Weekly Legislative Update

While the Legislature is in session, the Greenville Chamber sends out a Legislative Update each week to those members interested. Not receiving the updates, but interested? Contact Sunnie Harmon or John DeWorken at 864-242-1050 or by e-mail (sharmon@greenvillechamber.org or jdeworken@greenvillechamber.org).

Below is this week's update from Columbia:

Tort Reform Debated in Subcommittee
When the Upstate Chamber Coalition sent out surveys to its memberships, overwhelmingly, businesses said that tort reform was a major issue. As a matter of fact, this issue ranks in the top ten annually of issues that must be addressed in the General Assembly. Four years ago, the General Assembly answered that call to a large extent by passing tort reform provisions to reduce the number of years for statute of repose (years that a homebuilder and other construction-type businesses are liable) from 13 years to eight years (near the national average), as well as provisions to curb joint and several liability (stopping trial lawyers from only going after the businesses with the largest pockets in a multi-defendant case), and providing for tighter restrictions on venue (stopping plaintiffs from demanding that cases be heard in “judicial hellholes” like Hampton County).

Now, four years later, the business community is calling the Legislature to finish what it began those four years ago by implementing reasonable caps on punitive damages and non-economic damages.

Interestingly, in today’s Subcommittee hearing, chaired by Senator Larry Martin (R-Pickens), who is joined by four other senators, Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg), Luke Rankin (R-Horry), Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg), and Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), one of the guests of the panel made a comment that a $500,000 claim against a business was a relatively small claim. Your Upstate Chamber Coalition team ensured that the Committee knew that there wasn’t a small business in the state that would agree with that guest.

The bill has a long way to go and the session is getting shorter. Though session ends on the first Thursday of June, the Senate is taking a week furlough and will take two weeks to discuss the budget, leaving only 30 legislative days to pass a complex tort reform bill.

It is expected that this bill will be considered throughout the end of session and into the summer and fall months, teeing the legislation up for passage in 2010.

Cigarette Tax Increase Set for Consideration
A few weeks ago, Speaker Bobby Harrell introduced a bill to increase the cigarette excise fee from 7 cents per pack to 57 cents per pack, with the new revenue going to tax incentives for small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees and incentives for working individuals to get health insurance coverage. The remaining portion of the revenue will go to smoking cessation programs and to the Department of Agriculture for marketing South Carolina grown crops.

Last year, a 50-cent cigarette tax increase passed the House and Senate. It would have expanded Medicaid, which is why Governor Sanford vetoed the bill and the House upheld his veto. This year is much different, though the Governor did say that he would like to use the excess revenue to reduce corporate income taxes.

Though the House provision is different, the General Assembly will face the same challenge in passing this bill. The Senate is divided on not only whether to increase the cigarette tax, but also how to spend the revenue. Some Senators want to get more Medicaid matching dollars, while others would use it for small business tax incentives.

The bill currently is in the House Ways and Means Committee, where it should be considered in the next couple of weeks. There it will have to gain approval, then from the House and then head to the Senate for its consideration.

Permitting Reform Bill Gaining Traction
A common complaint from businesses that must gain permitting approval from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is that DHEC’s approval process in terms of the time it takes to consider permits is not predictable. Where one permit would take 90 days, a similar permit takes 120 days. The problem is that businesses must budget time into their projects. Therefore, Representative Jeff Duncan (R-Laurens) introduced a bill that would ask DHEC to lay out the time in which it needs to consider a permit and then hold DHEC to that time. The bill provides that if DHEC goes over the time allotted to consider a permit, then that permit automatically receives approval.

Interestingly, DHEC officials have said that they favor this bill.

Point of Sale Eliminated in Subcommittee
A House Ways & Means Subcommittee passed House Bill 3272 out with a favorable report Wednesday with a 3-2 vote. The bill was amended to extend the 15% cap on assessment increases in current law to all assessable transfers of interest (ATIs) occurring in 2008 and beyond. At the next countywide reassessment, the purchase price plus the 15% must be used as the basis for the next property tax year and for the next reassessment. Point of sale was completely eliminated with the adoption of the amendment. H. 3272 now moves to Full Ways & Means for consideration.

For more legislative information, visit www.scstatehouse.net.