S 0071 General Bill, By McConnell and Leventis

Similar(H 3429)
 A BILL TO AMEND SECTIONS 14-7-1610 AND 14-7-1630, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH
 CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY, SO AS TO EXTEND THE STATE
 GRAND JURY'S JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE CRIMES INVOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS,
 STATE INCOME TAX LAWS, AND INSURANCE FRAUD.

   01/14/97  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-108
   01/14/97  Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-108

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTIONS 14-7-1610 AND 14-7-1630, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY, SO AS TO EXTEND THE STATE GRAND JURY'S JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE CRIMES INVOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS, STATE INCOME TAX LAWS, AND INSURANCE FRAUD.

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

SECTION 1. Section 14-7-1610 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 14-7-1610. It is the intent of the General Assembly to enhance the grand jury system and to improve the ability of the State to detect and eliminate criminal activity. The General Assembly recognizes the great importance of having the federal authorities available for certain investigations. The General Assembly finds that crimes involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances, as well as crimes involving obscenity, often transpire or have significance in more than one county of this State. When this occurs, these crimes are most effectively detected and investigated by a grand jury system which has the authority to cross county lines.

The General Assembly further finds that there is a need to enhance the grand jury system to improve the ability of the State to detect and eliminate public corruption. Crimes involving public corruption transpire at times in a single county, but often transpire or have significance in more than one county of this State. The General Assembly believes that a state grand jury, possessing considerably broader investigative authority than individual county grand juries, should be available to investigate public corruption offenses in South Carolina.

The General Assembly further finds that there is a need to enhance the grand jury system to improve the ability of the State to detect and investigate crimes involving the election laws, including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Title 7, or any common law crimes involving the election laws where not superseded, or any crime arising out of or in connection with the election laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving the election laws.

The General Assembly further finds that there is a need to enhance the grand jury system to improve the ability of the State to detect and investigate crimes involving environmental laws including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Titles 13, 44, 48 and 49, or any common law crimes involving environmental laws where not superseded, or any crimes arising out of or in connection with such laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving environmental laws. The General Assembly believes that the state grand jury, possessing considerably broader investigative authority than individual county grand juries, should be available to investigate environmental offenses in South Carolina.

The General Assembly further finds that there is a need to enhance the grand jury system to improve the ability of the State to detect and investigate crimes involving state income tax laws including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Title 12, or any common law crimes involving the state income tax laws where not superseded, or any crimes arising out of or in connection with such laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving the state income tax laws. The General Assembly believes that the state grand jury, possessing considerably broader investigative authority than individual county grand juries, should be available to investigate state income tax offenses in South Carolina.

The General Assembly further finds that there is a need to enhance the grand jury system to improve the ability of the State to detect and investigate crimes involving insurance fraud including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Titles 16 and 38, or any common law crimes involving insurance fraud where not superseded, or any crimes arising out of or in connection with such laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving insurance fraud. The General Assembly believes that the state grand jury, possessing considerably broader investigative authority than individual county grand juries, should be available to investigate insurance fraud in South Carolina.

The General Assembly further finds that the state grand jury can investigate and prosecute public corruption, election law, environmental law, state income tax law, or insurance fraud cases where the crime transpired within a single county of this State, whether or not it has multi-county significance.

The General Assembly further finds that related criminal activity often arises out of or in connection with crimes involving narcotics, dangerous drugs or controlled substances, obscenity, or public corruption, and that the mechanism for detecting and investigating these related crimes must be improved also.

Accordingly, the General Assembly concludes that a state grand jury should be allowed to investigate certain crimes involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, controlled substances, obscenity, public corruption, election laws, environmental laws, state income tax laws, and insurance fraud and should also be allowed to investigate certain crimes related to narcotics, dangerous drugs, controlled substances, and obscenity and should also be allowed to investigate crimes involving public corruption and election laws.

Nothing herein limits the authority of a county grand jury, solicitor, or other appropriate law enforcement personnel to investigate, indict, or prosecute offenses within the jurisdiction of the state grand jury.

SECTION 2. Section 14-7-1630(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 14-7-1630. (A) The jurisdiction of a state grand jury impaneled under this article extends throughout the State. The subject matter jurisdiction of a state grand jury in all cases is limited to the following offenses:

(1) crimes involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances, or any crime arising out of or in connection with a crime involving narcotics, dangerous drugs, or controlled substances, including, but not limited to, money laundering as specified in Section 44-53-475, obstruction of justice, perjury or subornation of perjury, and crimes involving obscenity or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any of the aforementioned crimes if the crimes are of a multi-county nature or have transpired or are transpiring or have significance in more than one county of this State; and

(2) any crime, statutory, common law or other, involving public corruption as defined in Section 14-7-1615, any crime, statutory, common law or other, arising out of or in connection with a crime involving public corruption as defined in Section 14-7-1615, and any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any crime, statutory, common law or other, involving public corruption as defined in Section 14-7-1615; and

(3) crimes involving the election laws, including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Title 7, or any common law crimes involving the election laws where not superseded, or any crime arising out of or in connection with the election laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving the election laws; and

(4) crimes involving environmental laws, including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Titles 13, 44, 48 and 49, or any common law crimes involving the environmental laws where not superseded or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any crime, statutory common law or other, involving environmental offenses; and

(5) crimes involving state income tax laws, including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Title 12, or any common law crimes involving state income tax laws where not superseded or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any crime, statutory, common law, or other, involving state income tax offenses; and

(6) crimes involving insurance fraud, including, but not limited to, those named offenses as specified in Titles 16 and 38, or any common law crimes involving insurance fraud where not superseded or any attempt, aiding abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit any crime, statutory, common law, or other, involving insurance fraud."

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.