H 3938 General Bill, By Knotts, Whatley, Koon, Bingham, J.E. Smith, Whipper, 
Bales, Cotty, Dantzler, Gourdine, Harvin, Leach, Littlejohn, McCraw, 
Moody-Lawrence, Rhoad, Rivers, Rutherford, Taylor, Vaughn and McLeod

Similar(S 421)
 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, RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY SYSTEM,
 SO AS TO REVISE ITS JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENSES.

   04/17/01  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-13
   04/17/01  House  Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-13
   05/30/01  House  Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Easterday
   01/30/02  House  Member(s) request name added as sponsor: McLeod

TO AMEND SECTIONS 14-7-1610, 14-7-1615, AND 14-7-1630, ALL AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE STATE GRAND JURY SYSTEM, SO AS TO REVISE ITS JURISDICTION TO INCLUDE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENSES.

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, 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 the environment including, but not limited to, offenses specified in Titles 13, 44, and 48, or any common law crime arising out of or in connection with the environmental laws, or any attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving the environment.

    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, or environmental offenses 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 related to narcotics, dangerous drugs, and obscenity and should also be allowed to investigate crimes involving public corruption, and election laws, and environmental offenses.

    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 further amended by adding an appropriately lettered subsection:

    "( )    '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."

SECTION    3.    Section 14-7-1630(A) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 335 of 1992, is further amended to read:

    "(A)        The jurisdiction of a state grand jury impaneled under pursuant to 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 a 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 these 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 a crime, statutory, common law or other, involving public corruption as defined in Section 14-7-1615, any a 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 the water, 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 laws, or an attempt, aiding, abetting, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime involving the environment."

SECTION    4.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.