Tort reform legislation took center stage in both the Senate and House this week. The House passed regulatory relief legislation and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court addressed a Joint Session.
On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee adopted H. 3946 (Reps. McCabe, Herbkersman, Hardee, Atkinson and others) relating to exemptions from contractor licensing requirements for farm buildings and includes poultry among the qualifying purposes. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee adopted H. 3276 (Reps. Pope, Robbins, Chapman, W. Newton and others), enacting the “South Carolina Hands-Free and Distracted Driving Act”. The bill, which has been introduced annually for a number of years, would make it unlawful to hold a cell phone while driving, create the offense of distracted driving and provide penalties. South Carolina risks losing a portion of its designated federal highway funds if it fails to enact such a law. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
The House will begin floor debate on the FY24-25 General Appropriations Act H. 4025 (Ways and Means Committee) and the Capital Reserve Fund H. 4026 (Ways and Means Committee) on Monday. Yesterday, the committee briefed all House members regarding details of the spending plan. To watch a video of the briefing, click here.
Ways and Means Committee meeting handouts and spreadsheets can be found here.
Meanwhile, state agencies continued appearing before the Senate Finance subcommittees this week with their budget requests, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Public Health and the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
Individual state agency budget requests can be found here.
The full House Education Committee held a public hearing Tuesday on H. 3927 (Reps. Gilliam, Hiott, G. M. Smith and many others), enacting the “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Act”. The bill seeks to prohibit public entities from promoting or funding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in hiring or employment practices. After more than four hours of testimony, the committee took no action on the bill, and Committee Chairwoman Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort) said the committee would recede to the call of the chair. It is unclear when the committee will meet again
On Wednesday, a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee took testimony on H. 3309 (Reps. G. M. Smith, Gatch, Herbkersman, Pope and others), enacting the “South Carolina Energy Security Act.” A top priority of state leaders, the bill, which passed the House last month, aims to ensure that electric generation and transmission providers are able to plan, site and construct new and replacement generation and transmission resources in a timely and cost-effective manner to address growing energy demand and to bolster economic growth in an affordable, reliable, safe and sustainable manner. The subcommittee is expected to meet again soon
The House this week, by a vote of 111-0, adopted H. 3021 (Reps. Bradley, G. M. Smith, Herbkersman, Lawson and others), which enacts the “Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act”. It requires state agencies to propose two regulations to eliminate for every regulation they propose; requires greater transparency on the economic impact of proposed regulations; ensures that the impact of regulations on small businesses and economic development are considered in the reauthorization process; and clarifies that agencies can only promulgate a regulation if they have been expressly granted the authority to do so by the General Assembly. The bill would establish a Small Business Regulatory Review committee that will review regulations pending authorization and make recommendations to the General Assembly for removing and reducing the overall regulatory burden and require cost-benefit analysis for new regulations. The goal is to reduce state regulations by 25%. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration
On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee adopted S. 54 (Senators Martin and Rice), the “Medical Informed Consent Act”. The bill prohibits vaccine mandates by persons, corporations or public entities and prohibits employers from taking adverse actions against any individual who declines to receive a vaccine. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John W. Kittredge addressed a Joint Session of the General Assembly on Wednesday for his first annual State of the Judiciary Address. Kittredge highlighted the enormous workload on our state’s court system and the numerous challenges it faces. He said that while the challenges are many, he is focused on improving data collection and data management, updating the case management system and providing more information online.
Kittredge also called for the need to reform the state’s magistrate system, noting that the pay disparity for full-time magistrates is “staggering.” He also supports increased qualifications and oversight of magistrates.
He concluded his address by noting that the judicial system needs a merging of the mind and the heart in sentencing and highlighted the work of the state’s treatment court programs, including drug courts, that provide accountability and grace. He thanked the circuit solicitors for leading that effort. The text of his speech can be found here.
The Senate began floor debate this week on S. 244 (Senators Massey, Alexander, Rice, Turner and others), major tort reform legislation that proponents say will fix a broken civil justice system and make South Carolina more competitive by ensuring that individuals and businesses are held accountable only for the damages they cause, not the actions of others. On Wednesday morning, Governor Henry McMaster stood with Senate leaders and hundreds from the business community and urged the General Assembly to pass meaningful tort reform this year. The floor debate will resume on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously adopted H. 3497 (Reps. W. Newton, Wooten, Pope and others), known as “Dram Shop” liability relating to liquor liability insurance. The bill would hold businesses and individuals responsible if alcohol is served to someone who is intoxicated and that person harms another person. The bill, along with other tort reform measures being considered, is aimed at lowering insurance premiums for businesses and individuals. The full House adopted the bill unanimously yesterday. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
That same day, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee adopted H. 3591 (Reps. Pope, Mitchell, Gilliam and others), which creates the offense of fentanyl-induced homicide. The Senate passed a similar bill, S. 156 (Senators Alexander and Rankin), last week. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration.
Yesterday, a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted H. 3529 (Reps. W. Newton, Bannister, Caskey and others), which increases the number of family court judges by one in the ninth, eleventh, and fourteenth circuits. The subcommittee also adopted S. 336 (Senators Alexander, Massey and Rankin), which would permanently set judicial elections by the General Assembly on the first Wednesday in March. Both bills now go to the full committee for consideration.
This week, the House adopted H. 3756 (Reps. Herbkersman, Gatch and Hager), which would allow an electric utility to include storm recovery costs for Hurricane Helene through the issuance of storm recovery bonds. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Yesterday, a subcommittee of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee adopted H. 3845 (Rep. Gatch) relating to transportation improvement projects. The bill requires an entity undertaking a federal highway project to bear the costs related to relocating broadband service lines. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration.
The House Economic Development and Utility Modernization Ad Hoc Committee met yesterday and heard presentations from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs.
All bills introduced this week can be found here:
The House will debate the state budget beginning on Monday.
