South Carolina General Assembly
121st Session, 2015-2016

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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

S. 374

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Campsen, Bryant, Verdin, Cromer, Bright, L. Martin, Setzler, Courson and Malloy
Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\campsen\jud0046.js.docx

Introduced in the Senate on January 28, 2015
Introduced in the House on March 19, 2015
Last Amended on March 17, 2015
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Nonjudicial candidates

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1/28/2015  Senate  Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 12)
   1/28/2015  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary 
                        (Senate Journal-page 12)
    2/9/2015  Senate  Referred to Subcommittee: Campsen (ch), S.Martin, Allen
   3/11/2015  Senate  Committee report: Favorable with amendment Judiciary 
                        (Senate Journal-page 7)
   3/12/2015          Scrivener's error corrected
   3/17/2015  Senate  Committee Amendment Adopted (Senate Journal-page 20)
   3/17/2015  Senate  Read second time (Senate Journal-page 20)
   3/17/2015  Senate  Roll call Ayes-41  Nays-0 (Senate Journal-page 20)
   3/18/2015  Senate  Read third time and sent to House 
                        (Senate Journal-page 17)
   3/19/2015  House   Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 4)
   3/19/2015  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary (House Journal-page 4)

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

1/28/2015
3/11/2015
3/12/2015
3/17/2015

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ADOPTED

March 17, 2015

S. 374

Introduced by Senator Campsen

S. Printed 3/17/15--S.

Read the first time January 28, 2015.

            

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 2-20-30, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S PROCESS OF SCREENING NONJUDICIAL CANDIDATES, SO AS TO ELIMINATE THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE HEARING BE CONDUCTED NO LATER THAN TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE DATE SET FOR THE ELECTION, TO PROVIDE THAT CANDIDATES MAY NOT OBTAIN PLEDGES OR COMMITMENTS UNTIL THE TWELFTH DAY AFTER THE NAMES OF THE NOMINEES HAVE BEEN RELEASED, AND TO REQUIRE THAT A PERIOD OF TWENTY-TWO DAYS ELAPSE BETWEEN THE DATE THE REPORT OF NOMINATIONS IS RELEASED AND THE TIME SET FOR THE ELECTION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 30, Chapter 20, Title 2 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 2-20-30.    Upon completion of the investigation, the chairman of the joint committee shall schedule a public hearing concerning the qualifications of the candidates. The hearing shall be conducted no later than two weeks prior to the date set in the election resolution for the election. Any person who desires to testify at the hearing, including candidates, shall furnish a written statement of his proposed testimony to the chairman of the joint committee. These statements shall be furnished no later than forty-eight hours prior to the date and time set for the hearing. The joint committee shall determine the persons who shall testify at the hearing. All testimony, including documents furnished to the joint committee, shall be submitted under oath and persons knowingly furnishing false information either orally or in writing shall be subject to the penalties provided by law for perjury and false swearing. During the course of the investigation, the joint committee may schedule an executive session at which each candidate, and other persons whom the committee wishes to interview, may be interviewed by the joint committee on matters pertinent to the candidate's qualification for the office to be filled. A reasonable time thereafter the committee shall render its tentative findings as to whether the candidate is qualified for the office to be filled and its reasons therefor as to each candidate. A candidate nominee may not obtain a pledge or commitment until noon, on the twelfth day after the names of the nominees found qualified have been released in a report to members to members of the General Assembly.

As soon as possible after the completion of the hearing, a verbatim copy of the testimony, documents submitted at the hearing, and findings of fact shall be transcribed and published in the journals of both houses or otherwise made available in a reasonable number of copies to the members of both houses prior to the date of the scheduled election, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to each candidate. A period of at least twenty-two days must elapse between the date of the joint commission's report of nominations to the General Assembly and the date the General Assembly conducts elections for these nonjudicial offices.

A candidate may withdraw at any stage of the proceedings, and in this event no further inquiry, report on, or consideration of his candidacy shall be made."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect and applies to elections taking place after July 1, 2015.

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This web page was last updated on March 20, 2015 at 9:29 AM