S 163 Session 111 (1995-1996)
S 0163 General Bill, By Leventis, Hayes, Passailaigue, M.T. Rose and Wilson
A BILL TO AMEND SECTIONS 14-7-1610, 14-7-1615, AND 14-7-1630, ALL AS AMENDED,
CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, ALL RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY
SYSTEM, SO AS TO REVISE JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENSES.
10/17/94 Senate Prefiled
10/17/94 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary
01/10/95 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-58
01/10/95 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-58
04/24/96 Senate Committee report: Favorable Judiciary SJ-9
04/29/96 Senate Read second time SJ-30
04/29/96 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-30
04/30/96 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-12
04/30/96 Senate Reconsidered SJ-12
04/30/96 Senate Amended SJ-45
04/30/96 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-45
05/01/96 House Introduced and read first time HJ-5
05/01/96 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-5
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
April 30, 1996
S. 163
Introduced by SENATORS Leventis, Wilson, Rose, Hayes and
Passailaigue
S. Printed 4/30/96--S.
Read the first time January 10, 1995.
A BILL
TO AMEND SECTIONS 14-7-1610, 14-7-1615, AND 14-7-1630,
ALL AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
1976, ALL RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY
SYSTEM, SO AS TO REVISE JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE
ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENSES.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 14-7-1610 of the 1976 Code, as last
amended by Act 335 of 1992, is further 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 attempting,
aiding, abetting, solicitation soliciting, or
conspiracy conspiring 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 the environment including,
but not limited to, offenses specified in Titles 13, 44, and 48, and
crimes involving insurance fraud, including, but not limited to those
offenses specified in Article 5, Chapter 55, Title 38, a common law
crime arising out of or in connection with environmental laws or
insurance fraud, or attempting, aiding, abetting, soliciting, or
conspiring to commit a crime involving the environment or
insurance fraud.
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, environmental offenses,
or insurance fraud, and that the mechanism for
detecting and investigating these related crimes also must
be improved also.
Accordingly, the General Assembly concludes that a state grand
jury should must be allowed to investigate certain
crimes related to narcotics, dangerous drugs, and obscenity and
also should must also be allowed to
investigate crimes involving public corruption, and
election laws, environmental offenses, and insurance fraud.
Nothing herein in this article 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 14-7-1615 of the 1976 Code, as last
amended by Act 335 of 1992, is amended by adding:
"(C) `Environmental offenses' are those concerning the
water, ambient air, soil or land, or both soil and land, including, but
not limited to, violations of the State Safe Drinking Water Act, the
Pollution Control Act, the Infectious Waste Management Act, the
Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Solid Waste Policy and
Management Act, the State Underground Petroleum Response Act,
and the Atomic Energy Response Act.
(D) `Insurance fraud' includes those offenses which involve
fraud in an insurance transaction including, but not limited to, those
offenses specified in Article 5, Chapter 55, Title 38, the Omnibus
Insurance Fraud and Reporting Immunity Act."
SECTION 3. Section 14-7-1630(A) of the 1976 Code, as last
amended by Act 335 of 1992, is amended by adding:
"(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.;
(4) crimes involving the waters, ambient air, soil or land, or
both soil and land, including, but not limited to, the State Safe
Drinking Water Act, the Pollution Control Act, the Infectious Waste
Management Act, the Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Solid
Waste Policy and Management Act, the State Underground
Petroleum Response Act, and the Atomic Energy Response Act or
any common law crimes involving environmental laws not
superseded or any crime arising out of or in connection with
environmental law, or attempting, aiding, abetting, soliciting, or
conspiring to commit a crime involving the environment; and
(5) insurance fraud which includes those offenses which
involve fraud in an insurance transaction including, but not limited
to, those offenses specified in Article 5, Chapter 55, Title 38, the
Omnibus Insurance Fraud and Reporting Immunity Act."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the
Governor.
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