The State Capital Report
Submitted by Rep. Robert Q. Williams
SC House District #62
This week the general assembly concluded work on the regular legislative session, but lawmakers are scheduled to return during the coming weeks under the terms of h.5383, a resolution extending the session of the general assembly beyond this year’s may 10 deadline for final adjournment. The resolution allows the House of Representatives and senate to convene, beginning on Wednesday, May 23, to take up a limited list of matters including budget legislation, legislation concerning the V.C. Summer nuclear units and related matters, and the reports of conference committees that have been formed to address the differences between the house and senate on particular pieces of legislation.
The house and senate adopted the conference committee report on s.302 and the bill was enrolled for adoption. The legislation includes requirements for opioid abuse education in public secondary schools. This bill requires, as a part of the public school comprehensive health education program, certain instruction in prescription opioid abuse prevention in grades nine through twelve. This instruction must include an emphasis on the prescription drug epidemic and the connection between opioid abuse and addiction to other drugs, such as heroin. The legislation includes provisions for a mandatory higher education curriculum on prescribing controlled substances in the training health care professionals. The bill requires public and private institutions of higher education offering degrees in a health care profession that allows graduates to prescribe controlled substances listed in schedules ii, iii, and iv to develop mandatory course work on the prescription and monitoring of controlled substances, including schedule ii drugs used to treat or manage pain. The coursework must include instruction on strategies to recognize and reduce the likelihood of patient addiction to opioids and other controlled substances.
The house concurred in senate amendments to h.3329 and enrolled the bill for ratification. The legislation provides enhancements to human trafficking penalties that draw upon the work of the joint citizens and legislative committee on children. The legislation includes revised criminal definitions, more stringent penalties that apply when a victim is under the age of eighteen, and provisions for human trafficking specialized service providers and human trafficking acute crisis care and resource centers to provide specialized services to the juveniles to address the concerns relating to human trafficking.
The house and senate adopted the conference committee report on s.302 and the bill was enrolled for adoption. The legislation establishes a procedure that allows marching band instruction to fulfill physical education requirements in public schools. A public school that offers instruction in marching band based on the south carolina academic standards for the visual and performing arts can consider this instruction be the equivalent of physical education instruction after the state department of education approves a plan submitted by the school district documenting that all south carolina academic standards for physical education are met in the proposed marching band instruction.
The house concurred in senate amendments to h.5042, a bill revising procedures in the statewide program for addressing unsound school district finances which affords the state department of education authority that extends beyond academic matters to include fiscal affairs. The legislation was enrolled for ratification.
The house approved s.131, legislation revising the criminal offense of disturbing schools, and enrolled the bill for ratification. The legislation narrows the scope of the criminal offense of disturbing schools so that this misdemeanor no longer applies to students, for the most part, and instead applies primarily to those who are not students who intentionally interfere with or disturb the normal operations of a school or college by committing the specified threatening or disruptive actions. The offense continues to apply to a student who returns to disrupt a school or college after being suspended or expelled. Penalties are increased for violations so that the misdemeanor carries a maximum fine of two thousand, rather than one thousand, dollars and maximum term of imprisonment of one year, rather than ninety days. The legislation also specifies that it is unlawful for a student of a school or college in this state to make threats to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon another by using any form of communication whatsoever.
The house approved s.506, a bill revising provisions for emergency prescription refills, and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation increases the amount, from a fifteen-day supply to a thirty-day supply, of necessary medication that an out-of-state pharmacist may prescribe as a one-time emergency refill while working in a county affected by a state of emergency declared by the governor. No controlled substance may be dispensed under these emergency provisions.
The house concurred in senate amendments to h.3775, a bill affording those who have been adopted greater access to medical information and other records, and enrolled the bill for ratification. The legislation establishes a protocol that allows a person eighteen years of age or older who was born in the state of south carolina and who has had his original certificate of birth sealed due to an adoption to, upon written request to the state registrar, receive a copy of his original birth certificate and any evidence of the adoption held with the original record if the biological parent has completed a form consenting to the release of the original birth certificate. The form also must allow for the biological parent to indicate contact preference and to consent to release of medical history. The contact preference form and medical history form are private communications from the biological parent to the adoptee named on the sealed birth certificate. The copy of the original birth certificate must be in a form that clearly indicates it is not a certified copy and that it may not be used for legal purposes.
The house concurred in senate amendments to h.4077, a bill codifying income tax credits for the education of children with exceptional needs, and enrolled the bill for ratification. These provisions have been included as a budget proviso in general appropriation acts for the last five years.
The house returned s.671 to the senate with amendments. The senate subsequently concurred in those amendments and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation is a joint resolution to provide for the continuing authority to pay the expenses of state government if the 2018 2098 fiscal year begins without a general appropriations act for that year in effect.
A conference committee has been appointed to address the differences between the house and senate on s.917, a bill addressing funding for flood repairs and prevention at tourism related lands or areas. The legislation revises provisions governing the expenditure of the state accommodations tax, local hospitality tax, and local accommodations tax to allow a portion of the revenue to be expended for the control and repair of flooding and drainage at tourism related lands or areas.
A conference committee has been appointed to address the differences between the house and senate on s.1043. The legislation revises and extends tax incentives available for the revitalization of abandoned buildings and textile mill sites.
