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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.4426 Ratification Number:461 Act Number:407 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20000112 Primary Sponsor:Davenport All Sponsors:Davenport, Loftis, Leach, Hamilton, Robinson, Rice Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\nbd\11624ac00.doc Companion Bill Number:1031 Date Bill Passed both Bodies:20000621 Date of Last Amendment:20000621 Governor's Action:S Date of Governor's Action:20001010 Subject:Libraries, public; schools, colleges; computers used by students which can access internet; Torts, screening software History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ ------ 20001017 Act No. A407 ------ 20001010 Signed by Governor ------ 20000622 Ratified R461 House 20000621 Ordered enrolled for ratification House 20000621 Free Conference Committee Report 99 HFCC adopted House 20000621 Free Conference Powers granted, 99 HFCC Stille appointed Reps. to Committee of Barrett Free Conference Hamilton Senate 20000620 Free Conference Committee Report 89 SFCC adopted Senate 20000620 Free Conference Powers granted, 89 SFCC Bryan appointed Senators to Committee Mescher of Free Conference Short House 20000601 Conference powers granted, 98 HCC Stille appointed Reps. to Committee of Barrett Conference Hamilton Senate 20000531 Conference powers granted, 88 SCC Bryan appointed Senators to Committee Mescher of Conference Short Senate 20000531 Insists upon amendment House 20000531 Non-concurrence in Senate amendment ------ 20000526 Scrivener's error corrected Senate 20000526 Read third time, returned to House with amendment Senate 20000525 Amended, read second time, unanimous consent for third reading on Friday, 20000526 Senate 20000524 Committee report: Favorable with 11 SJ amendment Senate 20000502 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ referred to Committee House 20000428 Read third time, sent to Senate House 20000427 Unanimous consent for third reading on the next Legislative day House 20000427 Amended, read second time ------ 20000426 Scrivener's error corrected House 20000425 Committee report: Favorable with 21 HEPW amendment House 20000217 Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep. Hamilton Robinson Rice House 20000127 Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep. Loftis Leach House 20000112 Introduced, read first time, 21 HEPW referred to Committee Versions of This Bill Revised on April 25, 2000 - Word format Revised on April 26, 2000 - Word format Revised on April 27, 2000 - Word format Revised on May 24, 2000 - Word format Revised on May 25, 2000 - Word format Revised on June 21, 2000 - Word format
(A407, R461, H4426)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 10-1-205 SO AS TO REQUIRE THE GOVERNING BOARDS OF CERTAIN LIBRARIES, INCLUDING PUBLIC SCHOOL OR HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION LIBRARIES, THAT HAVE COMPUTERS WHICH CAN ACCESS THE INTERNET AND ARE AVAILABLE FOR USE BY THE PUBLIC OR STUDENTS, OR BOTH, TO DEVELOP USE POLICIES FOR THESE COMPUTERS INTENDED TO REDUCE THE ABILITY OF THE USER TO ACCESS WEB SITES DISPLAYING OBSCENE MATERIAL; TO ADD SECTION 10-1-206 SO AS TO ESTABLISH A PILOT PROGRAM USING INTERNET FILTERING SOFTWARE IN COMPUTERS IN CERTAIN LIBRARIES AND INSTITUTIONS TO ELIMINATE OR REDUCE ACCESS TO WEB SITES DISPLAYING PORNOGRAPHY AND OBSCENE MATERIAL, TO ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF INSTALLING SUCH SOFTWARE IN COMPUTERS IN OTHER LIBRARIES AND INSTITUTIONS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS PILOT PROGRAM MUST BE OPERATED; TO AMEND SECTION 15-78-60, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO LOSSES A GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY IS NOT LIABLE FOR, SO AS TO INCLUDE LOSSES RESULTING FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD OF CERTAIN LIBRARIES FAILING TO ADOPT COMPUTER USE POLICIES AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 10-1-205.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Computer use policies
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 10-1-205. A computer which:
(1) is located in a lending library supported by public funds, public school library or media arts center, or in the library of a public institution of higher learning as defined in Section 59-103-5;
(2) can access the Internet; and
(3) is available for use by the public or students, or both;
shall have its use policies determined by the library's or center's governing board, as appropriate. The governing board must adopt policies intended to reduce the ability of the user to access web sites displaying information or material in violation of Article 3 of Chapter 15 of Title 16."
Library pilot program for internet filtering software
SECTION 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 10-1-206. (A)(1) A pilot program is hereby established to assess the feasibility of installing Internet filtering software in libraries or institutions as defined in Section 10-1-205, if funding is available.
(2) The Budget and Control Board shall be responsible for implementing this program and selecting appropriate filtering software. A minimum of three filtering software programs shall be tested.
(B)(1) The Budget and Control Board shall request institutions to voluntarily participate in the pilot program. Pilot areas shall be located in the upstate, midstate, and lowcountry areas of South Carolina. The board shall make every effort to ensure that one public school and one public library in each area are selected. Participating institutions must already have filtering software in place that meets the requirements of item (2) of this subsection or agree to install recommended filtering software purchased by the State.
(2) Participating institutions in the pilot area must equip Internet accessible computers with one of the software filtering devices provided by the Budget and Control Board, if not equipped, as provided by (B)(1). This software must incorporate web-filtering technology designed to eliminate or reduce the ability of the computer to access web sites displaying pornographic pictures or any other obscene material as defined by law. Selected software must be able to distinguish between pornographic and obscene web sites and medical research web sites.
(C) The Budget and Control Board shall be responsible for evaluating this program. The evaluation shall be based on the following criteria:
(1) the filtering programs' ability to limit or restrict access to sources of information or images that are considered obscene including hard-core pornography and child pornography;
(2) the filtering programs' ability to limit or restrict access to sources of pornographic information or images that could be obscene as to minors or harmful to minors; and
(3) the filtering programs' ability to successfully access and not filter legitimate research sites.
(D) Any person blocked from an Internet site he believes contains material that does not meet the criteria listed in items (1) or (2) of subsection (C) above, and desires to access such Internet site, may make a request that the institution unblock the specified site. If the institution determines that the site does not fall within the criteria listed in items (1) or (2) of subsection (C), the institution shall unblock such Internet site. An adult patron may request unfiltered access to the Internet for serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific purposes, and the institution may temporarily disable the blocking software for such purposes.
(E) The pilot program shall take effect on the effective date of this section and shall expire on June 29, 2001. By December 1, 2001, the board shall report its findings to the General Assembly.
(F) Medical schools are exempt from the pilot program."
Immunity from liability
SECTION 3. Section 15-78-60, as last amended by Act 77 of 1999, is further amended by adding a new item at the end:
"(35) the failure of a library's or media arts center's governing board to adopt policies as provided in Section 10-1-205."
Time effective
SECTION 4. This act takes effect July 1, 2000.
Ratified the 22nd day of June, 2000.
Approved the 10th day of October, 2000.
This web page was last updated on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 9:28 A.M.