South Carolina General Assembly
114th Session, 2001-2002

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Bill 4922


Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


                    Current Status

Bill Number:                      4922
Type of Legislation:              General Bill GB
Introducing Body:                 House
Introduced Date:                  20020319
Primary Sponsor:                  Scarborough
All Sponsors:                     Scarborough, Owens, Limehouse, White, 
                                  Trotter, Townsend, Cooper, Kelley,   Meacham-
                                  Richardson, Altman, Loftis
Drafted Document Number:          l:\council\bills\nbd\11390ac02.doc
Residing Body:                    Senate
Current Committee:                Judiciary Committee 11 SJ
Subject:                          Regulations, affirmative approval of 
                                  General Assembly required rather than allowing 
                                  them to become effective after one-hundred-
                                  twenty-day period


                        History

Body    Date      Action Description                     Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  ______________________________________ _______ ____________
Senate  20020521  Introduced, read first time,           11 SJ
                  referred to Committee
House   20020516  Read third time, sent to Senate
House   20020515  Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep.            A. Young
House   20020515  Read second time
House   20020509  Debate adjourned until
                  Tuesday, 20020514
House   20020508  Debate adjourned until
                  Thursday, 20020509
House   20020501  Debate adjourned until
                  Tuesday, 20020507
House   20020425  Request for debate by Representative           McLeod
                                                                 Lourie
                                                                 Kennedy
                                                                 J. E. Smith
                                                                 Jennings
                                                                 Sheheen
                                                                 Hayes
                                                                 Clyburn
                                                                 Battle
                                                                 Miller
                                                                 Weeks
                                                                 Rodgers
                                                                 Stuart
                                                                 Witherspoon
                                                                 Scott
                                                                 Wilder
                                                                 M. Hines
                                                                 Moody-                                   
                                                                 Lawrence
                                                                 Campsen
                                                                 Scarborough
                                                                 Perry
                                                                 Lucas
                                                                 Merrill
                                                                 Bingham
                                                                 Knotts
                                                                 Hinson
                                                                 Webb
                                                                 Emory
                                                                 Riser
House   20020425  Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep.            Loftis
House   20020424  Debate adjourned until
                  Thursday, 20020425
House   20020423  Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep.            Altman
House   20020418  Co-Sponsor added (Rule 5.2) by Rep.            White
                                                                 Trotter
                                                                 Townsend
                                                                 Cooper
                                                                 Kelley
                                                                 Meacham-
                                                                 Richardson
------  20020418  Scrivener's error corrected
House   20020417  Committee report: Favorable            25 HJ
House   20020319  Introduced, read first time,           25 HJ
                  referred to Committee


              Versions of This Bill
Revised on April 17, 2002 - Word format
Revised on April 18, 2002 - Word format

View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE REPORT

April 17, 2002

    H. 4922

Introduced by Reps. Scarborough, Owens and Limehouse

S. Printed 4/17/02--H.    [SEC 4/18/02 4:06 PM]

Read the first time March 19, 2002.

            

THE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

    To whom was referred a Bill (H. 4922) to amend Sections 1-23-120 and 1-23-125, both as amended, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, both relating to General Assembly review of regulations, etc., respectfully

REPORT:

    That they have duly and carefully considered the same and recommend that the same do pass:

JAMES H. HARRISON for Committee.

            

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTIONS 1-23-120 AND 1-23-125, BOTH AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BOTH RELATING TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND REQUESTS TO WITHDRAW REGULATIONS, SO AS TO REQUIRE AFFIRMATIVE APPROVAL OF REGULATIONS RATHER THAN ALLOWING THEM TO BECOME EFFECTIVE AFTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS, TO DELETE REFERENCES TO THE ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-DAY PERIOD AND TO PROVIDE THAT IF A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE A REGULATION HAS NOT BEEN ENACTED BY THE END OF THE SECOND YEAR OF THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION, THE REGULATION MUST BE PROMULGATED AS A NEW REGULATION BEFORE SUBMITTING FOR SUBSEQUENT APPROVAL.

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

SECTION    1.    Section 1-23-120 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 114 of 1997, is further amended to read:

    "Section 1-23-120.    (A)    All regulations except those specifically exempted under this section must be submitted to the General Assembly for review approval in accordance with this article, but no regulation may be submitted to the General Assembly more than one year after publication of the drafting notice initiating the regulation pursuant to Section 1-23-110. A regulation submitted to the General Assembly for review may not be withdrawn or modified by the agency for any reason except upon written notification by a committee that the committee by majority vote cannot approve the regulation in the form submitted, as provided for in Section 1-23-125.

    (B)    To initiate the process of review, the agency shall file with the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

        (1)    a copy of the regulations promulgated;

        (2)    a request for review;

        (3)    a brief synopsis of the regulations submitted explaining the content and any changes in existing regulations resulting from the regulations;

        (4)    a copy of the final assessment report and the summary of the final report prepared by the division pursuant to Section 1-23-115. A regulation that does not require an assessment report because it does not have a substantial economic impact must include a statement to that effect. A regulation exempt from filing an assessment report pursuant to Section 1-23-115(E) must include an explanation of the exemption;

        (5)    a copy of the fiscal impact statement prepared by the agency as required in Section 1-23-110.

    (C)    Upon receipt of the request, the President and Speaker reviewing the request shall submit it for consideration to the standing committees of the Senate and House which are most concerned with the function of the promulgating agency. A copy of the regulation or a synopsis of it must be given to each member of the committee. The committees to which regulations are referred have one hundred twenty days from the date regulations are submitted to the General Assembly to consider and take action on these regulations. However, If a regulation is referred to a committee and no action occurs in that committee on the regulation within sixty calendar days of receipt of the regulation, the regulation must be placed on the agenda of the full committee beginning with the next scheduled full committee meeting.

    (D)    If a joint resolution to approve a regulation is not enacted within one hundred twenty days after the regulation is submitted to the General Assembly or if a joint resolution to disapprove a regulation has not been introduced by a standing committee to which the regulation was referred for review, the regulation is effective upon publication in the State Register. Upon introduction of the first joint resolution disapproving a regulation by a standing committee to which the regulation was referred for review, the one-hundred-twenty-day period for automatic approval is tolled. A regulation may not be filed under the emergency provisions of Section 1-23-130 if a joint resolution to disapprove the regulation has been introduced by a standing committee to which the regulation was referred. Upon a negative vote by either the Senate or House of Representatives on the resolution disapproving the regulation and the notification in writing of the negative vote to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate by the clerk of the house in which the negative vote occurred, the remainder of the period begins to run. If the remainder of the period is less than ninety days, additional days must be added to the remainder to equal ninety days. A regulation requiring General Assembly review is valid against a person as provided for in Section 1-23-60 only after a joint resolution to approve the regulation is enacted by the General Assembly. The introduction of a joint resolution by the committee of either house does not prevent the introduction of a joint resolution by the committee of the other house to either approve or disapprove the regulations concerned. A joint resolution approving or disapproving a regulation must include:

        (1)    the synopsis of the regulation as required by subsection (B);

        (2)    the summary of the final assessment report prepared by the division pursuant to Section 1-23-115 or, as required by subsection (B), the statement or explanation that an assessment report is not required or is exempt.

    (E)    The one-hundred-twenty-day period of review begins on the date the regulation is filed with the President and Speaker. Sine die adjournment of the General Assembly tolls the running of the period of review, and the remainder of the period begins to run upon the next convening of the General Assembly excluding special sessions called by the Governor. A regulation may not be filed under the emergency provisions of Section 1-23-130 if a joint resolution to disapprove the regulation has been introduced by a standing committee to which the regulation was referred.

    (F)    Any member may introduce a joint resolution approving or disapproving a regulation thirty days following the date the regulations concerned are submitted to a standing committee for review and no committee joint resolution approving or disapproving the regulations has been introduced and the regulations concerned have not been withdrawn by the promulgating agency pursuant to Section 1-23-125, but the introduction does not toll the one-hundred-twenty-day period of automatic approval.

    (G)    General Assembly review is not required for regulations promulgated:

        (1)    to maintain compliance with federal law including, but not limited to, grant programs; however, the synopsis of the regulation required to be submitted by subsection (B) must include citations to federal law, if any, mandating the promulgation of or changes in the regulation justifying this exemption;

        (2)    by the state Board of Financial Institutions in order to authorize state-chartered banks, state-chartered savings and loan associations, and state-chartered credit unions to engage in activities that are authorized pursuant to Section 34-1-110;

        (3)    by the South Carolina Department of Revenue to adopt regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, and technical advice memoranda of the Internal Revenue Service so as to maintain conformity with the Internal Revenue Code as defined in Section 12-6-40;

        (4)    as emergency regulations under Section 1-23-130.

    (H)    For purposes of this section, only those calendar days occurring during a session of the General Assembly, excluding special sessions, are included in computing the days elapsed. If a joint resolution to approve or disapprove a regulation has not been enacted by sine die adjournment of the second year in the two-year session of the General Assembly, the regulation is deemed permanently withdrawn and may only be subsequently submitted for approval if promulgated as a new regulation complying with all requirements of this article.

    (I)    Each state agency which promulgates regulations or to which the responsibility for administering regulations has been transferred shall by July 1, 1997, and every five years thereafter, conduct a formal review of all regulations which it has promulgated or for which it has been transferred the responsibility of administering, except that those regulations described in subsection (G) are not subject to this review. Upon completion of the review, the agency shall submit to the Code Commissioner a report which identifies those regulations:

        (1)    for which the agency intends to begin the process of repeal in accordance with this article;

        (2)    for which the agency intends to begin the process of amendment in accordance with this article; and

        (3)    which do not require repeal or amendment.

Nothing in this subsection may be construed to prevent an agency from repealing or amending a regulation in accordance with this article before or after it is so identified in the report to the Code Commissioner."

SECTION    2.    Section 1-23-125 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 411 of 1996, is further amended to read:

    "Section 1-23-125.    (A)    The legislative committee to which a regulation is submitted is not authorized to amend a particular regulation and then introduce a joint resolution approving the regulation as amended; however, this provision does not prevent the introduction of a resolution disapproving one or more of a group of regulations submitted to the committee and approving others submitted at the same time or deleting a clearly separable portion of a single regulation and approving the balance of the regulation in the committee resolution. An agency may not withdraw from or modify a regulation under legislative review submitted to the General Assembly for approval unless the agency receives written notification, as provided for in this section, from a committee that the committee by majority vote cannot approve the regulation in the form submitted.

    (B)    If a majority of a committee determines that it cannot approve a regulation in the form submitted, it shall notify the promulgating agency in writing along with its recommendations as to changes that would be necessary to obtain committee approval. The agency may:

        (1)    withdraw the regulation from the General Assembly and resubmit it with the recommended changes to the Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor, but any regulation not resubmitted within thirty days is considered permanently withdrawn;

        (2)    withdraw the regulation permanently;

        (3)    take no action and abide by whatever action is taken or not taken by the General Assembly on the regulation concerned.

    (C)    The notification tolls the one-hundred-twenty-day period for automatic approval, and when an agency withdraws regulations from the General Assembly prior to the time a committee resolution to approve or disapprove the regulation has been introduced, the remainder of the period begins to run only on the date the regulations are resubmitted to the General Assembly. Upon resubmission of the regulations, additional days must be added to the days remaining in the review period for automatic approval, if less than twenty days, to equal twenty days, and a copy of the amended regulation must be given to each member of the committee. If an agency decides to take no action pursuant to item (3) of subsection (B), it shall notify the committee in writing and the remainder of the period begins to run only upon this notification.

    (D)    This section, as it applies to approval, disapproval, or modification of regulations, does not apply to joint resolutions introduced by other than the committees to which regulations are initially referred by the Lieutenant Governor or the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    (E)    If a regulation, when finally promulgated, includes a substantive change in the content of the regulation as proposed and published in the State Register, and the substantive change was not raised, considered, or discussed by public comment required in Section 1-23-110, the regulation must be refiled by the agency with the Legislative Council and published as revised in the State Register and processed as a new regulation in accordance with this article."

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies to those regulations for which a drafting notice is submitted pursuant to Section 1-23-110 of the 1976 Code on or after this act's effective date.

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