Bill 3270

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               3270
Ratification Number:       419
Act Number                 344
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Relating to the Legislative Council, the
                           Committee on Statutory Laws, the Code
                           Commissioner and Director of the Council, and
                           the Code of Laws

(A344, R419, H3270)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 2-11-30, 2-13-10, 2-13-40, 2-13-60, 2-13-80, AS AMENDED, 2-13-90, 2-13-100, 2-13-150, AND 2-13-170, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, THE COMMITTEE ON STATUTORY LAWS, THE CODE COMMISSIONER AND DIRECTOR OF THE COUNCIL, AND THE CODE OF LAWS, SO AS TO CHANGE THE MEETING REQUIREMENTS OF THE COUNCIL; ESTABLISH THE DATE THE TERM OF THE CODE COMMISSIONER BEGINS; AMEND THE PER DIEM AND EXPENSE PROVISIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON STATUTORY LAWS; DELETE OBSOLETE DUTIES OF THE CODE COMMISSIONER; MAKE TECHNICAL CHANGES; AND FURTHER PROVIDE FOR SUPPLEMENTS TO THE CODE AND FOR REVISED VOLUMES; TO REENACT SECTION 2-13-30 OF THE CODE TO PROVIDE FOR REVISION OF THE CODE OF LAWS OF THE STATE AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO AND RECREATE THE COMMITTEE ON STATUTORY LAWS; AND TO REPEAL SECTIONS 2-13-70, 2-13-110, 2-13-120, AND 2-13-130 OF THE CODE, RELATING TO DUTIES OF THE CODE COMMISSIONER CONCERNING GENERAL STATUTE LAWS AND DECENNIAL REPORTS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Council to meet upon call of chairman or majority of members

Section 1. Section 2-11-30 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-11-30. The Legislative Council shall meet upon the call of the chairman or a majority of the members."

Term of Code Commissioner

Section 2. Section 2-13-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-10. A Code Commissioner shall be elected by a majority vote of the Legislative Council for a term of four years and until his successor is elected and qualifies. The term shall commence on July first of the year in which he is elected. He shall receive such annual salary as may be provided by the General Assembly."

Council to determine time, manner, and means of revising Code, etc.

Section 3. The 1976 Code is amended by reenacting:

"Section 2-13-30. The Legislative Council shall determine the time, manner, and means of revising the Code of Laws for the State, shall determine the method for keeping the general permanent statutory law of the State supplemented and shall check on the work of the Code Commissioner. The Council may let bids for publishing the Code or supplements or may negotiate for the publications whichever it determines is in the best interest of the State. In order to advise the Council in all matters relating to Code Commissioner work, there is created the Committee on Statutory Laws to be composed of three members of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate and three members of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives who shall be appointed at the first session of each General Assembly."

Committee shall meet at call of chairman

Section 4. Section 2-13-40 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-40. The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairman. Each member of the Committee shall receive traveling expenses, subsistence, and per diem, as provided by law for members of boards, committees, and commissions, which shall be paid from the approved accounts of the respective Houses of the members, when actually engaged in his duties."

Duties of Code Commissioner

Section 5. Section 2-13-60 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13 60. The Code Commissioner shall:

(1) Compile the public statutes of the State in a form consistent with the expression of the General Assembly;

(2) Prepare indices and cross-indices to such codification, publishing the same in the appropriate volumes as hereinafter provided;

(3) Note by annotation decisions of the Supreme Court of this State under the appropriate sections of the statutes codified and also of the Constitution of 1895 of the State and the rules of court;

(4) Annually prepare for publication, the statutes and joint resolutions passed at the preceding session,

(a) placing analysis lines at the beginning of each section in every act and joint resolution, except state appropriation measures,

(b) making references, by act number and year in which the act is published, to each act and joint resolution of a previous session when amended or repealed,

(c) dividing the acts and joint resolutions into such as may be of a general permanent kind and such as may be local or of a temporary nature, with indices and cross-indices,

(d) arranging all local enactments according to counties in alphabetical order;

(5) Regularly review and examine all the general statute laws of the State and

(a) correct typographical and clerical errors;

(b) change or substitute names, titles and other designations to make them conform to new laws enacted by the General Assembly or new rules, regulations or orders having the force and effect of law."

Preparation and publication of cumulative supplements

Section 6. Section 2-13-80 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 522 of 1976, is further amended to read:

"Section 2-13-80. There shall be prepared and published annually, under the supervision and direction of the Legislative Council and the Code Commissioner, cumulative supplements to the Code of Laws showing in such detail as the Council and Commissioner may deem proper and sufficient:

(1) All general permanent statutes enacted during the annual sessions of the General Assembly whereby the general statutory law as contained in the Code of Laws has been added to, amended, repealed or otherwise affected;

(2) All changes, since the adoption of the Code, in the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of South Carolina, the rules of the various state courts, and the regulations issued by departments and agencies of the State;

(3) All decisions of the Supreme Court of South Carolina and of the courts of the United States, subsequent to those referred to in the then existing Code of Laws, construing the general and permanent statutory law and the Constitution of South Carolina.

No supplement shall be prepared or published for the year preceding a year in which a revised Code of Laws is scheduled to be presented to the General Assembly.

All provisions of law applicable to the distribution of Codes of Laws of South Carolina shall also apply to distribution of supplements to the Code."

Revision of volumes

Section 7. Section 2-13-90 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-90. If at any time the supplement of any volume of the Code of Laws shall, in the judgment of the Council and the Commissioner, become too bulky for convenient use, the Council and the Commissioner shall contract to be prepared and published under their supervision and direction, and submit to the General Assembly for its consideration, a revised volume setting forth the contents of the original volume revised and codified to include the effect of such cumulative pocket supplement; and the General Assembly, having considered and approved such revised volume shall, by bill passed under the formalities prescribed by the Constitution of South Carolina for the passage of laws, declare the revised volume to be substituted for the original volume as a part of the then existing Code of Laws, and, to the extent of its contents, the only general permanent statutory law of the State."

Contracts for annual cumulative supplements

Section 8. Section 2-13-100 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-100. The Legislative Council may contract for the preparation and publication of the annual cumulative supplements to the Code of Laws, and contracts may be awarded for a period of not more than five years under terms as the Council may see fit."

Council to determine the laws to be included in Code

Section 9. Section 2-13-150 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-150. The Legislative Council shall determine the laws to be included in the Code of Laws and reports thereon. Such Code and reports shall contain the general permanent statutory law, the Constitution of South Carolina and such other matter as the Legislative Council may determine."

Code to be only general, permanent statutory law

Section 10. Section 2-13-170 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-13-170. The Code thus prepared by the Commissioner shall be declared by the General Assembly, in an act passed according to the forms in the Constitution of 1895 for the enactment of laws, to be the only general permanent statutory law of the State, and no alterations or additions to any of the laws therein contained shall be made except by act passed under the formalities required in the Constitution."

Repealed

Section 11. Sections 2-13-70, 2-13-110, 2-13-120 and 2-13-130 of the 1976 Code are repealed.

Time effective

Section 12. This act shall take effect upon the approval by the Governor.