2015-2016 Bill 199 Text of Previous Version (May. 20, 2015)

South Carolina General Assembly
121st Session, 2015-2016

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Bill 199

~~Indicates Matter Stricken~~
Indicates New Matter

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

~~Indicates Matter Stricken~~

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE REPORT

May 20, 2015

S. 199

Introduced by Senators Grooms, Hembree, Bennett, Campbell, Verdin, Campsen, Gregory, Johnson, Setzler, Sabb, Nicholson and Scott

S. Printed 5/20/15--H.

Read the first time May 5, 2015.

THE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

To whom was referred a Bill (S. 199) to amend Section 56-5-1535 of the 1976 Code, relating to speeding in work zones and penalties associated with speeding in work zones, to delete this provision, etc., respectfully

REPORT:

That they have duly and carefully considered the same and recommend that the same do pass with amendment:

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking SECTION 3 in its entirety and inserting:

/SECTION 3. Section 56-5-1535 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 56-5-1535. (A) It is unlawful for a person to drive a motor vehicle in a highway work zone at a speed in excess of the speed limit set and posted by signs. A person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than seventy-five nor more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both. For purposes of this section:

(1)(a) 'Highway work zone' means an area of a roadway, bridge, shoulder, median, or associated right-of-way, where construction, maintenance, utility work, accident response, or other incident response is being performed. The work zone must be marked by signs, channeling devices, barriers, pavement markings, or work vehicles, and extends from the first traffic control device erected for purposes of controlling the flow of motor vehicles through the work zone, including signs reducing the normal speed limit, to the 'END ROAD WORK' sign or the last temporary traffic control device. The signs, channeling devices, barriers, pavement markings, or work vehicles must meet state and federal Department of Transportation standards and must be properly installed.

(b) Work vehicles used by highway workers as defined in subsection 2(d),(e), and (f) shall be considered to be in compliance with state Department of Transportation standards if they comply with the provisions of Section 56-5-4700 or National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard 1901.

(2) 'Highway worker' means a person who is required to perform work in highway work zones, including:

(a) a person who performs maintenance, repair, or construction;

(b) a person who operates a truck, loader, or other equipment;

(d) a public safety officer who enforces work zone-related transportation management or traffic control;

(e) a law enforcement officer who conducts traffic control or enforcement operations; and

(f) an officer or firefighter, an emergency medical services provider, or any other authorized person, who removes hazards or who responds to accidents and other incidents.

(B) ~~A 'highway work zone' is the area between the first sign that informs motorists of the existence of the work zone on the highway and the last sign that informs motorists of the end of the work zone.~~ A person commits the offense of endangerment of a highway worker, if the person is operating a motor vehicle within a highway work zone at anytime, and:

(1) driving through or around a work zone in any lane not clearly designated for use by motor vehicles traveling through or around a work zone; or

(2) fails to obey traffic control devices erected for purposes of controlling the flow of motor vehicles through the work zone for any reason other than:

(a) an emergency;

(b) the avoidance of an obstacle; or

(C) ~~The penalty imposed by this section applies only:~~ A person shall not be cited or convicted for endangerment of a highway worker unless the act or omission constituting the offense occurs when one or more highway workers are in the highway work zone and in proximity to the area where the act or omission occurs.

~~(1)~~ ~~if a sign is posted at the beginning of the active work zone that states 'WORK ZONE $200 FINE AND 30 DAYS IMPRISONMENT FOR SPEEDING';~~

~~(2)~~ to the area between the posted sign and the 'END CONSTRUCTION' sign. Signs may be posted at the discretion of the Department of Transportation in the highway work zones designed to comply with work zone traffic control standards contained in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices published by the Federal Highway Administration.

(D)(1) A person who commits the offense of endangerment of a highway worker where the highway worker suffers no physical injury is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars and not less than seventy-five dollars, or imprisonment of not more than thirty days, or both.

(2) A person who commits the offense of endangerment of a highway worker where the highway worker suffers physical injury and the committing of the offense is the proximate cause of the physical injury is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two thousand dollars and not less than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than sixty days, or both.

(3) A person who commits the offense of endangerment of a highway worker where the highway worker suffers great bodily injury, as defined in Section 56-5-2945(B), and the committing of the offense is the proximate cause of the great bodily injury is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars and not less than two thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than three years, or both.

(4) A person who commits the offense of endangerment of a highway worker where the death of the highway worker ensues within three years as a proximate result of injury received by the highway worker related to the endangerment of the highway worker is guilty of reckless vehicular homicide pursuant to Section 56-5-2910, and, upon conviction, is subject to the penalties contained in that section, including license reinstatement and related conditions.

(E) A person who is convicted pursuant to subsection (D)(1), in addition to any other penalty must have two points assessed against his motor vehicle operating record. A person who is convicted pursuant to subsection (D)(2), in addition to any other penalty must have four points assessed against his motor vehicle operating record. A person who is convicted pursuant to subsection (D)(3), in addition to any other penalty must have six points assessed against his motor vehicle operating record.

(F) No person shall be cited or convicted for endangerment of a highway worker for any act or omission otherwise constituting an offense under this section if the act or omission results, in whole or in part, from mechanical failure of the person's motor vehicle or from the negligence of a highway worker, or another person." /

Amend the bill further by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS:

/ SECTION __. Section 14-1-207(A) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 353 of 2008, is further amended to read:

"(A) A person who is convicted of, pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or forfeits bond for an offense occurring after June 30, 2008, tried in magistrates court must pay an amount equal to ~~107.5~~ 117.5 percent of the fine imposed as an assessment. This assessment must be paid to the magistrate and deposited as required by Section 22-1-70 in the county in which the criminal judgment is rendered for remittance to the State Treasurer by the county treasurer. The assessment is based upon that portion of the fine that is not suspended and assessments must not be waived, reduced, or suspended. The assessment may not be imposed on convictions for violations of Sections 56-3-1970, 56-5-2510, and 56-5-2530, or another state law, municipal ordinance, or county ordinance restricting parking in a prohibited zone or in a parking place clearly designated for handicapped persons." /

SECTION __. Section 14-1-207(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 353 of 2008, is further amended to read:

"(C) After deducting amounts provided pursuant to Section 14-1-210, the State Treasurer shall deposit the balance of the assessments received as follows:

(1) 32.36 percent for programs established pursuant to Chapter 21 of Title 24 and the Shock Incarceration Program as provided in Article 13, Chapter 13 of Title 24;

(2) 20.72 percent to the Law Enforcement Training Council for training in the fields of law enforcement and criminal justice;

(3) .60 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of erecting and maintaining the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. When funds collected pursuant to this item exceed the necessary costs and expenses of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame operation and maintenance as determined by the Department of Public Safety, the department may retain, carry forward, and expend the surplus to defray the costs of maintaining and operating the Hall of Fame;

(4) 18.82 percent for the State Office of Victim Assistance;

(5) 15.93 percent to the general fund;

(6) 10.49 percent to the Office of Indigent Defense for the defense of indigents;

(7) .92 percent to the Office of the Attorney General for a fund to provide support for counties involved in complex criminal litigation. For the purposes of this item, "complex criminal litigation" means criminal cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty and has served notice as required by law upon the defendant's counsel and the county involved has expended more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars for a particular case in direct support of operating the court of general sessions and for prosecution related expenses. The Attorney General shall develop guidelines for determining what expenses are reimbursable from the fund and shall approve all disbursements from the fund. Funds must be paid to a county for all expenditures authorized for reimbursement under this item except for the first one hundred thousand dollars the county expended in satisfying the requirements for reimbursement from the fund; however, money disbursed from this fund must be disbursed on a "first received, first paid" basis. When revenue in the fund reaches five hundred thousand dollars, all revenue in excess of five hundred thousand dollars must be credited to the general fund of the State. Unexpended revenue in the fund at the end of the fiscal year carries over and may be expended in the next fiscal year; ~~and~~

(8) .16 percent to the Office of the State Treasurer to defray the administrative expenses associated with collecting and distributing the revenue of these assessments; and

(9) 10 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of hiring additional officers for work zone enforcement and training for the Safety Improvement Team."/

SECTION __. Section 14-1-208(A) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 353 of 2008, is further amended to read:

"(A) A person who is convicted of, or pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or forfeits bond for an offense occurring after June 30, 2008, tried in municipal court must pay an amount equal to ~~107.5~~ 117.5 percent of the fine imposed as an assessment. This assessment must be paid to the municipal clerk of court and deposited with the city treasurer for remittance to the State Treasurer. The assessment is based upon that portion of the fine that is not suspended, and assessments must not be waived, reduced, or suspended. The assessment may not be imposed on convictions for violations of Sections 56-3-1970, 56-5-2510, and 56-5-2530, or another state law, municipal ordinance, or county ordinance restricting parking in a prohibited zone or in a parking place clearly designated for handicapped persons." /

SECTION __. Section 14-1-208(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 353 of 2008, is further amended to read:

"(C) After deducting amounts provided pursuant to Section 14-1-210, the State Treasurer shall deposit the balance of the assessments received as follows:

(1) 14.04 percent for programs established pursuant to Chapter 21 of Title 24 and the Shock Incarceration Program as provided in Article 13, Chapter 13 of Title 24;

(2) 13.89 percent to the Law Enforcement Training Council for training in the fields of law enforcement and criminal justice;

(3) .36 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of erecting and maintaining the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. When funds collected pursuant to this item exceed the necessary costs and expenses of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame operation and maintenance as determined by the Department of Public Safety, the department may retain, carry forward, and expend the surplus for the purpose of defraying the costs of maintaining and operating the Hall of Fame;

(4) 10.38 percent for the State Office of Victim Assistance;

(5) 11.53 percent to the general fund;

(6) 10.56 percent to the Office of Indigent Defense for the defense of indigents;

(7) .89 percent to the Department of Mental Health to be used exclusively for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts within the department's addiction center facilities;

(8) .54 percent to the Office of the Attorney General for a fund to provide support for counties involved in complex criminal litigation. For the purposes of this item, "complex criminal litigation" means criminal cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty and has served notice as required by law upon the defendant's counsel and the county involved has expended more than one hundred thousand dollars for a particular case in direct support of operating the court of general sessions and for prosecution-related expenses. The Attorney General shall develop guidelines for determining what expenses are reimbursable from the fund and shall approve all disbursements from the fund. Funds must be paid to a county for all expenditures authorized for reimbursement under this item except for the first one hundred thousand dollars the county expended in satisfying the requirements for reimbursement from the fund; however, money disbursed from this fund must be disbursed on a "first received, first paid" basis. When revenue in the fund reaches five hundred thousand dollars, all revenue in excess of five hundred thousand dollars must be credited to the general fund of the State. Unexpended revenue in the fund at the end of the fiscal year carries over and may be expended in the next fiscal year;

(9)(a) 9.16 percent to the Department of Public Safety for the programs established pursuant to Section 56-5-2953(E); and

(b) 1.31 percent to SLED for the programs established pursuant to Section 56-5-2953(E);

(10) 13.61 percent to the Governor's Task Force on Litter and in the expenditure of these funds, the provisions of Chapter 35 of Title 11 do not apply;

(11) 13.61 percent to the Department of Juvenile Justice. The Department of Juvenile Justice must apply the funds generated by this item to offset the nonstate share of allowable costs of operating juvenile detention centers so that per diem costs charged to local governments utilizing the juvenile detention centers do not exceed twenty-five dollars a day. Notwithstanding this provision of law, the director of the department may waive, reduce, defer, or reimburse the charges paid by local governments for juvenile detention placements. The department may apply the remainder of the funds generated by this item, if any, to operational or capital expenses associated with regional evaluation centers; ~~and~~

(12) .12 percent to the Office of the State Treasurer to defray the administrative expenses associated with the collecting and distributing the revenue of these assessments; and

(13) 10 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of hiring additional officers for work zone enforcement and training for the Safety Improvement Team."/

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.

F. GREGORY DELLENEY, JR. for Committee.

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 56-5-1535 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO SPEEDING IN WORK ZONES AND PENALTIES ASSOCIATED WITH SPEEDING IN WORK ZONES, TO DELETE THIS PROVISION AND CREATE "PEANUT'S LAW", TO PROVIDE A DEFINITION FOR THE TERMS "HIGHWAY WORK ZONE" AND "HIGHWAY WORKER", TO CREATE THE OFFENSES OF "ENDANGERMENT OF A HIGHWAY WORKER", AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR THESE OFFENSES; TO AMEND SECTION 56-1-720, RELATING TO THE POINT SYSTEM ESTABLISHED FOR THE EVALUATION OF THE DRIVING RECORD OF PERSONS OPERATING MOTOR VEHICLES, TO PROVIDE THAT "ENDANGERMENT OF A HIGHWAY WORKER" VIOLATIONS RANGE BETWEEN TWO AND SIX POINTS; AND TO REPEAL SECTION 56-5-1536 RELATING TO DRIVING IN TEMPORARY WORK ZONES AND PENALTIES FOR UNLAWFUL DRIVING IN TEMPORARY WORK ZONES.

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

SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds that:

(1) roadway work zones are hazardous both for motorists who drive through the complex array of signs, barrels, and lane changes and for workers who build, repair, and maintain our nation's streets, bridges, and highways; and

(2) the Federal Highway Administration reports that there were thirty-seven thousand four hundred seventy-six injuries in work zones in 2010. This equates to one work zone injury every fourteen minutes. Speed is cited as a contributing factor in approximately one-third of injuries; and

(3) more than twenty thousand workers are injured in road construction work zones each year. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reports one hundred thirty worker fatalities at road construction sites in 2012. In sixty-seven percent of these transportation incidents, a pedestrian worker was stuck by a vehicle; and

(4) Kenneth "Peanut" Long, Jr. was only twenty-two years old when killed on August 12, 2013, by a driver that did not slow down in the road work zone where Peanut was performing his duties as a flag man for a road construction project in Williamsburg County.

SECTION 2. This act may be referred to and cited as "Peanut's Law".

SECTION 3. Section 56-5-1535 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

(1) 'Highway work zone' means an area of a roadway, bridge, shoulder, median, or associated right-of-way, where construction, maintenance, utility work, accident response, or other incident response is being performed. The work zone must be marked by signs, channeling devices, barriers, pavement markings, or work vehicles, and extends from the first traffic control device erected for purposes of controlling the flow of motor vehicles through the work zone, including signs reducing the normal speed limit, to the 'END ROAD WORK' sign or the last temporary traffic control device. The signs, channeling devices, barriers, pavement markings, or work vehicles must meet state and federal Department of Transportation standards and must be properly installed.