Capitol Report
By Rep. Robert Q. Williams
House District 62
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3438, a bill making provisions for the Department of Veterans Affairs within the executive branch of government.
In place of the current arrangement where veterans’ affairs are housed as a division of the Department of Administration Cabinet agency, the legislation establishes a separate Department of Veterans Affairs within the executive branch that is headed by a director appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate.
The director must be a veteran.
The legislation provides new duties for the director that include coordinating with state and federal agencies to obtain additional resources and support for veterans living in South Carolina in the areas of medical care, mental health and rehabilitative services, housing, homelessness prevention, job creation and education, and addressing all issues of mutual concern to the state and the armed forces of the United States, including quality of life issues unique to South Carolina’s military personnel and their families.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is required to submit an annual report to the governor detailing its work on behalf of the state’s veterans. The department is authorized to apply for and accept funds, grants, gifts, and services from this state, the United States government or any of its agencies, or any other public or private source, and may use funds derived from these sources to defray clerical and administrative costs, as may be necessary for carrying out the department’s duties.
The Department of Administration may provide administrative support to the Department of Veterans Affairs in such areas as financial accounting, human resources, information technology, procurement and logistics.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3726, a bill requiring continuing education on the identification of opiate-related deaths for coroners and medical examiners and their deputies.
The legislation draws upon the work of the special House Opioid Abuse Prevention Study Committee that was appointed by the speaker of the House to examine the growing misuse of prescription painkillers and recommend legislative actions to counter the epidemic of ruinous addiction and fatal overdoses.
The House approved and sent the Senate to H.3101, a bill authorizing South Carolina to enter into the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. The compact allows qualified physicians to practice medicine in all member states by applying for an expedited license through the licensure board of the physician’s principal state.
The compact is administered by the Interstate Commission which consists of two voting representatives appointed from the medical licensing boards of each participating state. To date, 25 states have joined the compact.
This bill requires applicants for expedited licensure to undergo a criminal background check to include fingerprint or other biometric data checks.
The compact requires a participating physician to be under the jurisdiction of the state medical board where the patient is located.
Each participating physician will be charged a non-refundable $700 fee for applying to the Commission of which $300 will be remitted to the Board of Medical Examiners for physicians whose state of primary licensure is South Carolina.
The physician will be required to pay licensure fees for each of the states chosen plus a $100 handling fee to the commission for requesting additional state licenses.
The bill further provides that a member state may withdraw from the compact by repealing the statute authorizing membership. A member state may be terminated from the compact if the state fails to comply with its provisions.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3362, a bill which provides that suspension of a person’s driver’s license for failure to pay a traffic ticket shall not constitute a conviction of an offense that would result in the person being considered an habitual offender.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3916, a bill increasing the fine for failing to register a motor vehicle from not more than $100 to $500.
The increase addresses an issue that has emerged since the fee for registering an out-of-state vehicle was increased as part of the comprehensive road funding measures approved in Act 40 of 2017. Rather than registering a vehicle properly and paying the $250 fee, some have been choosing to pay the lower $100 maximum fine.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3274, a bill providing for the pre-emption of local government regulation of vaping, e-cigarettes, cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The legislation provides that political subdivisions of this state may not enact any laws, ordinances, or rules pertaining to ingredients, flavors, or licensing of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, tobacco products, or alternative nicotine products.
Local government laws, ordinances, or rules enacted prior to Jan. 1, 2019, are exempt from the preemption imposed by this legislation.