Bill 4446

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                    4446
Ratification Number:            455
Act Number:                     331
Type of Legislation:            General Bill GB
Introducing Body:               House
Introduced Date:                19980120
Primary Sponsor:                Gamble 
All Sponsors:                   Gamble, Knotts 
Drafted Document Number:        dka\4737mm.98
Date Bill Passed both Bodies:   19980527
Date of Last Amendment:         19980428
Governor's Action:              S
Date of Governor's Action:      19980609
Subject:                        Educational loan or banking
                                records, reproduction of as evidence;
                                Banks and Savings and Loan
                                Associations; Courts

Body    Date      Action Description                       Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  _______________________________________  _______ ____________

------  19980617  Act No. A331
------  19980609  Signed by Governor
------  19980604  Ratified R455
Senate  19980527  Read third time, enrolled for
                  ratification
Senate  19980526  Read second time
Senate  19980519  Polled out of Committee:                 02 SBI
                  Without report
Senate  19980430  Introduced, read first time,             02 SBI
                  referred to Committee
House   19980429  Read third time, sent to Senate
House   19980428  Amended, read second time
House   19980423  Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep.              Knotts
House   19980422  Committee report: Favorable with         25 HJ
                  amendment
House   19980120  Introduced, read first time,             25 HJ
                  referred to Committee

(A331, R455, H4446)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 34-3-540, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO COPIES AND REPRODUCTIONS OF BANKING OR EDUCATIONAL LOAN RECORDS AND THEIR ADMISSIBILITY INTO EVIDENCE, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMISSIBILITY OF A REPRODUCTION IF THE ORIGINAL WOULD HAVE BEEN A BUSINESS RECORD FOR PURPOSES OF ADMISSIBILITY.

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

Admissibility of copies of loan records

SECTION 1. Section 34-3-540 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 132 of 1995, is further amended to read:

Section 34-3-540. (A) Any corporation, institution, or association whose deposits are insured by the federal government or an agency or a nonprofit corporation that has been designated by the State to originate or hold educational loans made to or on behalf of students may cause promissory notes, checks, drafts, and records kept by the corporation, institution, association, or agency to be copied or reproduced by:

(1) photostatic, photographic, or microfilming process; or

(2) electronic graphic imaging through scanning, digitizing, or other means.

(B) These processes or means must correctly copy, reproduce, or form a medium for copying or reproducing the original record so that an accurate facsimile of the original can be printed or otherwise reproduced on paper, film, or similar medium. The reproduction is considered an original record for all purposes and must be treated as an original record in all courts or administrative agencies for the purpose of its admissibility into evidence, regardless of whether the institution retains or disposes of the original, provided that the original document otherwise qualified as a business record pursuant to the South Carolina Uniform Business Records as Evidence Act or the appropriate state or federal rules of evidence.

Time effective

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

Approved the 9th day of June, 1998.