• S.501 – Makes exceptions for when a property insurance company may raise rates, would allow multiple filings for an increase in a single year
• S.505 – Websites disseminating commercial recordings or audiovisual work must have the owner’s name and contact information displayed plainly on the website or be subject to lawsuit for unfair trade practices
• S.506 – Allowing home-based food businesses to sell over the internet and directly to stores
• H.3723 – Requiring racial sensitivity training for police as part of their continuing education requirements
• H.3724 – Requiring at least a two-year degree to be qualified to be a police officer (or at least be enrolled in an associate’s program)
• H.3725 – Requiring police officer candidates to first be evaluated by a psychologist
• H.3729 – If a car is found stored without permission on private property or towed the person storing it may only being charging the car owner after they have been notified
• H.3730 – Expanding what equipment railroads can use to warn people that a train is coming 
• H.3742 – Limiting when zoning can prohibit a home based business
• H.3753 – Creating regulations to allow the plastic recycling methods of pyrolysis and gasification in the state
• H.3760 – A Corporation’s shareholders can hold board meetings remotely
• H.3765 – Exempting campgrounds from tenancy laws; guests ejected from campgrounds that leave their property behind may have it kept by the campground 
• H.3769 – Expanding licensing and regulation for micro-distilleries to allow on-site dining, tours, and more
• H.3772 – Allowing beer and wine delivery, creating a required $400 license, setting delivery quantity as well as limiting each retailer to delivering in their own zip code
• H.3774 & S.489 – Regulating when professional employment companies (temp workers and job hunters) can get tax benefits from opportunity zones and to provide that they cannot sell insurance
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Criminal Justice

• H.3708 – Illegal to possess a firearm if convicted of a crime that carries more than one year in prison 
• S.484 – Allowing no-parole sentences to be reduced and released early if they go through rehabilitation and 77% of their sentence, or 75% for drug offenders 
• H.3728 – Creating an additional criminal offense for threatening a public official or their immediate family
• H.3741 – Local government officials who make unlawful ordinances regulating firearms can be subject to 5 years imprisonment
• H.3755 – Allowing death penalty inmates to elect their method of execution, but making electrocution the default if the lethal injection is not available
• H.3773 – Allowing people unfit to stand trial to undergo treatment for 180 days to restore them to be mentally fit before trial
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Constitution

• H.3710 – State constitutional amendment stating that international laws and contracts shall not infringe on 2nd Amendment Rights if they violate the US constitution
• H.3745 – Constitutional amendment requiring 2/3 vote to impose or increase new taxes or license fees
• H.3746 – Constitutional amendment for state term limits (three terms for senators, six terms for representatives)
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Medical / COVID

• H.3732 – Requiring DHEC to add custodial workers to the first phase of the vaccination rollout
• H.3748 – Requiring insurance to cover pelvic examinations, breast examinations, and contraceptive counseling
• H.3756 – Resolution using federal COVID funds for emergency sick leave at schools
• H.3749 & S.485 – DHEC shall set up a program to license and regulate “milk banks” in which they will collect, donate, or sell human milk and to require newborn health insurance must cover it
• H.3775 – Requires insurance to cover all medicines to treat stage 4 cancer without requiring that certain medicines must be tried before others
• S.503 – Allowing advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) to perform home health services
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Legal

• H.3700 – Regulating the process for making a claim on personal injury, bodily injury, property damage, or wrongful death
• H.3711 – Resolution stating an employer cannot take adverse action against an employee who refuses to get the COVID vaccine
• H.3750 – Civil cases may a portion blame among parties and nonparties
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Local

• H.3727 – Local governments that regulate pets must hire class 3 animal control officers, at the discretion of the local government they may carry guns 
• H.3740 – Lancaster County Commission on Higher Education shall keep all millage revenue for USC Lancaster unless formally requested by by another institution; making the dean of the school a member of the commission 
• H.3771 – Allowing fewer voting places for municipal elections per capita 
• S.498 – Local governments may not make rules regulating e-cigarettes
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Resolutions (Highlights) (40 Total)

• H.3762 – Resolution honoring former Representative Mandy Powers Norrell
• H.3763 – Resolution honoring former for Representative Funderburk
• H.3764 – Resolution establishing that the House opposes hate and extremism
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Road naming

• S.486 – DOT shall name a road crossing “Steve C. Davis Viaduct”
• S.492 – DOT shall name a road “Honorable Jimmy C. Bales Highway”
• H.3721 – DOT shall name a road “Honorable Jimmy C. Bales Highway”
• H.3739 – DOT shall name a road “Lieutenant Ulysses Flemming Memorial Highway”

Previous bills:

• Filed during 1/12/21 – 1/21/21