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.