South Carolina Legislative Report 2011

Carolinas AGC Has Outstanding Legislative Session in SC

Carolinas AGC had a tremendous amount of success this year during the first year of the current two-year legislative session in South Carolina. Staff in Columbia was able to keep the construction industry in the forefront of several issues and ended the year with many successes, the highlights of which are below:

Haley Signs Legislation To Restore CGL Coverage: Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law S. 431, legislation which was filed by Carolinas AGC to address the S.C. Supreme Court ruling on Crossmann Communities vs. Harleysville Mutual. Carolinas AGC worked tirelessly to see that this legislation passed. Leslie Hope, SC Director of Government Relations and Divisions, thanks all members who answered the call to action to help restore Commercial General Liability (CGL) coverage. Full Story...

Underground Damage Legislation Signed by Governor: On June 7, Gov. Nikki Haley signed the Underground Damage Prevention legislation into law, less than three months after it was filed in the Senate. Carolinas AGC and its members have been pushing for changes to the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act in South Carolina for over 15 years, working with numerous stakeholders on the national, state and local level. Full story...

Haley Signs Tort Reform Legislation into Law: Carolinas AGC, in conjunction with the SC Civil Justice Coalition, helped pass H. 3375, the tort reform legislation, after three years of working with several other members of the business community. Within five days of passage, Gov. Nikki Haley signed the legislation into law. The enacted legislation clarifies a loophole in the 2008 law that changed the statute of repose from 13 to 8 years. The law now states that a building code violation cannot kick the statute of repose back to 13 years from the 8 years that was adopted three years ago. Full story...

Haley Signs Unemployment Tax Relief Bill: Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law enabling legislation to give our members and other state employers some relief on the new and much higher unemployment taxes levied on employers since Jan. 30. The legislation, H. 3762, directs that the appropriations go toward state unemployment tax relief for businesses in tiers 2 through 20, which results in reductions up to 25% for 2011, makes state unemployment tax reductions retroactive to January 2011, states that seasonal employees may be ineligible for unemployment benefits which would result in a 3% reduction in state unemployment tax costs to businesses, companies that have a positive state unemployment tax balance will be in no class higher than class 12 for 2011 only, and reduction of benefits will be applied for the newly unemployed to 20 weeks from 26 weeks, resulting in an 8% reduction in overall state unemployment tax costs to businesses.

Immigration Legislation Signed Into Law: Gov. Nikki Haley signed S. 20, the immigration legislation into law at a signing ceremony at the State Capital this week. The main part of the bill will grant more power to police officers to check whether people are illegal immigrants. And, this is the section of the law that is expected to cause the legislation to face legal challenges. The legislation also made specific changes to how businesses must comply with the law. The only option states now have to verify someone's status is through e-verify; businesses will no longer be allowed to use a driver's license for verification. This change came about because of a recent federal lawsuit filed mandating all states use e-verify. The legislature also approved the length of time an employer violating the provisions of law would be posted on the agency website, changing it  from one year to six months, adopted an amendment that specifies a license revocation is not a tax revocation, provided for felony violations, the transportation of prisoners, and the promulgation of regulations. Carolinas AGC worked very closely with the governor's office and members of the Senate and the business community to make sure the changes to the immigration law did not negatively impact our members businesses.

Regulatory Relief: Carolinas AGC supported, and Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law, S. 420, legislation that provides regulatory relief to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and businesses in South Carolina, as well. As drafted and approved, the bill would allow South Carolina to automatically revert back to the previous regulatory standard of federal courts halting the implementation of a federal regulation.

Secret Ballot Legislation: The legislature, early on, approved S. 277, legislation that ratifies the constitutional amendment to guarantee the right for South Carolinians to vote by secret ballot in a union election, which voters overwhelmingly approved last November.

CAGC Testifies Against C&D Landfill Legislation: Carolinas AGC testified against H. 3389, a Construction and Demolition (C&D) landfill bill. As proposed, the bill would require the installation of synthetic liners in C&D landfills. This would be a costly solution and one that would double the tipping fees. CAGC testified in opposition to the legislation asking the legislators to adjourn debate on this measure as this was not the time to be adding increased cost to our industry. The committee voted 4-0 to adjourn debate on the bill, which means it spent the rest of the session in committee.

DHEC Appointment

Haley Appoints Amsler SC DHEC Board Chairman: During this legislative session, CAGC Member, Allen Amsler, President and CEO of McCrory Construction, was appointed, by Gov. Nikki Haley, to the Board of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control. Amsler will serve as Chairman of the Board with his term expiring on June 30, 2013.

SCDOT Secretary Appointment

Senate Approves Secretary of Transportation: This session the Senate Transportation Committee unanimously approved, General Robert St. Onge, Gov. Nikki Haley's appointee as Secretary of the South Carolina Department of Transportation.