Capitol Information Affiliates, LLC Volume XXVII Issue 19 May27, 2016
Conference Committees in Full Force
Davis Points of Personal Interest
Medical Marijuana
Senator Davis took the floor Tuesday on a point of personal interest regarding medical marijuana. He said Congress had passed a law allowing the Veteran’s Administration to give medical marijuana to veterans who need it. “It is only this General Assembly now that is blocking these VA doctors (in South Carolina),” said Davis. He took the floor again Wednesday and said the oil improved one young man but not enough. He said, “The doctors should be the ones to make medical decisions.” Davis took the floor again Thursday and spoke about a young girl whose parents hope the legislature will see the need for medical marijuana. He said they will move out west if this does not happen in South Carolina.
Peeler Point of Personal Interest
CON
Senator Peeler took the Senate floor Tuesday on a point of personal interest regarding certificate of need. “The certificate of need in South Carolina is the healthcare of South Carolina. This is so expensive and so unneeded in South Carolina,” said Peeler. He added that the House sent over a good bill and any amendment should include a sunset date and appeals court settlement. His name remains on the bill.
Alexander Points of Personal Interest
Hunger/Memorial Day
Senator Alexander took the Senate floor Tuesday on a point of personal interest regarding Hunger Month in September. He said one in four children is hungry every day. He took the floor again Thursday to talk about Memorial Day.
H.3184 Ethics Reform & Point of Personal Interest
Senator Larry Martin asked the Senate Tuesday to non-concur in the House amendments to H.3184 regarding ethics reform. He said he could not imagine the Senate concurring with the amendment. Senator Scott objected to non-concurrence saying he wanted to look at the House changes. Thebill was placed on the calendar. Senator Scott took the Senate floor Wednesday on a point of personal interest regarding H.3184 on ethics reform. He asked for immediate consideration of the bill. Senator Larry Martin moved for non-concurrence which was done. The bill was sent back to the House. The Senate named their conferees Thursday. Senate conferees ar Senators Larry Martin, Malloy and Campsen. House conferees are Representatives Murrell Smith, Pope and Powers Norell.
H.5001 & H.5002 Bits and Pieces
The Senate nonconcurred with the House amendments to H.5001 the Appropriations bill and H.5002 the Capitol Reserve Fund. The Senate Conference consists of Senators Leatherman, Sheheen and Davis. The House Conference is Representatives White, Herbkersman and Hosey. They met for an organizational
session Tuesday afternoon and adopted all like provisos to the bill. They met upon adjournment of the Senate carrying over all dollar provisos and adopting others. The conference committee met again Thursday morning and took up 14 provisos. The Conference Committee will meet again Friday at the call of the chair.
Sine Die
The Senate introduced and passed the Sine Die resolution Tuesday. S.1336 provides for the General Assembly to return June 15 and stay no later than June 22. They may address gubernatorial vetoes, conference committee appointments and reports, appointments, Sine Die introductions, sympathy and congratulation introductions, local legislation, and joint assemblies to fill office vacancies. After June 22, the General Assembly may be called into session by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate until a final Sine Die of November 14. They may take up the above items plus magistrate appointments if they come back during that time period. The House adopted Sine Die Thursday without amendments.
Mopeds
The Senate gave a second reading Tuesday to H.3440 regarding driving mopeds. Senator Hutto offered a perfecting amendment to have no more than a $400 fine for violations. Senator Hembree spoke on the bill saying the House had sent a good bill. He also said the Department of Public Safety strongly supported the bill. Hutto moved to give the bill second reading carrying over all amendments until third reading. His motion was adopted and he placed his name on the bill.
School Start Date
The Senate passed H.5140 regarding an early school start date this week. Senator Hutto said they have always believed that education should be under the local school district. He said they had a statewide school start date due to tourism. “A lot of this revolves around testing. We have geared our accountability to testing,” said Hutto. Senator Nicholson asked about the students going to both high school and technical college. Hutto said in order to get the bill passed,they needed to pass the compromise committee amendment. Senator Rankin said the compromise leaves the date as it is and that this was not about the beach. The amendment was adopted. The bill was returned to the House of Representatives.
Concealed Weapons Georgia Reciprocity
The Senate debated Tuesday H.3799 regarding concealed weapons reciprocity.Senator Massey spoke in favor of the bill. He said that locally he hears about this issue a lot. Senator Kimpson spoke against the bill asking why the state was cow towing to the people of Georgia. “The requirements of a concealed
weapon permit are about 15 pages long in South Carolina statute. Georgia has about a paragraph of requirements,” said Kimpson. Senator Young said all Georgia probates judges were lawyers and that no
permits are issued when someone is a fugitive from justice. Kimpson said he would like to see the application. Senator Malloy said South Carolina has a central registry and asked how they would handle cases from county to county. Kimpson said there was also no requirement for training. He added that SLED was not in favor of the bill. Kimpson compared the two states. Senator Young said Georgia has reciprocity with 4 other border states and that he was unaware of any Georgia resident having problems in those states. The Hutto amendment was tabled. The Senate adopted a Malloy amendment. Kimpson offered an amendment which Young said introduced new matter. The President sustained the point of order. The Senate adopted an amendment by Senator Bright. Senator Larry Martin said the state had reciprocity with 20 other states. Kimpson offered an amendment requiring a gun brought into the state be registered within 5 days. Larry Martin made a point of order on germaneness and the point was sustained. Kimpson’s next amendment was tabled. Hutto said they needed to focus on what they were trying to accomplish. “The longer we stay here, the less we do quality work. Let’s try to sit down and resolve this,” said Hutto. Senator Cromer responded that people needed training on how to handle the weapon they have purchased. There was a motion to adjourn which failed. Another amendment was tabled and then the Senate adjourned. They resumed debate Thursday with 80 amendments on the desk.
Senator Shane Martin made the motion to give the bill second reading carrying over all amendments until third. Kimpson objected and said he wants to go through his amendments. Senator Bright then raised a point of order on the amendment which the President overruled. Kimpson moved to adjourn and the Senate refused. The Senate temporarily receded to see if they could work out the issue. They came back into session only to adjourn.
S.1258
The House of Representatives passed S.1258 regarding road funding this week. Chairman White said it was not a bond bill but a road funding bill. The amendment is a strike and insert amendment and it does the following: It puts recurring money at the Department of Transportation, the Commission is appointed by the Governor which requires the advice and consent of the General Assembly, the Commission can serve up to 12 years, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation is appointed by the Commission and the DOT internal auditor will come under the control of the State Auditor. White did say that while not a mandate, the bill provides a mechanism for bonding - $4 billion over 10 years if it fits into the criteria of Act 114. Representative Ott asked if this was a long term solution and White responded it was a start. “This is the best we can do now. It’s a good first start,” said White. Representative Norman said it was a “back door tax increase.” He said they needed to reform DOT before “throwing buckets of money at them.” Representative Limehouse said bonding roads began in 1998. Representative Finlay said the amendment strikes him “as the most conservative thing we can do.”
Norman said, “No deal is better than a bad deal.” Representative Hill said the recurring money from the DMV allows for a better rate of bonding. Representative Simrill spoke in favor of the amendment. He said they sent a gas tax to the Senate and they floundered and “sent us something unworkable.” He added, “We have a vehicle in 1258 to adopt a funding mechanism for roads.” He said Hall has a prioritization list and that under her leadership they will have replaced 399 bridges in 10 years. The first amendment was adopted. The second amendment was withdrawn. The third amendment, technical in nature, was also adopted and the bill was given second reading. It received third reading Wednesday and went back to the Senate.
Campsen Point of Personal Interest
Amazing Grace
Senator Campsen took the Senate floor Thursday on a point of personal interest regarding the hymn “Amazing Grace”. He told the Senate the history of the hymn. He spoke for about 25 minutes.
Malloy Point of Personal Interest
Clementa Pinckney
Senator Malloy took the Senate floor Thursday on a point of personal interest on the hanging of Senator Pinckney’s portrait in the Senate. He thanked everyone involved in the success of the service on Wednesday. He said they had lost a good man.
Joint Ticket
The Senate met Tuesday and Senator Scott placed his name onH.4579 regarding the Governor and Lieutenant Governor running on a joint ticket. Senator Malloy had a perfecting amendment to the bill. Senator Massey said the bill allowed for one joint campaign account and increases the level of statewide contributions. Scott moved to carry over the bill and placed his name on the bill when the motion did not carry.
Ethics Reform
The Senate amended H.3579 regarding ethics reform and sent it back to the House. Representative Simrill asked the House Thursday to give him a free conference report to amend H.3579 with the language from S.1258. The House granted him free conference power. The House named their conferees for the Conference Committee: Representatives Simrill, White and Rutherford. The Senate named Senators Hutto, Grooms and Cleary to the Conference Committee.
Shortening Session
The House of Representativesmet Thursday and placedS.267 to shorten the legislative session on their contested calendar.
Ethics Reform Part II
The House of Representatives amended the Senate amendments Thursday to H.3186 regarding ethics reform and returned the bill to the Senate. Representative Finlay said he had grave concerns with the Senate changes. A strike and insert amendment was offered to take the bill back to the House version and it was adopted. Representative Pitts offered an amendment dealing with “dark money.” He said third party groups want to attack you anonymously with third party dollars. Representative Norman said it was an outside group that caused Speaker Harrell to resign. Pitts said he didn’t mind third party groups but they must disclose where the money comes from. Representative Hill said it was an abridgement of free speech. He also said people would support a candidate but they wanted their vote private. Finlay said with the voting box you have the sanctity of the vote but campaigning is different. Representative Quinn raised the point of germaneness and was overruled. Representative Powers Norrell said there was no constitutional issue with the amendment. She spoke at length on the issue. She pointed out that they passed the amendment last year by an overwhelming majority. The House adopted the amendment and returned the bill to the Senate.
SIB
The Economic Development, Transportation, Natural Resources and Regulatory Subcommittee of the Legislative Oversight Committee met on the State Transportation Infrastructure Bank Thursday when the House of Representatives adjourned. They took testimony from Andy Young with the Legislative Audit Council. He said the SIB was independent in South Carolina. He said the state has more bonded debt than any other state. He also said the SIB does not communicate publically when funds are available. He also addressed repaying revenue bonds and debt service. Vince Graham from the SIB also spoke before the subcommittee. He discussed state comparisons. He said he would like to see the SIB become more of a bank. Secretary Hall from the Department of Transportation said that she agrees that the relationship between the DOT and SIB needs to be addressed by legislators.
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