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TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 11-35-2760 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF CERTAIN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS PURSUANT TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA CONSOLIDATED PROCUREMENT CODE CONTAIN CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS BASED ON THE ELECTRONIC PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TOOL (EPEAT) FOR IDENTIFYING ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS; AND TO AMEND SECTION 11-35-820, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE CREATION OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT OFFICE, SO AS TO REFERENCE THE SPECIFICATIONS REQUIREMENT FOR IDENTIFYING ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds that:
(1) Electronic products are a part of everyday life, and continued and expanded use of electronic information and communications technologies is likely a key to achieving global sustainability. However, with our current industrial technology and infrastructure, electronic products also have unacceptably high social and environmental impacts. Electronic products often:
(a) are very resource intensive to manufacture;
(b) contain significant amounts of toxic and environmentally sensitive materials;
(c) use electricity inefficiently;
(d) have a relatively short usable lifespan;
(e) are inefficiently and ineffectively recovered and recycled.
(2) The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is an environmental procurement tool designed to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare, and select desktop computers, monitors, laptop or notebook computers, and integrated systems based on their environmental attributes. At the same time it helps manufacturers promote environmentally preferable products. EPEAT indicates conformance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' 1680 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer products (including desktop and laptop or notebook computers and monitors).
(3) EPEAT evaluates electronic products in relation to fifty-one total environmental criteria and also ranks them according to three tiers of environmental performance -- Bronze, Silver, and Gold. All registered products must meet the required criteria and achieve Bronze status. Manufacturers may then achieve a higher level EPEAT "rating" for products by meeting additional optional criteria.
(4) It is advisable for the State of South Carolina to use its purchasing power to purchase environmentally preferable products, as registered pursuant to EPEAT criteria.
SECTION 2. Subarticle 3, Article 7, Chapter 35, Title 11 is amended by adding:
"Section 11-35-2760. Notwithstanding other provisions of this article, the board and the Information Technology Management Office shall ensure the procurement of environmentally preferable information technology products by requiring the following specifications for procurement of certain information technology products pursuant to this code:
(1) Effective July 1, 2009, seventy-five percent of all desktop computers, monitors, laptop or notebook computers, and integrated systems procured by the State of South Carolina must be Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-registered products;
(2) Effective July 1, 2012, eighty-five percent of all desktop computers, monitors, laptop or notebook computers, and integrated systems procured by the State of South Carolina must be Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-registered products; and
(3) Effective July 1, 2015, ninety-five percent of all desktop computers, monitors, laptop or notebook computers and integrated systems procured by the State of South Carolina must be Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-registered products."
SECTION 3. Section 11-35-820 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 376 of 2006, is further amended to read:
"Section 11-35-820. There is created within the board, the Information Technology Management Office to be headed by the Information Technology Management Officer. All procurements involving information technology, and any pre-procurement and post-procurement activities in this area, must be conducted in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the board, except as otherwise provided in Section 11-35-2760 and elsewhere in this code by specific reference to the Information Technology Management Office."
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 2:52 P.M.