The Weekly Rewind: Week of March 24th

*** This week’s Floor Actions of the SC House of Representatives, prepared by staff. Should you have any questions about my votes on these bills, or would like additional information, please contact my office at (803) 734-2969. **

H. 4544 Increasing Tort Claims Act Liabilities

The House has passed, and sent to the Senate, H. 4544 to raise existing claims caps in various civil actions filed against the state or any of its entities. It is in their Judiciary Committee. The bill also covers negligence claims against any state-licensed physicians and dentists.

Under these proposed revisions to South Carolina’s state Tort Claims Act, to the extent clear and convincing evidence would show injuries, or deaths, occurring after actions by employees or entities of the state, or at the hands of licensed state physicians or state dentists who have committed willful, wanton, or reckless negligent acts, were impaired by drugs or alcohol, were felonious, or engaged in any fraud or misrepresentations regarding any subsequent claims, then these negligent, wanton, or willful acts, would be subject to increased caps on damages that could be recovered.

It would mean total exposure by these tortfeasors to any one person would be increased from $300,000 to $600,000 for single occurrences, and aggregate sums recoverable from $600,000 to $1.2 million.

For cases involving state licensed physicians and dentists causing these injuries, under the circumstances set out above, potential exposure to any one person and in the aggregate would be increased from $1.2 million to $2.4 million. It also would apply only to claims arising after the Governor has signed this bill.

Also, the removal of the term ‘gross negligence’ from medical malpractice claims in this version is set out to be based upon the need for consistency of this bill with the Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act under current state law.

H. 4670 Tort Damage Time Demands For Payment/Tyger River Doctrine

H. 4670, tort claim timed demands, also passed the House this week and has been sent to the Senate. It is now in their Judiciary Committee. As part of furthering the holding in Tyger River Pine Co. v. Maryland Casualty Co., 163 S.C. 229, 161, S.E. 491 (1031), this bill represents an effort to set formats, delivery requirements, and minimum standards for time-limited payment demands in personal injury, bodily injury, property damage, or wrongful death tort lawsuits. These requirements include that any demands be made in good faith, contain reasonable terms, provide insurers the reasonable time of at least thirty days to investigate the demands made, and then respond to them.

H. 3629 Forestry Commission Timberland Acquisitions

The House concurred in Senate amendment and enrolled for ratification H. 3629. In an effort to help the declining timber industry, the legislation allows the Forestry Commission to acquire timberland in addition to what is currently acquired, submarginal agricultural lands. The legislation states that the State Commission of Forestry is prohibited from purchasing land at a price above its fair market value. In addition, the legislation cleans up and clarifies language as a result of the House Legislative Oversight Committee report on the State Forestry Commission. As a result, the legislation repeals two sections dealing with the “use of revenue for scrub oak eradication, reforestation, timber stand improvement, and harvest cutting in state parks” and the “use of revenue for scrub oak eradication and reforestation in Manchester and Sandhills State Forests.”

H. 4767 Physician Noncompete Contracts

The House gave third reading and sent to the Senate H. 4767, legislation addressing physician noncompete contracts. In an effort to entice more doctors to the state, this bill prohibits the use of noncompete employment contracts, holding they are against public policy and would interfere with patient freedom of choice. The bill allows physicians to continue treating existing patients after leaving a medical practice and requires patients to be notified of a physician’s departure allowing options for continued care. This bill also allows employers to recoup documented costs including relocation expenses, training expenses, and signing and retention bonuses. The bill further specifies that it should not be construed as preventing employers from protecting business interests including trade secrets and confidential information.

S. 449 Collaborative Practice Agreements

The House adopted the committee’s amendment, gave the bill second reading, with unanimous consent for third reading on next legislative day for S. 449, legislation dealing with collaborative practice agreements under the South Carolina Pharmacy Practice Act. The legislation outlines that physicians are authorized to enter into collaborative practice agreements with pharmacists. “Collaborative practice agreement” means a written agreement between a pharmacist and a physician, actively practicing to provide evidence-based medication management services and other related patient care services. The bill also allows pharmacists to perform simple federally authorized lab tests (such as COVID tests), as approved by the Board of Medical Examiners and the Board of Pharmacy, and to provide treatment if a test result is positive.

S. 146 “Roger A. Nutt Act” (Rights Of Residents In Long-Term Care Facilities)

The House adopted the committee’s amendment, adopted an additional amendment, and gave second reading, with unanimous consent for a third reading on the next legislative day for S. 146, relating to the rights of residents in long-term care facilities which is renamed the “Roger A. Nutt Act.” The bill provides that a resident, or the resident’s representative, may designate up to three individuals to visit if access to the facility is limited or restricted during a declared state of emergency, including a disaster or public health emergency. The designated person must be allowed to regularly visit the resident during the time that access to the facility is limited or prohibited. A resident or representative of a resident may change the list of designated visitors twice during any calendar year or at such time as a designated visitor is permanently unable to continue to visit. Clergy are not counted toward this three-person limit. In addition, the requirement that a sitting service be selected from an approved contract list was removed, allowing a resident to have the option for a family member to provide sitting services.

H. 5164 Hospital Justified Emergencies

The House adopted the committee’s amendment and gave second reading to H. 5164, legislation addressing hospital justified emergencies. During a justified emergency, and when all hospital treatment space has been exhausted, patient beds may be placed in hallways, corridors, and other means of egress with approval from a designated member of the emergency department leadership team. The bill defines a “justified emergency” as including, but not limited to, a natural or manmade disaster or a declared state of emergency. In an effort to provide for the health and safety of patients and visitors, the bill outlines that hospitals shall maintain a clear pathway in hallways, corridors, and means of egress and shall not block exits. Hospitals shall not erect or construct partitions or structures that obstruct the building’s fire protection systems including automatic sprinkler systems or fire alarm and detection system components. Hospitals shall develop written protocols for justified emergency conditions and shall require all employees responsible for the care or treatment of patients to familiarize themselves with these protocols.

H. 4799 Adds Veterans Homes To The List Of Certificate Of Need Exemptions

The House adopted the committee’s amendment and gave second reading with unanimous consent for a third reading on the next legislative day for H. 4799, a bill adding veterans homes owned or operated by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to the list of Certificate of Need Exemptions.

H. 3858 Taxation Of Watercraft

The House of Representatives concurred in Senate amendments to H. 3858, a bill revising the taxation of watercraft to simplify the process and lower tax bills, and enrolled the legislation for ratification. The legislation discontinues requirements for titling boat motors separately from boats, requiring a single title, instead, that is subject to a ten-dollar fee. The legislation establishes a property tax exemption for 42.8571 percent of the fair market value of watercraft. This exemption does not apply to houseboats or any watercraft classified as a primary or secondary residence. The legislation provides for the exemption to be phased in over the course of three years.

H. 3874 Medical Fee Schedules

The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H. 3874, a bill addressing medical fee schedules approved by the Workers’ Compensation Commission. The legislation revises provisions relating to fees of attorneys and physicians and hospital charges approved by the Workers’ Compensation Commission to provide for the commission to establish a medical fee schedule in consultation with a cost containment committee. In establishing the fee schedule, the commission must strive to assure the delivery of quality medical care in workers’ compensation cases and access by injured workers to primary and specialist care while controlling prices and system costs. The legislation provides for the composition of the cost containment committee, requires public hearings and specifies factors that must be considered in the development of the medical fee schedule, and subjects the fee schedule to an annual review process.

H. 4662 Oversight Of Charitable Solicitations

The House approved and sent the Senate H. 4662, a bill addressing the oversight of charitable solicitations by streamlining the process for filing statements on charitable fundraising with the Secretary of State and enhancing transparency requirements for charitable solicitations. The legislation relieves more charitable fundraising efforts that are smaller in scale from the administrative burden of filing registration statements with the Secretary of State. Charitable organizations that solicit, collect, earn, or receive more than $10,000 in a year, rather than the current yearly minimum of $7,500, are required to file registration statements with the Secretary of State and organizations whose yearly fundraising activities fall beneath this threshold amount are not required to undergo the filing process. The legislation modifies the limits under which certain charitable organizations are exempt from filing registration statements with the Secretary of State from $20,000 in charitable contributions to $25,000 in gross revenue. The legislation provides that, at the initial time of solicitation, a charitable organization, professional solicitor, commercial co‑venturer, or other person engaging in the solicitation of charitable contributions must disclose the legal name and purpose of the charitable organization for which it is soliciting. The legislation prohibits commercial co‑venturers from using registration with the Secretary of State as an endorsement by the state.

H. 5113 Preexisting Manufactured Homes

The House amended, approved, and sent the Senate H. 5113, a bill establishing provisions that prohibit local governments from preventing the continuance of lawful nonconforming use of property when a preexisting manufactured home is replaced with a manufactured home that is not more than five years old. The legislation allows a property owner whose manufactured home has been destroyed in a fire, tornado, or other disaster to replace that manufactured home despite any local ordinance which might, for instance, require site-built construction for a new structure on the property.

H. 4738 Omnibus Education General Requirements

The House amended H. 4738 and subsequently gave it second reading, with third reading the next day (Friday). The bill would amend and modify certain duties of the State Board of Education and the Commission on Higher Education relating to public educator training; eliminate the Governor’s Teaching Scholarship Loan Program; amend the South Carolia Educator Preparation Report Card; amend college parallel courses and associate degree programs, so as to remove related budgetary review requirements of the commission; conversion from the quarter calendar system to the semester calendar system by the Technical Education System, so as to remove obsolete provisions; education lottery appropriations and uses, so as to remove obsolete provisions; amend grievance and performance appraisal procedure for academic employees; the South Carolia Research University Infrastructure Act; implementation of the metric system by the Commissioner Of Agriculture; the State Occupational Training Advisory Committee allocation of funds; certain revenue from tax on catalog sales creditable to mail order sales tax fund; the Advisory Council Of Private College Presidents; the accreditation and chartering of chiropractic colleges; by the South Carolia Manufacturing Extension Partnership; the competitive grants program; the endowed professorships program; the research investment fund; for research investment fund uses; the comprehensive reports for the research investment fund to be made at the end of the fiscal year; the allocation of funds from the research investment fund; the model sexual assault policy created by the campus sexual assault information act; the college loan program for national guard members; the authority of the board of trustees of the Citadel to change the name of the institution; the Felton-laboratory school at South Carolia State University; and the Educational Lottery Teaching Scholarship Grants Program. Per an amendment in Committee, the bill also clarifies that of the funds made of the available for Higher Education Scholarship Grants from the Higher Education Scholarship Grant Allocation, one half of the funds shall be allocated for need-based grants, and one half shall be allocated for Palmetto Fellows scholarship.

H. 4736 Commission On Higher Education

The House adopted H. 4736 upon second reading and ordered third reading the next day. H. 4736 would create a mandatory orientation training program for new members of the Commission on Higher Education. The orientation and training program must address the roles duties and responsibilities of Commission members including instruction on statutory, regulatory, fiduciary and ethical obligations; State higher education goals; scholarship and grant programs funded to the South Carolina Education Lottery and relevant laws governing the Commission; the South Carolina Freedom Of Information Act; and current and emerging issues in higher education.

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