H*2263 Session 107 (1987-1988)
H*2263(Rat #0164, Act #0118 of 1987) General Bill, By House Judiciary
A Bill to amend Chapter 4 of Title 30, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to the Freedom of Information Act, by adding Section 30-4-15 so as to
provide for the manner in which Chapter 4 of Title 30 must be construed; and
to amend Sections 30-4-20, 30-4-30, 30-4-40, 30-4-70, 30-4-80, and 30-4-100,
relating to freedom of information in this State, so as to further provide
therefor.-amended title
01/27/87 House Introduced, read first time, placed on calendar
without reference HJ-219
01/29/87 House Objection by Rep. Corning, PT Bradley, Hearn,
Foxworth HJ-295
01/29/87 House Objection by Rep. TM Burriss & McAbee HJ-295
02/03/87 House Objection withdrawn by Rep. Foxworth HJ-363
02/03/87 House Debate interrupted HJ-367
02/04/87 House Objection withdrawn by Rep. PT Bradley HJ-391
02/04/87 House Amended HJ-406
02/04/87 House Read second time HJ-409
02/05/87 House Objection withdrawn by Rep. TM Burriss, Hearn & Cornin
02/05/87 House Amended HJ-433
02/05/87 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-433
02/11/87 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-522
02/11/87 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-524
04/01/87 Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Judiciary SJ-1114
04/02/87 Senate Special order SJ-1159
04/14/87 Senate Amended SJ-1289
04/14/87 Senate Debate interrupted SJ-1299
04/16/87 Senate Amended SJ-1379
04/16/87 Senate Debate interrupted SJ-1381
04/21/87 Senate Read second time SJ-1411
04/21/87 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-1411
04/21/87 Senate Debate interrupted SJ-1411
04/22/87 Senate Amended SJ-1460
04/22/87 Senate Debate interrupted SJ-1462
04/23/87 Senate Amended SJ-1508
04/23/87 Senate Read third time SJ-1513
04/23/87 Senate Returned SJ-1513
04/29/87 House Non-concurrence in Senate amendment HJ-2266
05/05/87 Senate Senate insists upon amendment and conference
committee appointed Sens. Tom Smith, Courson,
Martin SJ-1660
05/06/87 House Conference committee appointed Wilkins, Limehouse
& Toal HJ-2435
05/14/87 House Free conference powers granted HJ-1739
05/14/87 House Free conference committee appointed Wilkins,
Limehouse & Toal HJ-1742
05/14/87 House Free conference report received HJ-1815
05/19/87 House Free conference report adopted HJ-2912
05/19/87 Senate Free conference powers granted SJ-1988
05/19/87 Senate Free conference committee appointed Sens. Tom
Smith, Martin and Courson SJ-1988
05/19/87 Senate Free conference report received SJ-2000
05/19/87 Senate Free conference report adopted SJ-2000
05/20/87 House Ordered enrolled for ratification HJ-2981
05/20/87 Ratified R 164
05/26/87 Signed By Governor
05/26/87 Effective date 05/26/87
05/26/87 Act No. 118
06/08/87 Copies available
(A118, R164, H2263)
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 4 OF TITLE 30, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976,
RELATING TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, BY ADDING SECTION 30-4-15 SO AS TO
PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH CHAPTER 4 OF TITLE 30 MUST BE CONSTRUED; AND TO
AMEND SECTIONS 30-4-20, 30-4-30, 30-4-40, 30-4-70, 30-4-80, AND 30-4-100,
RELATING TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION IN THIS STATE, SO AS TO FURTHER PROVIDE
THEREFOR.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Public policy; construction
SECTION 1. Chapter 4 of Title 30 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 30-4-15. The General Assembly finds that it is vital in a
democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner
so that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of
the decisions that are reached in public activity and in the formulation of
public policy. Toward this end, provisions of this chapter must be construed so
as to make it possible for citizens, or their representatives, to learn and
report fully the activities of their public officials at a minimum cost or delay
to the persons seeking access to public documents or meetings."
Definitions
SECTION 2. Section 30-4-20(a) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(a) 'Public body' means any department of the State, any state board,
commission, agency, and authority, any public or governmental body or political
subdivision of the State, including counties, municipalities, townships, school
districts, and special purpose districts, or any organization, corporation, or
agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds,
including committees, subcommittees, advisory committees, and the like of any
such body by whatever name known, and includes any quasi-governmental body of the
State and its political subdivisions, including, without limitation, bodies such
as the South Carolina Public Service Authority and the South Carolina State Ports
Authority. Committees of health care facilities, which are subject to this
chapter, for medical staff disciplinary proceedings, quality assurance, peer
review, including the medical staff credentialing process, specific medical case
review, and self-evaluation, are not public bodies for the purpose of this
chapter."
Definition
SECTION 3. Section 30-4-20(c) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(c) 'Public record' includes all books, papers, maps, photographs,
cards, tapes, recordings, or other documentary materials regardless of physical
form or characteristics prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained
by a public body. Records such as income tax returns, medical records, hospital
medical staff reports, scholastic records, adoption records, records related to
registration, and circulation of library materials which contain names or other
personally identifying details regarding the users of public, private, school,
college, technical college, university, and state institutional libraries and
library systems, supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending
public funds, or records which reveal the identity of the library patron checking
out or requesting an item from the library or using other library services,
except nonidentifying administrative and statistical reports of registration and
circulation, and other records which by law are required to be closed to the
public are not considered to be made open to the public under the provisions of
this act; nothing herein authorizes or requires the disclosure of those records
where the public body, prior to January 20, 1987, by a favorable vote of
three-fourths of the membership, taken after receipt of a written request,
concluded that the public interest was best served by not disclosing them.
Nothing herein authorizes or requires the disclosure of records of the Board of
Financial Institutions pertaining to applications and surveys for charters and
branches of banks and savings and loan associations or surveys and examinations
of the institutions required to be made by law."
Notification by public body; inspection or copying
SECTION 4. Section 30-4-30(c) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(c) Each public body, upon written request for records made under this
chapter, shall within fifteen days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal
public holidays) of the receipt of any such request notify the person making such
request of its determination and the reasons therefor. Such a determination
shall constitute the final opinion of the public body as to the public
availability of the requested public record and, if the request is granted, the
record must be furnished or made available for inspection or copying. If written
notification of the determination of the public body as to the availability of
the requested public record is neither mailed nor personally delivered to the
person requesting the document within the fifteen days allowed herein, the
request must be considered approved."
Matters exempt from disclosure
SECTION 5. Section 30-4-40 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 30-4-40. (a) The following matters are exempt from disclosure
under the provisions of this chapter:
(1) Trade secrets, which are defined as unpatented, secret, commercially
valuable plans, appliances, formulas, or processes, which are used for the
making, preparing, compounding, treating, or processing of articles or materials
which are trade commodities obtained from a person and which are generally
recognized as confidential; and work products, in whole or in part collected or
produced for sale or resale, and paid subscriber information. Trade secrets also
include, for those public bodies who market services or products in competition
with others, feasibility, planning, and marketing studies, and evaluations and
other materials which contain references to potential customers, competitive
information, or evaluation.
(2) Information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof
would constitute unreasonable invasion of personal privacy, including, but not
limited to, information as to gross receipts contained in applications for
business licenses.
(3) Records of law enforcement and public safety agencies not otherwise
available by law that were compiled in the process of detecting and investigating
crime if the disclosure of the information would harm the agency by:
(A) Disclosing identity of informants not otherwise known;
(B) The premature release of information to be used in a prospective law
enforcement action;
(C) Disclosing investigatory techniques not otherwise known outside the
government;
(D) By endangering the life, health, or property of any person.
(4) Matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute or law.
(5) Documents of and documents incidental to proposed contractual
arrangements and documents of and documents incidental to proposed sales or
purchases of property.
(6) All compensation paid by public bodies except as follows:
(A) For those persons receiving compensation of fifty thousand dollars or
more annually, for all part-time employees, for any other persons who are paid
honoraria or other compensation for special appearances, performances, or the
like, and for employees at the level of agency or department head, the exact
compensation of each person or employee;
(B) For classified and unclassified employees, including contract
instructional employees, not subject to item (A) above who receive compensation
between, but not including, thirty thousand dollars and fifty thousand dollars
annually, the compensation level within a range of four thousand dollars, such
ranges to commence at thirty thousand dollars and increase in increments of four
thousand dollars;
(C) For classified employees not subject to item (A) above who receive
compensation of thirty thousand dollars or less annually, the salary schedule
showing the compensation range for that classification including longevity steps,
where applicable;
(D) For unclassified employees, including contract instructional
employees, not subject to item (A) above who receive compensation of thirty
thousand dollars or less annually, the compensation level within a range of four
thousand dollars, such ranges to commence at two thousand dollars and increase
in increments of four thousand dollars.
(E) For purposes of this subsection (6), 'agency head' or 'department
head' means any person who has authority and responsibility for any department
of any institution, board, commission, council, division, bureau, center, school,
hospital, or other facility that is a unit of a public body.
(7) Correspondence or work products of legal counsel for a public body and
any other material that would violate attorney-client relationships.
(8) Memoranda, correspondence, and working papers in the possession of
individual members of the General Assembly or their immediate staffs; however,
nothing herein may be construed as limiting or restricting public access to
source documents or records, factual data or summaries of factual data, papers,
minutes, or reports otherwise considered to be public information under the
provisions of this chapter and not specifically exempted by any other provisions
of this chapter.
(9) Memoranda, correspondence, documents, and working papers relative to
efforts or activities of a public body to attract business or industry to invest
within South Carolina.
(10) Any standards used or to be used by the South Carolina Tax Commission
for the selection of returns for examination, or data used or to be used for
determining such standards, if the Commission determines that such disclosure
would seriously impair assessment, collection, or enforcement under the tax laws
of this State.
(11) Information relative to the identity of the maker of a gift to a public
body if the maker specifies that his making of the gift must be anonymous and
that his identity must not be revealed as a condition of making the gift. For
the purposes of this item, 'gift to a public body' includes, but is not limited
to, gifts to any of the state-supported colleges or universities and museums.
With respect to the gifts, only information which identifies the maker may be
exempt from disclosure. If the maker of any gift or any member of his immediate
family has any business transaction with the recipient of the gift within three
years before or after the gift is made, the identity of the maker is not exempt
from disclosure.
(b) If any public record contains material which is not exempt under
subsection (a) of this section, the public body shall separate the exempt and
nonexempt material and make the nonexempt material available in accordance with
the requirements of this chapter."
Closed meeting, etc.
SECTION 6. Section 30-4-70 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 30-4-70. (a) A public body may hold a meeting closed to the
public for one or more of the following reasons:
(1) Discussion of employment, appointment, compensation, promotion, demotion,
discipline, or release of an employee, a student, or a person regulated by a
public body or the appointment of a person to a public body; however, if an
adversary hearing involving the employee or client is held such employee or
client has the right to demand that the hearing be conducted publicly. Nothing
contained in this item shall prevent the public body, in its discretion, from
deleting the names of the other employees or clients whose records are submitted
for use at the hearing.
(2) Discussion of negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements
and proposed sale or purchase of property, the receipt of legal advice,
settlement of legal claims, or the position of the public agency in other
adversary situations involving the assertion against said agency of a claim.
(3) Discussion regarding the development of security personnel or devices.
(4) Investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal misconduct.
(5) Discussion of matters relating to the proposed location, expansion, or
the provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries or
other businesses in the area served by the public body.
(6) Prior to going into executive session the public agency shall vote in
public on the question and when such vote is favorable the presiding officer
shall announce the specific purpose of the executive session. No formal action
may be taken in executive session. As used in this item 'formal action' means a
recorded vote committing the body concerned to a specific course of action. No
vote may be taken in executive session.
(b) No chance meeting, social meeting, or electronic communication may be used
in circumvention of the spirit of requirements of this chapter to act upon a
matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or
advisory power.
(c) This chapter does not prohibit the removal of any person who wilfully
disrupts a meeting to the extent that orderly conduct of the meeting is seriously
compromised.
(d) Sessions of the General Assembly may enter into executive sessions
authorized by the Constitution of this State and rules adopted pursuant
thereto."
Notice of meetings of public bodies
SECTION 7. Section 30-4-80 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 30-4-80. (a) All public bodies, except as provided in
subsections (b) and (c) of this section, must give written public notice of their
regular meetings at the beginning of each calendar year. The notice must include
the dates, times, and places of such meetings. Agenda, if any, for regularly
scheduled meetings must be posted on a bulletin board at the office or meeting
place of the public body at least twenty-four hours prior to such meetings. All
public bodies must post on such bulletin board public notice for any called,
special, or rescheduled meetings. Such notice must be posted as early as is
practicable but not later than twenty-four hours before the meeting. The notice
must include the agenda, date, time, and place of the meeting.
This requirement does not apply to emergency meetings of public bodies.
(b) Legislative committees must post their meeting times during weeks of the
regular session of the General Assembly and must comply with the provisions for
notice of special meetings during those weeks when the General Assembly is not
in session. Subcommittees of standing legislative committees must give notice
during weeks of the legislative session only if it is practicable to do so.
(c) Subcommittees, other than legislative subcommittees, of committees
required to give notice under subsection (a), must make reasonable and timely
efforts to give notice of their meetings.
(d) Written public notice must include but need not be limited to posting a
copy of the notice at the principal office of the public body holding the meeting
or, if no such office exists, at the building in which the meeting is to be held.
(e) All public bodies shall notify persons or organizations, local news media,
or such other news media as may request notification of the times, dates, places,
and agenda of all public meetings, whether scheduled, rescheduled, or called, and
the efforts made to comply with this requirement must be noted in the minutes of
the meetings."
Injunctive relief, declaratory judgment; attorney's fees; costs
SECTION 8. Section 30-4-100 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 30-4-100. (a) Any citizen of the State may apply to the circuit
court for either or both a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to enforce
the provisions of this chapter in appropriate cases as long as such application
is made no later than one year following the date on which the alleged violation
occurs or one year after a public vote in public session, whichever comes later.
The court may order equitable relief as it considers appropriate, and a violation
of this chapter must be considered to be an irreparable injury for which no
adequate remedy at law exists.
(b) If a person or entity seeking such relief prevails, he or it may be
awarded reasonable attorney fees and other costs of litigation. If such person
or entity prevails in part, the court
may in its discretion award him or it reasonable
attorney fees or an appropriate portion thereof."
Time effective
SECTION 9. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. |