Reference is to the bill as introduced.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by deleting all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 59-157-110. This chapter may be cited as the 'State Institution of Higher Education Efficiency Act'.
Section 59-157-120. As
used in this chapter:
(1) 'Board of trustees'
means the board of trustees of an institution defined in item
(3).
(2) 'Capital project'
means the constructing, improving, equipping, renovating, or
repairing of any buildings, structure, facility, or other
permanent improvement project; the acquisition of land to
construct or establish a building, structure, facility; or a
permanent improvement project as defined in Section 2-47-50.
(3) 'Institution' means
The Citadel, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University,
College of Charleston, Francis Marion University, Lander
University, the Medical University of South Carolina, South
Carolina State University, Winthrop University, and the
University of South Carolina's main campus in Columbia and its
Aiken, Beaufort, and Upstate campuses.
(4) 'Auxiliary
activities' means programs and functions primarily related to
research, housing, food services, stores, and athletics, with
each constituting an auxiliary activity.
(5) 'Auxiliary
division' means an operational unit of an institution
established pursuant to this chapter. The auxiliary division
will be referred to in this chapter as the 'division' or
'auxiliary division'.
(6) 'Procurement' has
the same meaning as in Section 11-35-310(24).
(7) 'SCCPC' means the
South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code, as provided in
Chapter 35, Title 11, and regulations promulgated pursuant to
it.
(8) 'Transferable
items' means, collectively, the duties, responsibilities,
assets, personnel, and resources of, allocated to, or supporting
an auxiliary activity.
Section 59-157-130. (A)
A board of trustees, by resolution, may
establish auxiliary divisions for its institution.
(B) A division created
pursuant to this chapter is a constituent part of its
institution.
(C) The resolution
creating the division must assign auxiliary activities and the
transferable items to that division and may amend that
assignment from time to time as the board of trustees considers
appropriate.
(D) The division and
other non-division activities of the institution may share
support resources and allocate cost for shared resources in an
appropriate and reasonable manner.
Section 59-157-140. (A)
The board of trustees has the same powers,
duties, and responsibilities to manage and control the division
as it does with other non-division activities of the
institution.
(B) Contracts or
agreements entered into for division activities including
capital projects for the division, and the financing of those
capital projects, are exempt from the provisions of Chapter 11,
Title 1, Section 10-1-130, Chapter 47, Title 2, and Chapter 103,
Title 59.
(C) Notwithstanding
another provision of this chapter, any permanent improvement
project as defined in Section 2-47-50 which requires the
issuance of debt, capital improvement bond funds, state
infrastructure bond funds, capital reserve funds or uses of
state appropriated funds for its funding must be submitted to
the Joint Bond Review Committee for review and comment and to
the State Fiscal Accountability Authority for approval.
(D) Division and
non-division purposes are allowed for a division capital project
as long as the primary purpose of that project is to support the
division's activities.
(E)(1) Subject to the
provisions of item (2), the board of trustees shall adopt for
the auxiliary division a procurement policy and amend the policy
as it considers appropriate. Before the implementation of the
procurement policy or any amendment, the policy or amendment
must be approved by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
Thereafter, every procurement of the auxiliary division is
exempt from the SCCPC, and each procurement instead is subject
to the procurement policy adopted by the board.
(2)(a)
The procurement policy adopted by the auxiliary division
may not include provisions relating to telecommunications, and
the auxiliary division is subject to all procurement provisions
relating to telecommunications and telecommunications equipment
and service as set forth in the SCCPC and Section 1-11-430
unless otherwise exempt by Section 11-35-710(6).
(b)
The auxiliary division may not construct, own, or operate
a network that carries commercial traffic, commercial internet
traffic, or K-12 traffic originated in South Carolina.
(F) The board may
retain for the support of the division the services of advisors,
consultants, attorneys, accountants, and financial experts,
setting their duties and compensation without the necessity of
additional approval.
Section 59-157-150.
Institutions are exempt from the requirements of Section
2-47-50 for permanent improvement projects which are:
(1) not part of an
auxiliary division, where the cost is less than five million
dollars for research universities as defined in Section
11-51-30(5) and less than two million dollars for all other
institutions and for which no debt, capital improvement bond
funds, capital reserve funds or state appropriated funds, or
state infrastructure bond funds are required to fund the
project; and
(2) included in the
institution's comprehensive permanent improvement plan (CPIP).
Section 59-157-160. (A) The board of
trustees annually before September thirtieth shall provide the
Governor, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Ways and
Means Committee with a report of:
(1) property acquired or disposed,
contracts or agreements entered, and capital projects commenced
by the auxiliary divisions during the preceding fiscal year
under the authority granted in this chapter; and
(2) capital projects exempt under the
provisions of Section 59-157-150 that were commenced under the
authority granted in this chapter during the preceding fiscal
year.
(B) The board of
trustees also shall establish an internal audit function to
monitor the activities of the auxiliary division, and annually
before September thirtieth report the findings of this audit
function from the preceding fiscal year to the Governor, the
Senate Finance Committee, and the House Ways and Means
Committee.
Section 59-157-170. This chapter may in no way be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity with respect to the institution including its auxiliary divisions. The tort liability for the institution including its auxiliary divisions must be governed by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act.
Section 59-157-180. Nothing in this chapter may be construed to exempt the auxiliary division from the provisions of Section 59-103-35, relating to the approval of new programs by the Commission on Higher Education, and auxiliary division land transactions, including leases, and permanent improvement projects are the only functions and areas removed from the commission."
SECTION 2. Section 11-35-710 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding an appropriately numbered item at the end to read:
"( ) an auxiliary division, if a division is established pursuant to Chapter 157, Title 59, for which the board of trustees, pursuant to Section 59-157-140(E), has adopted a procurement policy for the division and the procurement policy was approved by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority."
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.