Legislative update from Sen. Kevin Johnson

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These bills that received third reading in the Senate in March: S. 11 expands the S.C. Hurricane Damage Mitigation Program to include flood damage. S. 302 provides that marching band instruction must be considered the equivalent of physical education instruction. S. 337 provides that a credit union may provide certain services to nonmembers, provides the procedure to admit new community groups to a credit union, establishes board meeting requirements, and allows for investments in charitable donation accounts. S. 345 allows certain nursing professionals to perform certain functions. S. 506 allows for a one-time, thirty-day emergency refill of medication by a pharmacist during a state of emergency. S. 541 provides that a child victim of sex trafficking or severe forms of trafficking in persons is also a victim of child abuse or neglect. S. 709 requires fire and safety inspections at all public school facilities annually. S. 755 requires sheriffs to maintain at least one onsite, public drop-off box for the disposal of controlled substances. S. 802 defines terms relating to offenses of breach of trust with fraudulent intent and obtaining signature or property by false pretenses. S. 805 creates the Department of Children’s Advocacy and provides for its composition, duties, responsibilities, and other provisions. S. 810 provides that counties or municipalities may enact ordinances requiring the payment of fees or taxes related to pawn transactions or purchases and establishes other related provisions, including requirements and prohibitions pertaining to pawnbrokers. S. 815 establishes prohibited acts for pharmacy benefit managers and requires a pharmacy benefit manager to reimburse a provider within seven business days of payment by a payor. S. 834, relating to the surrender of a driver’s license by a person convicted of certain crimes, amends the definition for a crime of violence. S. 854 provides that a member of a SC retirement system may file for disability retirement if he was employed in the system not more than one year before the date of filing for disability. S. 872 provides that a person who has been sentenced to death may elect to suffer the penalty by lethal injection, if it is available at the time of election, and provides that the penalty must be administered by electrocution if the person waives the right of election or if lethal injection is unavailable or held to be unconstitutional by an appellate court of competent jurisdiction. S. 877 provides that the registration required for appraisal management companies must include a surety bond in an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars. S. 889 provides that a county ordinance must specify whether the purpose of the proceeds of a capital project sales tax would include economic development projects, including, but not limited to, infrastructure, land purchases, and site development projects. S. 891 provides that the information on newborns made available to parents must include safe sleep practices and the causes of sudden unexpected infant death syndrome. S. 918 defines “targeted controlled substance,” requires the use of electronic prescriptions when prescribing narcotic drugs, establishes certain prescribing limitations, requires the Department of Health and Environmental Control to conduct audits of the prescription monitoring program, and establishes reporting requirements. S. 928 provides that a special purpose district that has acquired a work of art by gift, bequest, purchase, or by other means may transfer ownership of the object to a nonprofit corporation organized for the purpose of displaying works of art. S. 932 provides that an entity undertaking a transportation improvement project shall bear the costs related to relocating water and sewer lines and provides the requirements for utilities to be eligible for relocation payments. S. 949 provides that probation officers, court personnel, county and municipal personnel, public officials, and private volunteers who participate in community service programs in which a probationer is completing community service are not liable for civil damages unless an injury or damages result from the gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct of such person. S. 959 provides that a first offense for illegal graffiti vandalism may be tried in magistrates or municipal court. S. 962 provides criteria for licensure as an addiction counselor. S. 1027 provides that unemployment filing provisions do not apply to employers in this State with fewer than fifty employees. S. 1033 provides that torturing a child is a criminal offense, establishes penalties, allows the Department of Social Services to forego reasonable efforts to reunify a family in the case of torture of a child, adds torture as grounds for termination of parental rights, and adds death of a child by torture as an action constituting homicide by child abuse. S. 1041 defines and prohibits unfair practices targeting vulnerable adults by obtaining money, property, or personally identifying information through deception, intimidation, undue influence, or false, misleading, or deceptive acts and provides a right of action, recovery amounts, and penalties. S. 1060 approves regulations of the State Board of Education relating to the Program for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Principal Performance. S. 1073 approves regulations of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation relating to nurse licensure compact. S. 1074 approves regulations of the Department of Health and Environmental Control relating to minimum standards for licensing hospitals and institutional general infirmaries. S. 1083 provides for a program for the issuance of temporary license plates for newly acquired vehicles. S. 1111, relating to federal fishing regulations, provides a specific size and possession limit for cobia. S. 1116 changes the name of the Greenville Health System to Greenville Health Authority, provides for the fulfillment of Greenville Health Authority’s purpose through the operation of facilities and delivery of services by agreement with nonprofit entities, and ratifies the actions of the Greenville Health System in entering into the amended Master Affiliation Agreement and the Lease and Contribution Agreement. S. 1124 provides that a county may hold a sheriff’s election every four years during the general election in non-presidential election years. H*3442 adds circumstances under which a nonresident may adopt a child and provides for the right to file a petition for adoption without regard to whom has custody of the child. H*3513 provides retired educator teaching certificates to enable retired educators to maintain eligible certification for the purpose of substitute teaching. H* 3591, relating to the First Steps to School Readiness comprehensive long-range initiative, provides requirements related to the program’s benchmarks, objectives, plans, oversight, and reporting. H*3701, relating to foster care, establishes provisions related to interim placement of a child with relatives, specifically the department’s responsibility to disclose information about foster care licensure and the kinship foster program. H. 4654 requires an applicant for an insurance producer’s license to provide a complete set of fingerprints with his application and to provide exceptions to this requirement. H*4729 prohibits the Department of Revenue from issuing more than three retail dealer licenses to one licensee, provides that a licensee may be issued additional licenses under certain circumstances, prohibits a licensee from having an interest in a retail liquor store other than the stores covered by his retail dealer’s license, and allows a licensed wholesaler to deliver new alcoholic liquor to a person licensed to sell alcoholic liquors for on-premises consumption under certain circumstances. H*3926 establishes and revises certain standards for good compounding practices for compounding pharmacies. H*4858 designates the twenty-first day of October of each year as “Dr. Ronald McNair Day” in South Carolina. H*4869 removes certain notarization requirements from employment termination and payment processes, optional forms of allowance, certain payments on death of a member or beneficiary, certain lump-sum payments to be paid in the event of death, and the supplemental allowance program. H*4977 establishes procedures for the appointment of the Lieutenant Governor if he resigns or is removed from office and establishes the procedure by which the Governor and Lieutenant Governor will be elected jointly and other related provisions, including campaign contribution limits and filing deadlines. These are not all of the bills that received third reading in the Senate this month. For more information on these bills or any other bills, you may visit our website at www.scstatehouse.gov. Sen. Kevin L. Johnson Jr. represents Clarendon County in District 36 in the South Carolina Senate. The district also includes parts of Sumter, Florence and Darlington counties.