Public Safety, Corrections, and Judicial

General Statement of Policy

One of the primary responsibilities of government is to protect its citizens from those who threaten their life, liberty and property. County government resources are being strained to the limit to provide sufficient law enforcement; to deal with the escalating complexities and backlog in the judicial system; and to cope with the crises in jail overcrowding and juvenile crime. Many of these responsibilities fall on the counties as state mandates with either inadequate or no state funding.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Expenditures for public safety continue to be the largest program outlay for South Carolina counties, with increased spending of $85 million just in the last five years. This represents a 43.5% increase from 1992-96. Higher incidences of crime, particularly juvenile crime, have placed demands on law enforcement for more and better services. Changes in our communities have necessitated additional expenditures for fire and safety services and emergency preparedness programs. Increased devolvement of programs to the local level has resulted in more flexibility, but insufficient funding to address these critical needs

Policy Positions

EMS Grant-in-Aid Increase — Support an increase of $3.5 million in state grant-in-aid funds appropriated to DHEC for redistribution to local EMS agencies to help improve and upgrade local EMS services. These funds should be provided to public and volunteer EMS organizations only.

Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights -- — Oppose legislation to enact a Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights that would guarantee special rights and privileges not available to other county employees and that would interfere with the right of public safety officials to discipline their employees.

SLED Fee for Background Checks — Support an exemption for local government agencies from the $25.00 fee charged by SLED to perform a criminal background check; at a minimum, sup-port the inclusion of local government agencies among those entities entitled to the $8.00 fee.

There must be an equitable relationship between the state and the counties for the growing demands of adult and juvenile incarceration. The "get tough on crime" policies enacted in recent years have compounded the problems of jail overcrowding, insufficient staffing, inadequate funding, and increased violence. Continual expansion and construction of jails is a poor and unacceptable answer to jail overcrowding. The state and federal governments must provide financial support and alternatives to incarceration if we are to make any headway in the criminal justice system.

Policy Positions

Criminal Records Purging by Detention Facilities — Support legislation to amend § 17-1-40 to require jailers to expunge only that information which the Minimum Jail Standards require to be made public so that detention facilities can con-tinue to maintain their files in proper format.

Keeping State Prisoners in County Jails — Keeping state prisoners in county facilities is another example of an unfunded state mandate, using local resources to solve a state problem. Oppose any attempt by the state to require counties to keep state prisoners sentenced longer than 90 days. Support state reimbursement to counties for keeping state prisoners of $75/inmate/day or actual cost.

Medical Care for Pretrial Detainees — Oppose legislation which would require local entities to be financially responsible for medical care rendered by hospitals to pretrial detainees.

Prisoner Reimbursement Policy — Take a neutral position on S.298.

Probation/Parole Violation: Placement in Local Detention Facilities — Support legislation to require that an inmate picked up on a parole violation be transported to a state facility for a hearing to determine if parole should be revoked. Support legislation to require that a person who violates his probation must be seen by a sentencing judge at the next term of court.

Revision of Safety Codes for Local Detention Facilities — Support the work of SCAC-’s Local Detention Committee in developing minimum safe-ty codes specific to county detention facilities; support legislation that would authorize local detention facilities to adopt these codes.

Standards and Annual Inspections of Local Detention Facilities — Oppose the repeal of the Minimum Jail Standards and support the work of the Jail Standards Committee in making jail standards more reasonable and flexible.

State Funding Support for Construction of New Jail Facilities — Support state implementation of a plan or grant program that would provide funding to counties to help offset the escalating financial burden of constructing or expanding local detention facilities.

Medical Services Provided to Juveniles — The state should absorb the medical costs for juvenile detainees in their care. The counties have little input into the medical treatment given to juveniles and should not be held responsible for costs over which they have no control.

Regional Pretrial Juvenile Detention Facilities — Support state assumption of all responsibility for secure pretrial juvenile detention; state funding to construct and operate regional facilities; and DJJ management and operation of all such facilities.

The operation of the court system is a function performed by counties in their role as an arm of state government. At the beginning of this year, a total of 146,945 cases were pending in circuit and family courts, an increase of over 7,400 cases from the year before. This escalating workload, as well as increased demands on county judicial staff and resources, has put a strain on county government finances. The state must look at methods to address the overload in the judicial system and to stop mandating additional requirements without providing sources of funding.

Abolishment of Common-Law Marriages — Support legislation that abolishes common-law marriages in South Carolina and provides that those in existence prior to a certain date are valid if there is clear and convincing proof to the satisfaction of the court called upon to adjudicate the validity of the marriage.

Assessment of Court Costs for Failure to Obey Court Order — Support H.4058 which authorizes the Family Court to assess reasonable court costs in cases or proceedings against persons charged with failure to obey a court order.

Bail Bondsmen — Defer until a final draft of Chapter 53 of Title 38 has been provided. Continue to solicit recommendations and input from the clerks of court. Closely monitor areas of concern dealing with fees (§ 38-53-100) and security deposits (§ 38-53-270).

Bond Estreatments: Handling Fee — Support legislation which would authorize the clerks of court to charge bail bondsmen a four percent handling fee on bond estreatments. Find means to secure funds from sureties.

Child Support: Increase in Service Charge — Support an amendment to § 20-7-1440(C) to increase from three to five percent the service charge imposed on the party required to pay child support when paid through the court, with all these funds going to the county general fund.

Clerk of Court to be County Resident — Sup-port a Constitutional amendment to Article V, § 24, to authorize the General Assembly to provide by law that a clerk of court must be a resident of the county for which they are offering for election.

Court Revenue Study Committee — Support protection of county revenues collected by all courts and oppose any change to the existing distribution shares. Encourage and support training of proper procedures in clerks of court offices. Support reasonable audit requirements that do not impose unnecessary burdens on county government.

Deed of Distribution: Examination by Probate Court — Support S.92 to eliminate the require-ment of a probate judge to examine or an attorney to issue an affidavit for a deed of distribution prior to its being recorded. Keep the claims filing period of eight months as currently provided in § 62-3-907.

Document Formatting Standards — Support document formatting standards for all documents presented for recording in the clerk of court/register of deed offices and submit to the Chief Justice of the S. C. Supreme Court for consideration as an order of the court.

Increase in Documentary Stamp Fee — Support an amendment to § 12-24-90(2) to increase the county portion of the documentary stamp fee from $0.55 to $0.65 for each $500.00 or fractional part thereof of the realty’s value.

Increase in Various Fees and Costs Collected by Clerks of Court/Registers of Deeds — Sup-port an amendment to § 8-21-310 to increase various fees and costs collected by the clerks of court and registers of deeds. All of these are user fees charged to those persons using the services, most of which go to the general fund of the county.

Juvenile Restitution Collection — Oppose legislation which would require the clerks of court to collect, maintain and remit to the victim restitution collected from juveniles.

Methods of Entering Satisfaction — Support legislation to amend the affidavit form contained in § 29-3-330 so that it conforms to § 30-5-30(e) as it relates to being probated or acknowledged.

Property Description to Include Derivation Clause — Support legislation that would require contracts of sale and bonds for title to contain derivation clauses.

Qualifications for Probate Judges — Support new qualifications for probate judges as presented by the South Carolina -Probate Judges ’ Association that require education and experience as prerequisites for persons offering as candidates.

Restoring Cases in Family Court: Filing Fee — Support a filing fee of $70.00 for restoration of a case in Family Court so as to be consistent with the restoration fee prescribed in Circuit Court.

Sentencing Guidelines Act — Support a coalition of clerks of court, jail administrators, solicitors, and circuit court judges to study and make recommendations on advisory sentencing guidelines; support total review of the state criminal code.

Uniform Commercial Code Attachments — Sup-port legislation to amend § 36-9-403(5) to provide for a fee of $2.00 for the first page and $1.00 for each additional page for attachments to a copy for an original financing statement or for a continuation statement.

Uniform Commercial Code Searches — Support legislation to amend § 36-9-407 to delete the responsibility of registers/clerks of court for certifying certain statements under the Uniform Commercial Code; also support legislation to delete the responsibility of clerks of court to perform criminal record searches and civil judgment checks. Pursue a revision of Article 9.

2000-2001 Public Safety, Corrections
and Judicial Steering Committee

Steve S. Kelly, Jr., Chairman
Kershaw County Council Chairman

 County Representatives/SCAC Board:

Donnie Betenbaugh, Union County Supervisor
Bobby Boland, Kershaw County Administrator
Rose N. Dobson, Hampton County Administrator
C. Monroe Kneece, Edgefield County Council Chairman
Frederick W. Robinson, Calhoun County Probate Judge
Marvin Stevenson, Marion County Council Chairman
Clint Wright, Anderson County Council Chairman

SCAC Board Members

James I. Davis, Lee County Clerk of Court
Raymond C. Eubanks, Jr., Spartanburg County Probate Judge
Kenneth R. Huckaby, Spartanburg County Council
Ronnie D. Kidd, McCormick County Probate Judge
Waymon Mumford, Florence County Council
Dr. Robert R. Nash, Pickens County Council Chairman
Harriett Pierce, Kershaw County Probate Judge
O. V. Player, Jr., Sumter County Clerk of Court
Barbara Scott, Richland County Clerk of Court

President's Appointees: