H 5062 General Bill, By Spearman, G. Brown, J.L. Harris, McCraw, Phillips, 
Rhoad, Sharpe, Stuart, Wilkes and Witherspoon
 A Bill to amend the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding Section
 56-3-635 so as to provide for a one dollar annual surcharge on all motor
 vehicle registration and licensing fees, and to provide that the funds
 received from this surcharge shall be distributed to the several counties and
 certain other entities of the State in a specified manner for emergency
 medical service (EMS) purposes.

   04/12/94  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-29
   04/12/94  House  Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ-29

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 56-3-635 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR A ONE DOLLAR ANNUAL SURCHARGE ON ALL MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND LICENSING FEES, AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE FUNDS RECEIVED FROM THIS SURCHARGE SHALL BE DISTRIBUTED TO THE SEVERAL COUNTIES AND CERTAIN OTHER ENTITIES OF THE STATE IN A SPECIFIED MANNER FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE (EMS) PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 56-3-635. (A) In addition to all registration and licensing fees for motor vehicles as provided by law, an annual surcharge of one dollar is added to the fee which shall be imposed and collected in the same manner as the fee. If the registration and licensing period is biennial, the surcharge shall be two dollars for the two-year period.

(B) The surcharge fees imposed by subsection (A) collected by the Department of Revenue and Taxation must be remitted by the department to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall transfer these surcharge fees to the Department of Health and Environmental Control which funds must be used only for emergency medical services in the manner provided in this section. These surcharge fees must be allocated annually to the several counties of this State for the purpose of improving or upgrading the emergency medical service system and allocated annually to emergency medical service regional councils for administration of training programs and technical assistance to local emergency medical service units. The funds must be allocated by a ratio of eighty-one percent to counties and twelve percent to emergency medical service regional councils. The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall develop guidelines and administer the system to make allocations within the State based on demonstrated need. The Department of Health and Environmental Control's emergency medical service office is authorized seven percent to administer the program and establish and maintain the emergency medical service data base. These funds may not be transferred to other programs within the department's budget. In addition, when instructed by the State Budget and Control Board or the General Assembly to reduce funds by a certain percentage, the department may not reduce the funds appropriated for emergency medical service regional councils or aid to counties greater than the stipulated percentage. Funds allocated to the counties and regional councils under this section do not require a local match and a local match shall not be a factor in determining allocations under this section."

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.