South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
S. 170
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Hembree, Kimbrell, Stubbs, Matthews, Garrett, Adams, Graham and Zell
Document Path: SEDU-0011DB26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 14, 2025
Introduced in the House on March 20, 2025
Last Amended on March 13, 2025
Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
| Date | Body | Action Description with journal page number |
|---|---|---|
| 1/14/2025 | Senate | Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 106) |
| 1/14/2025 | Senate | Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs (Senate Journal-page 106) |
| 3/11/2025 | Senate | Committee report: Favorable with amendment Medical Affairs (Senate Journal-page 16) |
| 3/13/2025 | Senate | Committee Amendment Adopted (Senate Journal-page 12) |
| 3/13/2025 | Senate | Read second time (Senate Journal-page 12) |
| 3/13/2025 | Senate | Roll call Ayes-41 Nays-0 (Senate Journal-page 12) |
| 3/18/2025 | Scrivener's error corrected | |
| 3/18/2025 | Senate | Read third time and sent to House (Senate Journal-page 7) |
| 3/19/2025 | Scrivener's error corrected | |
| 3/20/2025 | House | Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 20) |
| 3/20/2025 | House | Referred to Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs (House Journal-page 20) |
View the latest legislative information at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
01/14/2025
03/11/2025
03/13/2025
03/18/2025
03/19/2025
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
Committee Amendment Adopted
March 13, 2025
S. 170
Introduced by Senators Hembree, Kimbrell, Stubbs, Matthews, Garrett, Adams, Graham and Zell
S. Printed 3/13/25--S. [SEC 3/19/2025 12:47 PM]
Read the first time January 14, 2025
________
A bill
TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 44-7-387 SO AS TO REQUIRE A LICENSED FACILITY TO ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES TO PREVENT EXPOSURE TO SURGICAL SMOKE BY REQURING THE USE OF A SMOKE EVACUATION SYSTEM.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 7, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:
Section 44-7-387. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Surgical smoke" means the gaseous by-product produced by energy-generating devices such as lasers and electrosurgical devices. The term includes, but is not limited to, surgical plume, smoke plume, bio-aerosols, laser-generated airborne contaminants, or lung-damaging dust.
(2) "Smoke evacuation system" means equipment that effectively captures and filters surgical smoke at the site of origin before the smoke makes contact with the eyes or the respiratory tract of occupants in the room.
(3) "Licensed facility" means a hospital or ambulatory surgical facility as defined in Section 44-7-130.
(B) A licensed facility must adopt and implement policies to prevent exposure to surgical smoke by requiring the use of a smoke evacuation system during any surgical procedure that is likely to generate surgical smoke.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect on July 1, 2026, except that for the following hospitals this act takes effect January 1, 2027:
(1) hospitals certified as critical access hospitals pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1395i-4;
(2) hospitals with fewer than fifty acute care beds in operation;
(3) hospitals certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as sole community
hospitals;
(4) hospitals that qualify as a Medicare dependent hospital; and
(5) hospitals with six or fewer operating rooms.
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This web page was last updated on March 19, 2025 at 12:48 PM