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A48, R72, H3996

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Sessions and Chapman
Companion/Similar bill(s): 236
Document Path: LC-0263WAB25.docx

Introduced in the House on February 13, 2025
Introduced in the Senate on April 24, 2025
Currently residing in the Senate
Governor's Action: May 12, 2025, Signed

Summary: Anesthesiologist Assistants

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date	Body	Action Description with journal page number
2/13/2025	House	Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 39)
2/13/2025	House	Referred to Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs (House Journal-page 39)
4/9/2025	House	Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Chapman
4/10/2025	House	Committee report: Favorable Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs (House Journal-page 49)
4/23/2025	House	Read second time (House Journal-page 15)
4/23/2025	House	Roll call Yeas-104 Nays-0 (House Journal-page 15)
4/24/2025	House	Read third time and sent to Senate (House Journal-page 67)
4/24/2025	Senate	Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 7)
4/24/2025	Senate	Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs (Senate Journal-page 7)
4/29/2025	Senate	Polled out of committee Medical Affairs (Senate Journal-page 17)
4/29/2025	Senate	Committee report: Favorable Medical Affairs (Senate Journal-page 17)
4/30/2025	Senate	Debate adjourned (Senate Journal-page 49)
5/1/2025	Senate	Read second time (Senate Journal-page 80)
5/1/2025	Senate	Roll call Ayes-41 Nays-0 (Senate Journal-page 80)
5/6/2025	Senate	Read third time and enrolled (Senate Journal-page 42)
5/8/2025		Ratified R 72
5/12/2025		Signed By Governor
5/19/2025		Effective date 05/12/25
5/19/2025		Act No. 48

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

02/13/2025
04/10/2025
04/29/2025

NOTE: THIS IS A TEMPORARY VERSION. THIS DOCUMENT WILL REMAIN IN THIS VERSION UNTIL FINAL APPROVAL BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

(A48, R72, H3996)

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 40-47-1250, RELATING TO SUPERVISION OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS, SO AS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS THAT AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST MAY SUPERVISE; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 40-47-1240, RELATING TO LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST'S ASSISTANTS, SO AS TO REMOVE THE REQUIREMENT THAT LICENSURE APPLICANTS MUST APPEAR BEFORE A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND PRESENT EVIDENCE OF CERTAIN RELEVANT ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS AND KNOWLEDGE.

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

Supervision limits increased

SECTION 1.    Section 40-47-1250 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

Section 40-47-1250.    An anesthesiologist's assistant shall practice only under the supervision of a physician who is actively and directly engaged in the clinical practice of medicine and meets the definition of being a supervising anesthesiologist. An anesthesiologist may not supervise more than four anesthesiologist's assistants at any one time.

Board appearance requirement eliminated

SECTION 2.    Section 40-47-1240 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

Section 40-47-1240.    Except as otherwise provided in this article, an individual must obtain a license in accordance with this article before the individual may practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant. The board shall grant a license as an anesthesiologist's assistant to an applicant who has:

(1) submitted a completed application on forms provided by the board;

(2) paid the nonrefundable application fees established in this article;

(3) certified that he or she is mentally and physically able to engage safely in practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant;

(4) submitted evidence to the board that the applicant has obtained a baccalaureate or higher degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an organization recognized by the Commission on Higher Education. This degree program must have included courses in these areas of study:

(a) general biology;

(b) general chemistry;

(c) organic chemistry;

(d) physics;

(e) calculus; and

(5) submitted evidence to the board that the applicant has obtained a graduate-level degree from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, or any of the commission's successor organizations, and the graduate degree program must have included the following:

(a) courses in the basic sciences of anesthesia, including general pharmacology, physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy, and biochemistry, and these courses must be presented as a continuum of didactic courses designed to teach students the foundations of human biological existence on which clinical correlations to anesthesia practice are based;

(b) pharmacology for the anesthetic sciences which must include instruction in the anesthetic principles of pharmacology, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, uptake and distribution, intravenous anesthetics and narcotics, and volatile anesthetics;

(c) physics in anesthesia; and

(d) fundamentals of anesthetic sciences, presented as a continuum of courses covering a series of topics in basic medical sciences with special emphasis on the effects of anesthetics on normal physiology and pathophysiology;

(6) submitted evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant holds current certification from the National Commission for Certification of Anesthesiologist's Assistants and that the requirements for receiving the certification included passage of an examination to determine the individual's competence to practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant;

(7) no licensure, certificate, or registration as an anesthesiologist's assistant under current discipline, revocation, suspension, probation, or investigation for cause resulting from the applicant's practice as an anesthesiologist's assistant in any jurisdiction; and

(8) submitted to the board any other information the board considers necessary to evaluate the applicant's qualifications.

Time effective

SECTION 3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Ratified the 8th day of May, 2025.

Approved the 12th day of May, 2025.

This web page was last updated on May 19, 2025 at 1:31 PM