The State Capitol Report
Submitted by Rep. Robert Q. Williams
The House of Representatives approved S.218, a bill prohibiting local governments from requiring an employee benefit, and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation revises labor and employment provisions, by providing that counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions of this state may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require an employer to offer an employee benefit, such as health benefits, disability benefits, death benefits, group accidental death and dismemberment benefits, paid days off for holidays, paid sick leave, paid vacation leave, paid personal necessity leave, retirement benefits, and profit sharing benefits. The legislation does not limit the authority of political subdivisions to establish benefits for their own employees.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3666, a bill making provisions for Department of Mental Health Crisis Stabilization Unit facilities where individuals entering hospital emergency rooms suffering from mental illness or substance abuse issues may be transferred to begin receiving appropriate care. This bill makes provisions for a crisis stabilization unit facility operated or authorized by the Department of Mental Health which provides a short term residential program offering psychiatric stabilization services, detoxification services, and brief, intensive crisis services twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The legislation exempts a crisis stabilization unit facility from the Certificate of Need process and requires a crisis stabilization unit facility to obtain a license from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3116, a bill increasing the age limit in safe havens for abandoned babies provisions that designate locations, such as hospitals, police stations, and fire stations, where someone may leave an infant under certain circumstances without criminal penalty. The legislation provides that the safe haven provisions apply to infants who are up to one year old rather than the current standard of no more than sixty days old. The House approved and sent the Senate H.3318, a bill transferring the Illegal Immigrant Enforcement Unit from the Department of Public Safety to the State Law Enforcement Division.
The House approved and sent the Senate H.3538, the ‘Persons with Disabilities Right to Parent Act’. The legislation establishes provisions that parental rights cannot be terminated solely on the basis of a parent’s disability. In keeping with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Fourteenth Amendment, the legislation requires that reasonable efforts must be made, that are individualized and based upon a parent’s or legal guardian’s specific disability, to avoid removal of a child from the home of a parent or legal guardian with a disability, including referrals for access to adaptive parenting equipment, referrals for instruction on adaptive parenting techniques, and reasonable accommodations with regard to accessing services that are otherwise made available to a parent or legal guardian who does not have a disability.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3132, a bill revising the licensure and oversight of hospice programs which offer medically supervised palliative and supportive care for terminally ill patients and their families. The legislation revises hospice program licensure and regulation with the Department of Health and Environmental Control to establish new provisions governing the operation of multiple locations in addition to a hospice program’s primary office and the expansion of a hospice program beyond its licensed geographic service area into additional counties.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3879, a bill increasing burial expenses payable under workers’ compensation laws for accidental workplace deaths by setting the maximum amount payable to families at ten thousand dollars, rather than the current maximum of twenty-five hundred dollars for such funeral expenses.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3034, a bill revising eligibility criteria for in-state higher education tuition rates for veterans and their dependents to bring state law into conformity with federal G.I. Bill provisions for scholarship assistance.
The House concurred in Senate amendments to S.198 and enrolled the bill for ratification. The legislation revises provisions for minors obtaining beginner’s permits or drivers’ licenses under the authorization of responsible adults who are willing to assume the obligation imposed for the licenses or permits. The legislation provides for a more expansive list of adults who are authorized to sign the application for a beginner’s permit or driver’s license of an un-emancipated minor. The legislation includes provisions for sponsoring minors in obtaining beginner’s permits and driver’s licenses when the Department of Social Services has guardianship or legal custody. The disclosure of information by DSS to the Department of Motor Vehicles in order to provide approval is not to be considered an unlawful dissemination of confidential information.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3463, a bill allowing for the retention of an agricultural property tax assessment rate. The legislation provides that if property was assessed as agricultural property or as farm machinery, buildings, and equipment in 2016, the property must continue to be assessed with the same assessment ratio unless a change of use occurs.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3653, a bill imposing limitations on nuisance suits related to manufacturing and industrial uses of real property. Addressing situations where urban growth has prompted residential development to expand into previously outlying areas where established industrial facilities have been operating, the legislation imposes limitations on nuisance suits that nearby residents can bring against pre-existing industrial, manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing facilities that are complying with environmental permits and are otherwise operating lawfully. Affording legal protections like those already provided for agricultural operations, the legislation proposes to codify the common law defense of ‘coming to the nuisance’ as a means of promoting economic development.
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H.3427, a bill enacting the “South Carolina Computer Science Education Initiative” to expand access for all students to computer science learning experiences that support literacy, math, problem solving, and technological skills, and advance productivity in every discipline, industry, and profession. The legislation charges the State Board of Education with developing grade appropriate standards for computer science and computational thinking and computer coding for grades 9 12 and adopting these standards by August 1, 2018. No later than the 2019 2020 School Year, each public high school and public charter high school must offer at least one rigorous, standards based computer science course. Beginning in the 2018 2019 School Year, the Department of Education is required to: employ a full-time coordinator for the Computer Science Education Initiative; support K 12 academic and computer science teachers in designing interdisciplinary, project based instruction and assignments that engage students in applying literacy, math, and computational thinking skills to solve problems; design career pathways that connect students to postsecondary education in high demand career fields identified by the Department of Commerce, such as cybersecurity, information systems, informatics, computer engineering, and software development; offer professional development and teacher endorsements to new teachers that will teach computer science who complete a two to four week, full day summer institute; develop criteria for postsecondary computer science teacher preparation programs; provide information and materials which identify emerging career opportunities in computer science and related fields to parents, students, teachers, and guidance counselors; and, assist districts in developing partnerships with business, industry, higher education, and communities to provide afterschool and extracurricular activities that engage students in computer science. To provide for effective instruction, the Department of Education is charged with developing guidelines for the educational and degree requirements appropriate for computer science teachers. The Commission on Higher Education shall determine what financial incentives might be needed by institutions of higher education to design programs to prepare and credential computer science teachers. To improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in South Carolina, the Governor’s Office, beginning in fiscal year 2018 2019, is charged with establishing criteria and a process for designating a STEM community or STEM region, which involves collaboration among educators, administrators, business leaders, students, parents, governmental officials, and business and industry groups.
If you have a comment or opinion concerning the matters discussed in this report, or if I may be of assistance to you at any time, please feel free to call your legislative office in Columbia 803-734-3142, or my home 843-395-9408. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the House of Representatives.