Bills filed during 2/2/21 – 2/4/21

.

Taxation/ Spending 

• H.3790 – Appropriating an additional 4% of the funds received by the General Fund from admission taxes to the Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Tourism for exclusive use of the SC Film Commission until the Commission receives 46% of the fund’s admission tax annually 
• H.3820 – Paying the Spartanburg County School District 7 a monthly stipend up to $600 ($700 for the chairman)
• H.3792 – Designated funds for film projects by the SC Film Office that are not used may be carried forward to the next year for the same purpose, uncommitted funds must be used for wage and supplier rebate funds
• H.3799 – Exempting fees on corporations for the first $50 million of capital stock or surpluses if it came as venture capital
• S.527 – Allowing couples that are legally separated to retain the special 4% property tax rate, and making people reapply for the tax rate every year or lose it
  .

Government Structure

• H.3798 – Requiring a roll call vote for every judicial election, regardless of whether it’s a contested race
• H.3787 – Allowing the Attorney General “of this state on July 1, 2021” to join the state judicial retirement system (it’s unclear whether, based on this language, the offer to join the system only applies to the current Attorney General)
• S.519 – Creating an “Office of Broadband Development” within the ORS whose duty shall be to expand broadband in the state by providing information to local governments, encourage public/private partnerships, and give reports to the legislature on its progress 
• S.509 – Allowing the SC Commission for the Blind to operate vending machines in local detention facilities 
• H.3786 – Constitutional Officers’ pay is based on recommendation by the Agency Head Salary Commission and voted on by the General Assembly
• H.3788 – Appointing the Attorney General to the Commission on Prosecution Coordination
• H.3791 – Police Omni-bus bill; creating a field training course that a new officer must pass within a year, limiting the situations in which a chokehold may be used, funds must be designated for body cams, workers comp. enabled for officers suffering from mental stress or mental injury, giving the Law Enforcement Training Council oversight powers over the training and discipline in certain circumstances of police departments 
• H.3794 – Law Enforcement Training Council sets minimum requirements for law agencies establishing mediation programs as an alternative resolving misconduct complaints
• H.3814 – Creating a database for police misconduct overseen by the Law Enforcement Training Council, only when sanctions are brought forth would the records be available to public records request
  .

Criminal Justice

• H.3817 – Wireless phone companies must provide personal location data upon request by law enforcement if they believe there is risk of serious harm; shields a company from civil or criminal action if they provide such information in accordance with the law 
• H.3815 – Law enforcement officers under investigation for misconduct cannot retire until the investigation is complete
• H.3782 – People on probation may not be tested for marijuana through urine or blood
• H.3793 – A police officer who commits felony related to their job forfeits their retirement benefits
• H.3800 – Defining “torture” for the purposes of child abuse as a pattern of assaults, omissions of care and psychological mistreatment
  .

Education

• S.517 – Giving additional leave to employees of school districts that resume in person  instruction 
• H.3796 – Students who receive the LIFE scholarship and obtain an education degree will receive a $7,500 stipend 90 days after graduating
• S.518 – Any student that does not pass their virtual school classes 2021-2022 shall be required to take classes in person
• S.507 – A trustee of an institution of higher learning that resigns or is removed may not be a trustee for four years
• S.515 – Gives the Orangeburg County School District Board of Trustees the ability to decide if school buildings are unsafe, repairs are economically feasible, or a structure is under utilized
  .

Elections

• H.3822 – Allowing for same day registration and voting, absentee voting without excuses, convicts who have served their sentence are informed that they can vote
• H.3819 – To become a school board member in Spartanburg a person must submit a statement of candidacy instead of a petition with signatures
• S.526 – Allendale County Board of Education applicants shall submit a statement of candidacy instead of a signed petition to run for the office
• H.3797 – Changing the selection process for a Summerville School District 2 Board of Trustees from at large elections to single member districts and to allow any vacancies to be filled by appointment of the local legislative delegation 
  .

Regulations

• S.514 – Establishing that no employer can pay two employees of comparable work different wages because of race, religion, sex, etc. , includes exceptions for pay based on seniority, merit
• H.3789 – Requiring deeds or mortgages to have the name of the preparer on them
• H.3795 – Requiring sign language interpreters for state agencies, local governments, and hospitals to be licensed and pay related fees 
• H.3804 – Adding language into existing licensing law for commercial driver license holders, stating that they are presumed to possess qualifications to be entrusted to drive
• H.3805 – Allowing issuance of a myriad of special military license plates
• S.524 – 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
• S.525 – Amending trash disposal regulation to allow “advanced recycling”, which includes practices such as gasification, pyrolysis, depolymerization 
• H.3826 – Commercial auto insurance policy holders must get 60 days warning that the insurer intends to cancel the policy, unlike non-commercial which will still only receive 15
• H.3818 – Regulating the fishing of blue catfish in a few specific bodies of water, to allow two large fish to be in your possession and no more than 25 of other sizes in a single day
• H.3821 – Regulating the transfer of possessions under custodial control to minors
• S.528 – Putting deadlines on when local construction and zoning boards can approve or deny plans for construction, allowing private inspectors to do more of the preliminary inspections to getting approved for construction  
  .

Medicine/COVID

• S.516 – DHEC to identify and vaccinate critically important teachers in the first wave of vaccinations
• S.520 – DHEC shall include teachers in the first wave of vaccinations
• S.508 – Parents may request to have or revoke a “Do Not Resuscitate Order” for dependent children 
  .

Resolutions (Highlights) (25 Total)

• H.3778 – Resolution making Feb. 27th “TRIO day”
• S.522 – Resolution recognizing March 12th and the following week as “Girl Scout Week”
  .
  

Road Naming Resolutions 

• H.3801 – DOT shall name a road “Reverend James Jeffcoat Memorial Highway”
• H.3785 – DOT shall name a road “Dr. Tonia Aiken Taylor Memorial Highway”
• H.3808 – DOT shall name a road “Reverend Doctor Norman Gamble Way”
  
  

Previous bills:

• Filed during 1/25/21 – 1/28/21
• Filed during 1/12/21 – 1/21/21