The pace of meetings and the length of sessions in each chamber will increase, as the May 1 procedural deadline approaches. Bills which do not cross from one chamber to the other by May 1 will require a two-thirds vote in the receiving chamber to be considered. After May 1 is what is sometimes referred to as "rabbit season," when bills which did not pass a chamber by May 1 or items which have never been introduced appear as amendments to other bills. There may be Legislative Alerts, and these will require immediate action to keep provisions which were thought to be dead for the year from being adopted—creating problems or just bogging down desirable legislation.

 1.

Senate Completes the Budget

The Senate finished work on the budget this week. The budget will now go back to the House where it will likely be amended back to a version similar to the House- passed budget. Then a conference committee will be appointed. The Local Government Fund (LGF) was fully funded according to the statutory formula; however, proviso 89.new (outlined below) could potentially risk some counties' state aid to subdivisions funding. The Senate was able to fund a 1 percent raise for state employees. Some of the provisos of interest are as follows:

1. Truth in Spending Proviso - Proviso 89.new. The Senate adopted this proviso which requires the withholding of state aid to subdivisions money from counties, if they fail to place an online searchable database of all county financial transactions and credit card expenditures to be updated monthly. Specifically, the proviso requires:
   
   1. An online transaction register that includes a complete record of all checks written for $100 or more; and
   
   2. An online register of all the county’s credit card expenditures, including expenditures on credit cards issued to county officers or employees.
   
   For each check issued the register must display the amount, the name of the payee and a detailed statement of the purpose of the check or expenditure. The register must not include an entry for salary or wages and cannot include information that can be used to identify an employee. A memo from Sen. Bryant concerning this proviso is attached.
    

2. DOR Collection of Local Hospitality Taxes. This proviso would have required DOR to collect all local hospitality taxes with state sales tax collections. Sen. Martin sponsored an amendment to delete this proviso from the budget, but Sen. McGill raised a point of order before it could be brought to a vote. The Senate ruled the proviso out of order and struck it from the budget.
    

3. Suspension of the EIA Maintenance of Local Effort. The Senate adopted this proviso, which suspends for FY 2008-09 the requirements of §59-21-1030, the local maintenance of effort requirement in the Education Improvement Act.
    

4. $5 Traffic Ticket Surcharge - Proviso 90.11. This proviso was determined to be out of order at Finance Committee and was not adopted in the Senate budget. The proviso is in the House version of the budget. It would add a $5 surcharge on all misdemeanor traffic tickets and non-moving violations. The revenue from the surcharge was to fund the Criminal Justice Academy.
    

5. Court Fine Reports - 76.14. This proviso is in both versions of the budget. If a county is more than 90 days delinquent in remitting monthly court fines, the State Treasurer shall withhold 25 percent of state funding for that county until all monthly reports are current. After 90 days, the funds being held by the Treasurer’s Office will be made available to the State Auditor to conduct an audit of the entity for determining an amount due, if any.
    

6. Mileage Reimbursement - Proviso 89.25. The standard mileage reimbursement rate increases from 44.5 cents to 50.5 cents. This proviso is in both versions of the budget.
    

7. Proviso Codification - S. 530. This bill codifies numerous provisos which have been in the budget act for several years. S. 530 will likely be taken up next week in the Senate.

 2.

Taxation/Finance Bills at House Ways and Means Committee

The following bills were given a favorable report by the House Ways  and Means Committee and will be on the House calendar next week.

1. School Sales Tax - H. 4883. This legislation would allow a local option sales tax to be imposed for school capital projects. The tax may be imposed in the county upon the adoption of a resolution by the school district board and a favorable referendum result. The tax may only be imposed by a school district whose boundaries are the same as the county. The revenues may be shared with higher education for capital improvements on campuses.
    

2. Big Annual Tax (BAT) Bill - H. 4887. The BAT bill was given a favorable report after several amendments were added to the bill. The committee reversed course on the boat situs language, and now it requires 180 days continuously or 270 days in the aggregate. A committee member also seized upon the property tax exemption for mobile homes and men-tioned making the exemption for boats $2,500 in value, as well.
    

3. 6 Percent Assessment Ratio for Warehouses - H. 4672. The committee gave a favorable report to H. 4672, even with the $12.7 million local fiscal impact of changing the assessment ratio on warehouses owned by a manufacturing facility from 10 percent to 6 percent. The bill also contains a number of fee in lieu of tax changes proposed by the S.C. Economic Developers Association. Rep. Cobb-Hunter asked several questions about the fiscal impact of this bill.
    

4. Mini-bottle Hold Harmless - S. 951. This bill holds harmless state agencies and local entities which received mini-bottle tax revenues for alcohol education, prevention and other purposes.
    

5. Ag Use Appeals - H. 4499. This bill was given a favorable report. It allows a taxpayer to receive attorney fees and costs when they prevail on appeal from the assessor’s decision to deny or revoke an ag use application. There are no guidelines or limits on the amount of fees and costs, and the bill deletes the requirement that a court find the assessor’s decision was unreasonable. H. 4499 amends a provision agreed to between the Farm Bureau and SCAC last year. The Farm Bureau did not request H. 4499 and has no position on this bill. The provision making this retroactive was deleted from H. 4499.
    

6. ATI or Point of Sale Revisions - H. 4942. This bill revises the recognition of full fair market value for real property subject to the valuation cap once it is transferred. The SCAC Board adopted no position on the point of sale/ATI issue and SCAC staff will not advocate any position on this issue. If you have thoughts or concerns on the issue, you should communicate them directly to your House member.
    

7. Motor Vehicle Accident Fees - H. 4797. This legislation after the committee amendment exempts EMS and hazardous waste cleanup, if covered by insurance, from the prohibition on charging fees which result from services rendered as a result of an accident. H. 4797 is too broad in scope and exempts uninsured and under-insured motorists from accident- related fees for services.

 3.

Stormwater Fee Exemptions — H. 4337

The House Agriculture Committee gave a favorable report to H. 4337 with an amendment. The amendment would totally exempt all agriculture lands, forest lands and undeveloped lands from any fees levied by a county for stormwater, sediment or erosion control. None of the terms are defined, and it has been confirmed in conversations with the proponents that this is intended to exempt all lands, buildings and structures related to agriculture. Rep. Heyward Hutson of Dorchester County was the only committee member who voiced a concern about this bill.
 

 4.

Other Finance-Related Bills of Interest

1. Municipal Capital Projects Sales Tax - H. 4378. This bill was scheduled to be heard in a Ways and Means subcommittee on Tuesday, April 22 in Room 524 of the Blatt Building after debate adjourned this week. H. 4378 allows a municipality to hold a referendum on a capital project sales tax within the city boundaries. Although there is no legal prohibition on an additional county-wide capital projects sales tax, the likelihood of voters in that municipality supporting a second bond penny is remote. The members of the subcommittee are: Reps. Littlejohn (Chairman), Battle, Simrill, Edge, and Leach. If H. 4378 passes, the current county/municipal joint capital projects sales tax will be useless.
    

2. Realtor Business Licenses - H. 4554. The House adopted the LCI Committee amendment on H. 4554 to provide that business licenses are applied at the office of the broker in charge. The gross receipts from transactions reported to the broker in charge in all jurisdictions would be the base for calculating business license tax, with a credit being given for gross receipts already taxed in another jurisdiction. H. 4554 received third reading as amended and is now in the Senate.
    

3. Collateralization of Public Funds - S. 642. This legislation allows a depository to secure funds using the dedicated method or the pooling method and authorizes the local government entity or state treasurer to require the depository to use the dedicated method. S. 642 was passed by the House and returns to the Senate for consideration of the House amendment.

 5.

Idling Commercial Vehicles — H. 4911

H. 4911 creates a non-moving traffic offense—idling of commercial vehicles longer than ten minutes—with some exceptions. Proponents want to preempt this area and make enforcement of vehicle idling the exclusive jurisdiction of the State Transport Police. Fines would be payable directly to DPS without the inclusion of court assessments. If the ticket is contested, it would be heard in magistrate court. Unpaid fines would be enforceable by registration suspension. SCAC was successful in amending the bill to require the standard fine and assessment laws be applied if it goes to magistrate court, so the fine would go to the county to defray magistrate court expenses. The House Education and Public Works Committee gave the bill a favorable report, and it will be on the House calendar next week.
 

 6.

General Government Operations and Structure

1. Immigration - S. 392. The conference committee on S. 392 met on Wednesday. The House has now backed off its earlier concurrence with the Senate version of the bill, which allows local government to pass ordinances as long as they do not exceed or conflict with state or federal law. The conferees will meet with their respective chambers to discuss their differences and try to reach a final agreement on this bill.
    

2. SPD Dissolution - H. 4578. This amendment to the S.C. Constitution permits local legislation to abolish special purpose districts (SPDs). The bill passed the House without amendment and is now in the Senate.
    

3. Weapons Discharge Ordinances - S. 1039. This bill would prohibit local government ordinances which restrict a landowner discharging a firearm on his property of 25 acres or more to protect people or property. SCAC was successful in getting an amendment in the Senate to allow existing ordinances without the 25-acre exception to remain valid and otherwise enforceable. The House passed the bill, and it has been enrolled for ratification.
    

4. Coroner Vacancies - H. 3740. This bill was passed by the House and is in the Senate.
    

5. Derelict Cars - H. 4847. This bill amends the law dealing with abandoned vehicles and their disposal to allow code enforcement officers to handle derelict vehicles in addition to law enforcement officers. A House Judiciary subcommittee gave a favorable report to H. 4847.
    

6. Solar Panels - H. 4892. A House LCI subcommittee gave a favorable report to H. 4892. The bill grants an income tax credit for green energy features. The subcommittee did change language which may have prohibited local government regulation of the placement or appearance of solar panels on residential structures.

 7.

1. State Grand Jurors - H. 4694. This bill would prohibit any person who is currently charged in a state or federal court with a criminal offense which carries a maximum penalty of one year or more from serving on a State Grand Jury. A House subcommittee gave the bill a favorable report, and it will be considered by the House Judiciary Committee at its next meeting.
    

2. Electronic Recording Act - H. 3451. This bill provides for the electronic recording of land title documents in the RODs’ offices. House consideration of Senate amendments was postponed until April 22.
    

3. Failure to Appear - H. 3857. This bill addresses procedures for the issuance of bench warrants when a defendant fails to appear at a court proceeding. The bill also would authorize a $20 filing fee for motions filed with a clerk of court for a surety to be relieved on a bond. The House did not agree to the Senate amendments; and it now returns to the Senate, where Senators will decide whether to insist on their amendments and send it to conference committee or abandon their amendments.
    

4. Protective Orders - H. 4312. This bill provides that a protective order established by reason of incapacity other than for being a minor does not automatically terminate upon the incapacitated person reaching the age of majority. A House Judiciary subcommittee gave this bill a favorable report.
    

5. Education Benefits Garnishment - H. 4368. H. 4368 would allow someone who has obtained a judgement to collect outstanding educational benefits to obtain a wage garnishment order. H. 4368 was given a favorable report by the House Education and Public Works Committee.
    

6. Expungement - S. 110. S. 110 codifies a court order issued by the Chief Justice regarding expungement. The House recommitted this bill to the Judiciary Committee.

Retirement Issues 

1. OPEB Constitutional Amendment - S. 463. This constitutional amendment to allow investment of OPEB funds in the stock market was not reached in the Senate this week. The Senate must consider the House amendment.
    

2. 2 Percent COLA - H. 4673.  This bill increases the guaranteed retiree cost of living adjustment (COLA) to up to 2 percent for all retirement systems, except judicial retirement. If the rate of inflation is less than 2 percent, the COLA would be the actual rate of inflation. A .5 percent increase in the employer’s contribution would be required to add a 2 percent guaranteed COLA to the Police Officer System (PORS). This bill has been scheduled for a House Ways & Means subcommittee on Tuesday, April 22 in Blatt Building room 521.
    

3. Police Retirement for EMTs - H 4864. This bill would give administrative law judges the option to elect to participate in the police officers retirement system (PORS). There was an attempt to amend the bill on the House floor to include emergency medical technicians (EMTs) under PORS, but the amendment was tabled. H. 4864 was then committed to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Landfill Issues

1. Super Regulation - R. 3113. The Super Regulation which deals with siting and permitting is scheduled to "clock out" of the time period for the legislature to address it on May 6. It then will run for 30 days in the State Register and be effective on or about June 5. It was revised to provide notice early in the process.
    

2. Demonstration of Need Regulation - R. 3198. This regulation is still in the possession of DHEC . It has been amended to ensure greater county input on local land use regulations, but it is being held up pending discussions on the variance provisions. The issue is how to address permitted landfills which need to be expanded or relocated.
    

3. Landfill Moratorium - S. 1173. This is a local bill to provide a moratorium on C&D landfills in Anderson County and has been recommitted to subcommittee for further study.

• House Ways  and Means Sales Tax Subcommittee - upon adjournment of the House in Blatt Building Room 524:
  
  H. 4378 - Municipal Local Option Capital Project Sales Tax
  
  H. 3975 - to allow a county to delay reassessment implementation for one additional year
  
  H. 4924 - to use surplus school operating sales tax from Act 388 for charter schools
   

• House Ways and Means General Government Subcommittee - upon adjournment of the House in Blatt Building Room 521:
  
  H. 4673 - 2 percent COLA for retirees
   

• House Ways and Means Committee - 1 1/2  hours after adjournment of the House in Blatt Building Room 521, to consider any bills from the previous two subcommittee meetings and any other bills added to the agenda.
   

• House Judiciary Committee - 2:30 p.m. in Blatt Building Room 516:
  
  H. 4847 - derelict cars enforcement by code enforcement officers
  
  H. 4312 - guardianship for incapacity beyond 18 years of age
  
  H. 4819 - parking ticket enforcement
  
  H. 5009 - firefighter background check for arson charges
  
  H. 4309 - no parole offenses and middle courts
   

• Senate Judiciary Committee - 2:30 p.m. in Gressette Building Room 308
  
  S. 492 - relating to criminal evidence retention

Wednesday, April 23:

• House Judiciary Special Laws Subcommittee - 9 a.m. Blatt Building Room 516:
  
  S. 590 - jail recodification

Health Care in County Jails

On April 3, HR 5698, the "Restoring the Partnership for County Health Care Costs Act," was introduced in Congress. This bill would prohibit the federal government from stripping pre-trial inmates of their Medicare, Medicaid, SSI and SCHIP benefits. As a result, counties would not be required to cover medical expenses for these inmates. Nationwide, it is estimated that this act would save counties hun-dreds of millions of dollars in medical expenses.

This is a legislative priority for both SCAC and NACo. SCAC has faxed letters to the S.C. congressional delegation, asking them to sign on as co-sponsors of this legislation. Please contact your Congressman and ask him to support HR 5698. SCAC has sample letters and resolutions for use in contacting your Congressman. Please contact SCAC staff member Kathy Williams for further information.

'Can’t Wait to Get Your Friday Report Each Week, or Missed Your E-mail Version this Week?

Information has a short shelf life in the legislative arena. The sooner you receive legislative updates, the sooner you are able to contact the members of the General Assembly to thank them for doing helpful things or give them the information they need to make better decisions. The Friday Report is usually available on the web by 3 p.m. on Friday. The Friday Report can also be sent to you directly via e-mail. Just fax the enclosed form, or follow the e-mail request instructions.

 HOUSE BILLS

H. 4976 - Provides that a business in a county that has been declared a disaster area by the Governor is exempt from the Blue Laws for a period of 30 days following the declaration.

H. 4977 - Provides that a county may only charge a license, tax, or fee upon a residential builder at the place where he or she maintains his or her principal office. The fee is based upon the gross receipts of houses built on property located in the unincorporated areas of the county.

H. 4983 - Amends the state constitution by requiring the General Assembly to provide for the maintenance and support of a free public schools system, and requiring the General Assembly to establish, organize, and support public institutions of learning.

H. 4992 - Provides a guaranteed 2 percent COLA under the State Retirement System and the Police Retirement System, based upon the increases in the Consumer Price Index, with a 4 percent cap on COLAS.

H. 4999 - Provides that new public school construction must comply with certain architectural requirements as determined by a S.C. Department of Education committee that will create three architectural plans that all must choose from for construction.

H. 5003 - Authorizes the State Treasurer for FY 2008-09 to transfer from the Homestead Exemption Fund to the Education Finance Act Reserve Fund school funds equal to what the schools received in FY 2007-08.

H. 5009 - Requires a criminal background check for paid and volunteer firefighters prior to employment, with an exemption for firefighters employed as of June 30, 2001 as long as they remain with the same fire department. No one convicted of arson may serve as a firefighter.

H. 5010 - Authorizes a county to designate as dangerous animals certain breeds or species of dogs and cats.

H. 5045 - Requires a candidate for an elected office to report anything given of value to make communications more than 45 days before an election to influence the election outcome.

SENATE BILLS

S. 1279 - Provides that for a presidential election, if more than one political party who receives 5 percent of the popular vote for President wants to conduct a presidential preference primary, the political parties must mutually agree to set a single date for the presidential preference primary. If the parties cannot agree on a single date, the election will be held on the second Tuesday of June of the general election year.

S. 1289 - Deletes the reference to Chapter 17 in the provisions of the law pertaining to an unincorporated area that has been denied incorporation for six months petitioning to be incorporated into a municipality.

S. 1290 - Authorizes a volunteer fire department to establish a reasonable service charge for being called to extinguish or control a fire.

S. 1293 - Authorizes the creation of a middle court process in each judicial circuit by the solicitor to expand the drug court process to include the rehabilitation of nonviolent offenders.

S. 1303 - Sets an idling time period for commercial diesel vehicles and passenger buses at 10 and 15 minutes within an hour period respectively. Violation carries a $75 citation for offenses committed after July 1, 2009. Contested cases go before the magistrates court with all costs and fees collected going into the general fund of the county.
 

 1.

Senate Finance Revisits the Budget

The Senate will begin its floor debate on the budget next Tuesday. Early this week, the Board of Economic Advisors reduced the estimate of the amount of revenue the General Assembly has available for FY 2007-08 by $40 million. In response, the Finance Committee has deleted the state employee raise in the budget and made numerous other cuts. The Local Government Fund was in fact fully funded in the Finance Committee version of the budget and was not cut this week.

There are several provisos of interest in the budget or which will be debated on the floor, including:

1. DOR Collection of Local Hospitality Taxes — Proviso 81.15 - The Finance Committee adopted a new proviso to require DOR to collect all local hospitality taxes (imposed pursuant to Chapter 1 of Title 6) with state sales tax collections. DOR is authorized to retain 1 percent of the gross proceeds to fund this collection program. Please call your senator, and ask that this proviso be deleted from the budget.
    

2. Maintenance of Local Effort Suspension - The Senate Finance Com-mittee briefly brought up the idea of repealing or suspending the EFA maintenance of local effort requirement and then carried it over because of questions about the effect. When it was carried over, there was a statement that the issue would come back up during the floor debate.
    

3. New $5 Traffic Ticket Surcharge — Proviso 90.11 - The Finance Committee deleted this proviso, which would add a $5 surcharge on all mis-demeanor traffic tickets and non-moving violations. The revenue from the surcharge was to fund the Criminal Justice Academy. If there is no amend-ment on the Senate floor to add this proviso, this will be a conference com-mittee issue.

 2.

Taxation and Finance Bills at Ways and Means Committee

The following bills will be on the House Ways and Means Committee agenda next Wednesday afternoon. A copy of the Ways and Means Committee roster is attached.

1. School Sales Tax - H. 4883. This legislation would allow a local option sales tax to be imposed for school capital improvements. The tax may be imposed in the county upon the adoption of a resolution by the school district board(s) and a favorable referendum result. The tax may only be imposed by a school district or group of school districts whose boundaries are the same as the county. The revenues may be shared with higher education for capital improvements on campuses.
    

2. Big Annual Tax (BAT) Bill - H. 4887. The BAT bill was given a favorable report by a subcommittee. The subcommittee adopted an amend-ment to strike the boat situs provision and insert the contents of H. 4685 to provide taxation of boats from out of state, if they are in South Carolina for 180 days in the aggregate.
    

3. 6 Percent Assessment Ratio for Warehouses - H. 4672. A sub-committee gave a favorable report to H. 4672, which lowers the assessment ratio on all manufacturers’ warehouses from 10.5 percent to 6 percent. This reduces local property taxes by $12.7 million.
   
   Representatives from the S.C. Economic Developers Association and the Manufacturers’ Alliance asked for an amendment to place several economic development incentives in the legislation. Unfortunately, these representatives also asked to retain the property tax assessment ratio reduction for manu-facturers’ warehouses. The expressed reasoning behind this assessment ratio drop is that manufacturers will otherwise set up separate warehousing com-panies and then lease the warehouses from their own company in order to receive the 6 percent assessment. This asks for a tax break (and a tax in-crease on everyone else), because they have discovered a way to avoid the tax laws. Please contact your member of the House, and ask that they delete the 6 percent assessment ratio for warehouses.
    

4. Mini-bottle Hold Harmless - S. 951. This bill holds harmless state agencies and local entities which received mini-bottle tax revenues for alcohol education, prevention and other purposes.
    

5. Ag Use Appeals - H. 4499. A subcommittee deleted the retroactive effect of this bill and gave it a favorable report. H. 4499 allows a taxpayer to receive attorney fees and costs when they prevail on appeal from the assessor’s decision to deny or revoke an ag use application. There are no guidelines or limits on the amount of fees and costs, and the bill deletes the requirement that a court find the assessor’s decision was unreasonable. This bill amends a provision agreed to between the Farm Bureau and SCAC last year. The Farm Bureau did not request H. 4499 and has no position on the bill. Please ask the committee members to send H. 4499 back to sub-committee for additional study.
    

6. Assessable Transfers of Interest (ATI) or Point of Sale Revisions - H. 4942. A subcommittee gave a favorable report to H. 4942, which revises the recognition of full fair market value for real property subject to the valuation cap once it is transferred. The SCAC Board adopted no position on the point of sale/ATI issue, and SCAC staff will not advocate any position on this issue. If you have thoughts or concerns about the issue, you should communicate them directly to your House member and the members of the House Ways and Means Committee.
    

7. Motor Vehicle Accident Fees - H. 4797. H. 4797 prohibits a county from imposing a fee or seeking reimbursement of costs or expenses incurred as a result of responding to a motor vehicle accident. The bill is written so broadly to preclude EMS fees for ambulance response and haz-mat cleanup fees. SCAC is working with the insurance companies to narrow the scope of this bill. The insurance companies complain that municipalities are charging cleanup fees for ordinary wrecks.

 3.

Stormwater Fee Exemptions — H. 4337

A House Ag subcommittee adjourned debate on H. 4337. At issue was an amend-ment that would have exempted farming and forestry lands from local stormwater management fees. Our argument, "let rep