H 3451 Session 111 (1995-1996)
H 3451 General Bill, By Cato, Allison, Cooper, J.L.M. Cromer, Easterday,
R.C. Fulmer, H.M. Hallman, J.L. Harris, R.J. Herdklotz, H.G. Hutson, Kelley,
Kirsh, Klauber, Knotts, Law, Mason, Meacham, Rice, Robinson, P.H. Thomas,
Townsend, Tripp, Trotter, Whipper, D.A. Wright and Young-Brickell
A Bill to amend Sections 1-23-120 and 1-23-125, both as amended, Code of Laws
of South Carolina, 1976, relating to General Assembly review of regulations
and requests to withdraw regulations, so as to require affirmative approval of
regulations rather than allowing them to become effective after one hundred
twenty days and to delete references to the one-hundred-twenty-day period.
02/01/95 House Introduced and read first time HJ-12
02/01/95 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-12
A BILL
TO AMEND SECTIONS 1-23-120 AND 1-23-125, BOTH AS
AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976,
RELATING TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY REVIEW OF
REGULATIONS AND REQUESTS TO WITHDRAW
REGULATIONS, SO AS TO REQUIRE AFFIRMATIVE
APPROVAL OF REGULATIONS RATHER THAN ALLOWING
THEM TO BECOME EFFECTIVE AFTER ONE HUNDRED
TWENTY DAYS AND TO DELETE REFERENCES TO THE
ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-DAY PERIOD
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 1-23-120 of the 1976 Code, as last
amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"Section 1-23-120. (A) All regulations except those
specifically exempted under this section must be submitted to the
General Assembly for review in accordance with this article, but no
regulation may be submitted to the General Assembly more than
one year after publication of the drafting notice initiating the
regulation pursuant to Section 1-23-110.
(B) To initiate the process of review, the agency shall file with
the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives:
(1) a copy of the regulations promulgated;
(2) a request for review;
(3) a brief synopsis of the regulations submitted explaining
the content and any changes in existing regulations resulting from
the regulations;
(4) a copy of the final assessment report and the summary of
the final report prepared by the division pursuant to Section
1-23-115. A regulation that does not require an assessment report
because it does not have a substantial economic impact must include
a statement to that effect. A regulation exempt from filing an
assessment report pursuant to Section 1-23-115(E) must include an
explanation of the exemption;
(5) a copy of the fiscal impact statement prepared by the
agency as required in Section 1-23-110.
(C) Upon receipt of the request, the President and Speaker
reviewing the request shall submit it for consideration to the
standing committees of the Senate and House which are most
concerned with the function of the promulgating agency. A copy of
the regulation or a synopsis of it must be given to each member of
the committee. The committees to which regulations are referred
have one hundred twenty days from the date regulations are
submitted to the General Assembly to consider and take action on
these regulations. However, if If a regulation is
referred to a committee and no action occurs in that committee on
the regulation within sixty calendar days of receipt of the
regulation, the regulation must be placed on the agenda of the full
committee beginning with the next scheduled full committee
meeting.
(D) If a joint resolution to approve a regulation is not enacted
within one hundred twenty days after the regulation is submitted to
the General Assembly or if a joint resolution to disapprove a
regulation has not been introduced by a standing committee to
which the regulation was referred for review, the regulation is
effective upon publication in the State Register. Upon introduction
of the first joint resolution disapproving a regulation by a standing
committee to which the regulation was referred for review, the
one-hundred-twenty-day period for automatic approval is tolled. A
regulation may not be filed under the emergency provisions of
Section 1-23-130 if a joint resolution to disapprove the regulation
has been introduced by a standing committee to which the
regulation was referred. Upon a negative vote by either the Senate
or House of Representatives on the resolution disapproving the
regulation and the notification in writing of the negative vote to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the
Senate by the clerk of the house in which the negative vote
occurred, the remainder of the period begins to run. If the
remainder of the period is less than ninety days, additional days
must be added to the remainder to equal ninety days. A
regulation requiring General Assembly review is valid against a
person as provided for in Sections 1-23-40 and 1-23-60 only after a
joint resolution to approve the regulation is enacted by the General
Assembly. The introduction of a joint resolution by the
committee of either house does not prevent the introduction of a
joint resolution by the committee of the other house to either
approve or disapprove the regulations concerned. A joint resolution
approving or disapproving a regulation must include:
(1) the synopsis of the regulation as required by subsection
(B);
(2) the summary of the final assessment report prepared by the
division pursuant to Section 1-23-115 or, as required by subsection
(B), the statement or explanation that an assessment report is not
required or is exempt.
(E) The one-hundred-twenty-day period of review begins on
the date the regulation is filed with the President and Speaker. Sine
die adjournment of the General Assembly tolls the running of the
period of review, and the remainder of the period begins to run
upon the next convening of the General Assembly excluding special
sessions called by the Governor. A regulation may not be
filed under the emergency provisions of Section 1-23-130 if a joint
resolution to disapprove the regulation has been introduced by a
standing committee to which the regulation was referred.
(F) Any member may introduce a joint resolution approving or
disapproving a regulation thirty days following the date the
regulations concerned are submitted to a standing committee for
review and no committee joint resolution approving or disapproving
the regulations has been introduced and the regulations concerned
have not been withdrawn by the promulgating agency pursuant to
Section 1-23-125, but the introduction does not toll the
one-hundred-twenty-day period of automatic approval.
(G) General Assembly review is not required for regulations
promulgated:
(1) to maintain compliance with federal law including, but not
limited to, grant programs; however, the synopsis of the regulation
required to be submitted by subsection (B) must include citations to
federal law, if any, mandating the promulgation of or changes in
the regulation justifying this exemption;
(2) by the state Board of Financial Institutions in order to
authorize state-chartered banks, state-chartered savings and loan
associations, and state-chartered credit unions to engage in activities
that are authorized pursuant to Section 34-1-110;
(3) by the South Carolina Department of Revenue and
Taxation to adopt regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures,
and technical advice memoranda of the Internal Revenue Service so
as to maintain conformity with the Internal Revenue Code of
1954 1986;
(4) as emergency regulations under Section 1-23-130.
(H) For purposes of this section, only those calendar days
occurring during a session of the General Assembly, excluding
special sessions, are included in computing the days elapsed.
If a joint resolution to approve or disapprove a regulation has
not been enacted by sine die adjournment of the second year in the
two-year session of the General Assembly, the regulation is deemed
permanently withdrawn."
SECTION 2. Section 1-23-125 of the 1976 Code, as last amended
by Act 605 of 1988, is further amended to read:
"Section 1-23-125. (A) The legislative
committee to which a regulation is submitted is not authorized to
amend a particular regulation and then introduce a joint resolution
approving the regulation as amended; however, this provision does
not prevent the introduction of a resolution disapproving one or
more of a group of regulations submitted to the committee and
approving others submitted at the same time or deleting a clearly
separable portion of a single regulation and approving the balance
of the regulation in the committee resolution.
(B) If a majority of a committee determines that it
cannot approve a regulation in the form submitted it shall notify the
promulgating agency in writing along with its recommendations as
to changes that would be necessary to obtain committee approval.
The agency may:
(a)(1) withdraw the regulation from the
General Assembly and resubmit it with the recommended changes
to the Speaker and the Lieutenant Governor, but any regulation not
resubmitted within thirty days is considered permanently withdrawn;
(b)(2) withdraw the regulation permanently;
(c)(3) take no action and abide by whatever
action is taken or not taken by the General Assembly on the
regulation concerned.
(C) The notification tolls the
one-hundred-twenty-day period for automatic approval, and when
an agency withdraws regulations from the General Assembly prior
to the time a committee resolution to approve or disapprove the
regulation has been introduced, the remainder of the period begins
to run only on the date the regulations are resubmitted to the
General Assembly. Upon resubmission of the regulations,
additional days must be added to the days remaining in the
review period for automatic approval, if less than twenty days, to
equal twenty days and a copy of the amended regulation must
be given to each member of the committee. If an agency decides to
take no action pursuant to item (c) subsection
(B)(3), it shall notify the committee in writing and the
remainder of the period begins to run only upon this notification.
The provisions of this section, as they apply to approval,
disapproval, or modification of regulations, do not apply to joint
resolutions introduced by other than the committees to which
regulations are initially referred by the Lieutenant Governor or the
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(D) When any If a regulation, when
finally promulgated, includes a substantive change in the content of
the regulation as proposed and published in the State Register, and
the substantive change was not raised, considered, or discussed by
public comment required in Section 1-23-110, the regulation must
be refiled by the agency with the Legislative Council and published
as revised in the State Register and processed as a new regulation in
accordance with the provisions of this article."
SECTION 3. The amendments to Sections 1-23-120 and 1-23-125,
as contained in Sections 1 and 2 of this act, apply to those
regulations for which a notice of drafting pursuant to Section
1-23-110 is filed on or subsequent to this act's effective date.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the
Governor.
-----XX----- |