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H. 5042 Robert Smalls Monument
The House gave second reading and unanimous consent for third reading on the next legislative day to H. 5042, a bill that establishes the Robert Smalls Monument. Robert Smalls was an escaped slave who became a Civil War hero and a legislator in the South Carolina General Assembly. As a result, this bill creates the Robert Smalls Monument Commission to determine the design of the monument to Robert Smalls and its location on the State House grounds. This eleven-member commission is directed to raise private funds and receive grants to carry out its purpose. The commission must report the proposed design and location of the monument to the State House Committee for its approval by January 15, 2025. The commission is dissolved on January 15, 2028; however, if the Robert Smalls Monument has not been dedicated by January 15, 2028, the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the commission must be transferred to the State House Committee.
Incapacitated Individuals Probate Court Protections (H. 4234, passed by the House)
Also headed to the Senate is H. 4234, proposed legislation to revise existing probate laws and procedures covering incapacitated people. When more than $15,000 per year will be handled on behalf of incapacitated people, then protective proceedings would have to be convened. In these proceedings, examiner affidavits could also be filed by a nurse practitioner, or, in the discretion of Probate Court, by a physician assistant, nurse, or psychologist, who could do so in addition to licensed physicians as allowed under current law. Also, the incapacitated persons’ Guardians ad Litem would be required to file their reports 72 hours (increased from 48 hours under current law) prior to any hearing.
H. 3988 Pharmacist and Pharmacist Technicians
H. 3988, as amended, was given third reading by the House. H. 3988, a bill that deals with the responsibilities of pharmacist and pharmacist technicians by making permanent some of the 2020 pharmacy provisions allowed during the pandemic under the “Pharmacy Practice Act.” The bill allows for flu and COVID-19 testing in the pharmacy. A pharmacist can order test and must be the one to interpret the results but can delegate the swabbing to trained pharmacy technicians or interns. The bill authorizes pharmacy technicians who have the required certifications and training to administer vaccinations under the direct supervision of a pharmacist
and amends the certification and training requirements for pharmacy interns to administer vaccines. The bill outlines that individuals aged 16 and older can receive any age appropriate approved immunizations in the pharmacy. Those individuals less than 16 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or a caretaker with written parental consent. If the person receiving a vaccine is under the age of eighteen years, a pharmacist must inform the patient and their caregiver of the importance of mental health and routine well care visits with a pediatrician. In addition, the bill increases the Board of Pharmacy by adding an at-large member who is a state-certified pharmacy technician.
H. 4116 Funeral Directors
The House amended Senate amendments to H. 4116, a bill making revisions relating to the licensure and regulation of funeral directors and other licensed funeral service providers. The legislation was returned to the Senate with amendments.
H. 5203 “Budget Proviso Codification Act of 2024”
The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H. 5203, the “Budget Proviso Codification Act of 2024.” This bill codifies various budget provisos, which do not allocate funds, that have been included, without changes in the language, in each of the annual general appropriation acts approved by the General Assembly during the past 15 years, at least. Rather than having these budget provisos continue, year after year, as temporary law that expires with the fiscal year addressed by each annual general appropriation act, the codification act allows these provisos to be incorporated into South Carolina’s permanent code of laws as statutory provisions.
H. 3518 Ignition Interlock
The House adopted Senate amendments on H. 3518 and enrolled the bill for ratification. The Senate struck the House’s original language regarding the driver’s license reinstatement fee program and substituted language regarding the ignition interlock legislation that Judiciary dealt with last year (at the request of DMV).
H. 3355 Towing a Truck with a Fifth Wheel Assembly
The House concurred in Senate amendments to H. 3355 and enrolled the bill for ratification. H. 3355 would provide that a towing truck with a fifth-wheel assembly may tow one additional vehicle. It also sets a maximum length for this combination of vehicles, provides the maximum weight for the final trailing vehicle, and provides a truck operating a towing combination must include a video system that allows the driver to monitor the final trailing vehicle as it is being towed and be equipped with certain safety device.
H. 4655 Physical Education and Recess
H. 4655, as amended with the committee amendment, was read a third time, and sent to the Senate. The bill would require certain mandatory minimum periods for physical education and recess from four-year old kindergarten through eighth grades each year. The bill would also provide that recess periods must be held indoors during times of inclement weather as conducive to allowing physical activity as practical. The bill includes other curriculum requirements regarding student-teacher ratios, facilities, and staffing. The provisions of this act prevail to the extent they conflict with any such regulations.
H. 5164 Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program
H. 5164 passed the House and was given third reading and sent to the Senate. H. 5164 proposes comprehensive updates to the Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program, encompassing revisions to definitions, application processes, fund administration, privacy, funding formulas, fees, scholarship management, provider standards, and student eligibility. These amendments would simplify, and update the application process, strengthen privacy protections, refine funding and management procedures, optimize fund utilization, clarify, and remove many scholarship restrictions, enforce stricter provider criteria, and streamline eligibility communication. The House adopted the Committee recommendation to the House clarifying that curricula, attendance, and test reporting requirements do not apply to home instruction programs under certain sections. Amendments in the House included that the definition of “Eligible student” “also includes the child of active-duty military personnel who were killed while on active-duty status and the child of an active-duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who has received permanent change of station orders to a military base and who, as a result, will reside in South Carolina for the current or upcoming school year; provided, however, the child must have attained the age of five on or before September first of the school year in which scholarship funds are awarded.” Also, “Eligible school” “means a South Carolina public school or an independent school that chooses to participate in the program; further, it strikes that “Eligible school” does not include a charter school. “Eligible school” does not include a school in which a member of the General Assembly or an immediate family member of a member of the General Assembly has any ownership. For purposes of this section, “immediate family member” means as defined in Section 8-13-100(18).
H. 4563 Pre-1973 Special Purpose District Property Acquisition and Sales Authority
The House also approved and sent the Senate H. 4563, a bill to clarify the authority of all special purpose districts created before 1973 to own, acquire, purchase, hold, use, lease, convey, sell, transfer, or dispose of real, personal, or mixed property.
H. 4642 Applying Updated Military Codes and Codes of Military Justice Revisions to State Military Entities
The House has given three readings to, and sent to the Senate, H. 4642, a comprehensive proposal to add Air, Army, and State National Guards as well as any state militias to various sections of the South Carolina Code military provisions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. In addition to adding these soldiers, punishments meted out would no longer include military pay forfeitures, but would allow imprisonment of up to five years. The proposed amendment would limit a colonel or general officer from assigning their nonjudicial punishment case authority, typically involving diversion cases, to another officer no more than two grades lower in rank.
H. 4813 Training Certification Background Checks
The final House Judicial Committee-considered measure favorably considered by the House, and sent to the Senate, was H. 4813. It is, a proposal to require law enforcement officers, and others, trained by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council, seeking certification as a law enforcement officer, to undergo criminal background checks. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the FBI could retain these applicants’ fingerprints, and the academy must be provided all of the results obtained once these checks are completed. Applicants would pay for them.
H. 3776 Judges’ Permissions to Temporarily Leave South Carolina
The Senate will be receiving H. 3776 a bill that would repeal an old, outdated requirement for state judges to obtain written permission of the South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice before leaving South Carolina.
H. 3592 Compounding Pharmacies
The House concurred with Senate amendments and enrolled for ratification H. 3592, a bill that updates the “Pharmacy Practice Act” by removing certain definitions related to the compounding of medications and revises requirements for compounding pharmacies. The bill charges the Board of Pharmacy with developing regulations based on a review of available compendia literature, medical or scientific literature, and/or practical experience in the art of compounding. Until regulations are promulgated by the Board of Pharmacy, compounding pharmacies shall comply with the compounding standards in the state. The Senate amendments added that a pharmacy may acquire and dispense drugs compounded or repackaged by an outsourcing facility. An “outsourcing facility” means a facility registered with the United States Food and Drug Administration to operate under Section 503B of the Federal Food and Cosmetic Act.