S 0470 General Bill, By Sheheen
 A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 40-3-290 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO ARCHITECTURE,
 TO ADD AN EXEMPTION PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN BUILDINGS ARE EXEMPT FROM THE
 PROVISION REQUIRING THAT AN ARCHITECT DESIGN THE BUILDING.

   02/21/07  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-14
   02/21/07  Senate Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and
                     Industry SJ-14

TO AMEND SECTION 40-3-290 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO ARCHITECTURE, TO ADD AN EXEMPTION PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN BUILDINGS ARE EXEMPT FROM THE PROVISION REQUIRING THAT AN ARCHITECT DESIGN THE BUILDING.

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

SECTION    1.    Section 40-3-290 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 40-3-290.    (A)    Nothing in this chapter prohibits a general contractor or a home builder from the preparation and use of details and shop drawings, assembly or erection drawings, or graphic descriptions used to detail or illustrate a portion of the work required to construct the project in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared or to be prepared under the requirements of this chapter.

(B)    Nothing in this chapter prevents or affects the practice of any other legally recognized profession.

(C)    If the drawings and specifications are signed by the authors with the true title of their occupations, this chapter does not apply to the preparations of plans and specifications for:

(1)    a building which is to be used for farm purposes only;

(2)    a building less than three stories high and containing fewer than five thousand square feet of total floor area except buildings of assembly, institutional, educational, and hazardous occupancies as defined by the Standard Building Code, regardless of area;

(3)    funeral parlors, community centers, or churches, synagogues, other places of worship and associated buildings, no greater than one story high with a total height that does not exceed twenty eight feet at its highest point, containing fewer than five thousand square feet of total floor area, and having a maximum occupancy of no greater than three hundred persons, or having an assembly area containing fewer than one thousand five hundred square feet while meeting the other criteria provided in this item;

(3)(4)    a detached single-family or two-family dwelling, as defined in Group R3 of the Standard Building Code, regardless of size, with each unit having a grade level exit and sheds, storage buildings, and garages incidental to the dwelling;

(4)(5)    alterations to a building to which this chapter does not apply, if the alterations do not increase the areas and capacities beyond the limits of this chapter or affect the structural safety of the building.

(D)    Nothing in this chapter prevents or affects the practice of engineering, as defined in Chapter 22 of Title 40, or architectural work incidental to the practice of engineering."

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