Adjournment clock ticks on South Carolina bills on the bubble
(The Center Square) – Bills seeking election reform, family leave for state employees, repeal of the state’s hospital certificate-of-need (CON) law and legalizing medical marijuana are dead, or nearly so, with three days remaining in the South Carolina General Assembly’s 2021 session.
As Thursday’s deadline to adopt bills nears, a number of other significant bills await compromises between House and Senate versions as the adjournment clock ticks.
Among those likely to advance to advance to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk after resolving minor variations between adopted chamber bills are measures allowing gun owners with permits to openly carry firearms and restoring firing squads as a method of execution.
Among significant bills adopted during thus far is the South Carolina COVID-19 Liability Immunity Act. The governor signed it into law April 28.
Under the new law, which went into effect immediately upon McMaster’s signature, for-profit and nonprofit businesses, governmental agencies and health care facilities need only show reasonable adherence to public health guidance to receive immunity from liability for acts or omissions relating to COVID-19 claims.
Any claim arising from alleged exposure to COVID-19 from the premises of a business or operations, products or services provided by a business, would be barred under the new law unless the plaintiff can show by “clear and convincing evidence” that the business engaged in grossly negligent behavior and failed to make any attempt to adhere to public health guidance.
Among heavily debated bills that still feature distinctive differences between House and Senate versions are chamber measures addressing the state-owned Santee Cooper electric utility and a proposed hate crimes bill.
After a three-day floor debate, the Senate voted, 44-1, on April 22 to reform, but not sell, Santee Cooper by replacing its entire 12-member board, three at a time annually, starting in 2022, and imposing the same transparency requirements on it as on privately owned utilities.
The House’s version is similar but includes the option to sell Santee Cooper – a provision House leaders are adamant remains in the bill.
The House overwhelmingly adopted House Bill 3620, the proposed Clementa C. Pickney Hate Crimes Act, on April 8, but the measure idled in the upper chamber until May 5, when it was amended and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and sent to the Senate floor.
Under HB 3620 as adopted by the House, penalties for violent crimes such as murder, assault, armed robbery or criminal sexual misconduct would increase by up to five years imprisonment and an additional fine up to $10,000 if they are deemed hate crimes.
The version on the Senate floor includes political opinion and religious beliefs as causes for hate crimes, with at least nine Republican senators signed on to contest the hate crimes act.
If HB 3620 does pass the Senate before Thursday but does not jibe with the House’s version, the chambers can iron out differences in conferences before lawmakers return in June to adopt the state’s fiscal year 2022 budget.
If not, the hate crimes bill remains on the assembly’s two-year session docket and could be heard again in 2022.
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