Acknowledgments and Overview

House Research Office

Stephen L. Elliott
Executive Director

Daniel J. O'Connor
Research Assistant

Harvey A. Allen
Research Assistant

Cynthia I. Lee
Executive Secretary

For the last 20 years, the House of Representatives has published an annual post session report covering the most significant acts and bills of the legislative session. The yearly publication is a coordinated effort of the standing committees of the House of Representatives and the House Research Office.

This annual report is made possible thanks to the cooperation and efforts of the House standing committee staffs, whose work is reflected in the pages of this report. The committee staffs write the bill summaries and organize the charts which explain the legislation that appears in their committee sections. While the House Research Office oversees the formatting and printing of this annual report, credit for the content goes to the standing committee staffs whose names appear on the introductory page of each committee report.

On Tuesday, January 10, legislators returned to Columbia for the 111th annual session of the General Assembly. While a myriad of bills were introduced on a wide range of topics, the General Assembly concentrated its efforts on three major issues---crime, welfare reform, and property tax relief.

The General Assembly's major initiative in addressing crime consisted of passage of H. 3096, a truth-in- sentencing measure designed to bring more uniformity and predictability with regard to the amount of time a prisoner must serve before eligibility for release. Under this act, a person convicted of a newly-designated "no parole offense" (i.e., offense punishable by maximum imprisonment of 20 years or more) must serve at least 80 percent of their imposed sentence before qualifying for work release and at least 85 percent of their imposed sentence before qualifying for early release, discharge or community supervision. Furthermore, persons convicted of a no parole offense must complete a community supervision program lasting not longer than 2 years. The act also contains a "2 strike/3 strike" provision, under which persons convicted twice or three times of certain offenses (mostly, though not exclusively, violent offenses) must be imprisoned for life without chance for parole. Among other things, the act requires persons convicted of murder either to be sentenced to death, life imprisonment without parole, or a mandatory minimum imprisonment of 30 years; adds lethal injection as an option which may be used (as an alternative to electrocution) to enforce the death penalty; expands the statutory definition of "violent crime" to include three new crimes; and requires juveniles who have not been paroled or released from the custody of the Juvenile Justice by age 19 to be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections at age 19.

Legislators also enacted several other anti-crime measures. Following up on work of previous sessions on the subject of school violence, legislators passed an act requiring any student who brings a firearm to school to be expelled for at least 1 year. Legislators also passed an act requiring criminal background checks for operators, employees and prospective employees of child day care facilities. Also adopted was an act establishing the offense of child endangerment, under which a person driving a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and with a child as a passenger must be fined and/or imprisoned (with these penalties being in addition to penalties imposed on the driver for the actual DUI offense). Legislators also strengthened the State's anti-stalking law to make it easier to prosecute persons for the crime of stalking and to impose tougher penalties for this crime.

Welfare reform also received attention during this year's session, with the General Assembly's passage of an act designed to encourage recipients to become economically independent, keep families intact, and discourage abuse of the welfare system. Under this measure, recipients may not receive benefits for more than 24 months out of 120 months nor more than 60 months in a lifetime, except in limited circumstances (such as if the head of household is permanently or totally disabled or child care and transportation are not available). The act also requires recipients to sign agreements listing steps they must take to become employed; prohibits recipients from receiving increased benefits for children born while on welfare; requires minor mothers with children born out of wedlock to live in the home of their parent or guardian; requires recipients under age 18 to maintain attendance in school; allows families receiving AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) to own accounts from which tax-free withdrawals may be made for education, home purchases and other purposes; and increases the asset limit so that a recipient may own a vehicle not exceeding $10,000 in value and $2,500 in all other assets. This welfare reform measure also includes several child support enforcement mechanisms designed to streamline determination of paternity and implementation of child support orders.

Property tax relief received lengthy debate during the session, with each chamber initially approving property tax relief of varying amounts. However, legislators in June finally came to an agreement on this issue, agreeing to include $195 million of residential property tax relief in the budget. With passage of this relief, a homestead property tax exemption estimated at $100,000 is provided for owner-occupied homes on the school operation expense portion of each homeowner's tax bill. As a result of this exemption, 89 percent of all homes in South Carolina will be exempt from school operating property taxes.

Residential property tax relief was just one feature of the state budget for fiscal year . The budget also includes $90 million in new funds for public education, with the average teachers' salary increased by 4.2 percent to $31,749 in keeping with the southeastern states' average. Higher education receives $53.2 million in non-recurring funds, approximately $18 million in recurring funds for pay raises for higher education employees, and over $12 million for various other programs, including Tuition Grants and the Women's Leadership Institute at Converse College. Money collected from Barnwell's acceptance of low-level radioactive waste from throughout the United States will be used for construction of public schools (70 percent) and for higher education scholarship grants (30 percent). Among other funding in the budget is an additional $22.7 million for the Department of Corrections; $52.4 million for the Health and Human Services Finance Commission to maintain the State's existing Medicaid program; and $47.2 million to provide an average 3.5 percent pay raise for state employees. The budget also includes appropriations for 9 additional judges for our state court system to relieve the rapidly expanding judicial caseload; $10 million to fund the second year of the phase-in to increase the child tax exemption for families with children under age 6; and provides for the final phase-in of the Capital Gains rate reduction for taxpayers ($8.9 million).

The General Assembly also addressed a number of other issues this past session. Following up on House and congressional reapportionment plans adopted in 1994, legislators this year adopted a new reapportionment plan for the State Senate, increasing from 10 to 11 the number of districts in that chamber where African Americans constitute a majority of the voting age population. In response to growing concern about debt incurred through lease purchase agreements, the General Assembly passed an act requiring voter approval if implementation of an agreement would exceed the entity's 8 percent debt limit requirement. In addressing economic development, legislators passed an Enterprise Zone Act, through which tax breaks are offered to lure jobs to the State's depressed areas, and legislators also voted to allow local governments to impose a sales tax or tolls for new highway construction. Legislators also reorganized the Commission on Higher Education, reducing the size of the Commission from 18 to 14 members while also including as members trustees of public colleges and universities. Reacting to concerns that the State's Sunday "Blue Laws" were detrimental to changing consumer and work trends, the General Assembly passed an act allowing counties to exempt themselves from those laws either by county ordinance or by a referendum held in next year's general election. In addressing consumer affairs, legislators passed an act designed to correct problems associated with deregulation of the consumer finance industry. In response to the contamination of drycleaning facilities resulting from release of drycleaning solvents, the General Assembly passed an act which establishes a trust fund to clean up those facilities.

House members approved a number of other measures this past session. In February, Representatives passed a proposed constitutional amendment to limit legislators and statewide-elected constitutional officers (Secretary of State, Attorney General, etc.) to a maximum of 12 years in any one position. This limitation on time served in office would be retroactive to the 1994 general election for House members and statewide-elected constitutional officers and would first apply to Senators beginning with the 1996 general election. Representatives also passed a bill making it easier for persons to obtain concealed weapons permits, allowing issuance of those permits to persons meeting certain age, criminal background check and firearms training requirements. Reacting to concerns over workers' compensation costs and fraud, the House passed several measures addressing those problems. One bill allows an employer to start workers' compensation payments without waiving his defenses in denying a claim after a good faith investigation and provides a manner for terminating or suspending benefit payments upon presentment of reason. Another bill allows the presumption of total and permanent disability because a person has had a 50 percent or more loss of use of his back to be rebutted by a preponderance of evidence to the contrary. Representatives adopted a constitutional amendment and statutory implementing language to address the issue of judicial reform, with these measures, among other things, establishing a judicial merit selection commission to assist legislators in selecting qualified justices and judges for the state court system and the Administrative Law Judge Division; requiring sitting legislators to resign if applying for a judicial vacancy with the merit selection commission; and raising the age and legal experience requirements for serving on the State's courts. House members also gave second reading to a proposed state lottery; however, with that proposed constitutional amendment nearly 20 votes short of the necessary two-thirds vote required for passage, supporters delayed a third vote on the measure until the 1996 session.

Term limits, concealed weapons permits, workers compensation reform, judicial reform and a state lottery are but only a few of the issues awaiting one or both chambers of the General Assembly when legislators reconvene next January for the 1996 session. The issue of whether landowners should receive compensation when land use regulations substantially reduce the value of one's property is addressed under H. 3790. Several bills addressing auto insurance await further action, including among others S. 628, a bill addressing various aspects of the auto insurance market such as recoupment fees, offering of different types of rates, and mandates to write certain types of auto insurance coverage. Several bills in the area of motor vehicle safety would increase the minimum age for obtaining a driver's license and would require completion of a driver training course in order to obtain a license. Among education issues awaiting consideration next year are bills to establish charter schools within the state's public schools, eliminate tenure at the state's public colleges and universities, and allow home school students to participate in interscholastic activities within their respective school districts. Several bills would change the process for selection of various public officials, with some bills requiring the adjutant general and state superintendent of education to be appointed instead of elected, another bill requiring the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor, while yet another bill calls for popular election of the state's insurance commissioner. Two bills examine various means of enhancing direct public input in the lawmaking process through initiative petition. Further restructuring of state government may be undertaken next year as legislators consider bills to abolish the commissions governing the Departments of Mental Health and Transportation and to require those agencies to be governed by a director appointed by the governor.