State legislators in the Aiken County Legislative Delegation are satisfied with some bills they were able to get to S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley's desk, but admitted the General Assembly came up short in other areas.
The South Carolina Legislature closed its doors for the year Friday, ending a session with some major bills becoming law and others likely being sent back to the drawing board. Legislators will return for a three-day, special session June 16 and won't start a new session until January.
Domestic violence
S.C. Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the most significant bill the state government passed was a domestic violence bill, which was signed into law by Haley on Thursday morning.
The bill serves as a compromise between the S.C. House and Senate and looks closer at degree of injury and bodily harm to victims to determine punishment.
Under the compromised bill, penalties applied to offenders will be based on a new category system, the Domestic Violence High and Aggravated Nature, or DVHAN. The system has first, second and third degrees for offenses based on degree of injury, number of occurrences and possible aggravating circumstances.
The bill puts gun bans for DVHAN first degree and second degree offenses where moderate bodily injury is present.
When moderate bodily injury is not present for second- and third-degree offenses, judicial discretion is warranted, according to the bill.
Gun penalties can range from a lifetime ban, a 10-year or three-year ban or a ban issued using the discretion of a judge.
"It's not going to eliminate the problem, but it's a step in the right direction," Massey said. "You want to try to get the guns out of the hands of the really violent people. And, also, you have to trust judges to make the right call."
Body cameras
Passed by the General Assembly and on Haley's desk is the Walter Scott body cam bill, a bill named following the April 4 fatal shooting of Scott by North Charleston police officer Michael Slager.
An eyewitness to the shooting caught the incident on video with his cellphone.
Slager has since been fired and charged with murder.
The bill gives law enforcement agencies nine months to create body camera policies, which would be approved by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Training Council. Agencies can then apply for money to pay for the cameras.
However, the bill restricts when body cam videos can be released to the public and stops video from being released under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
Videos will be made available to police officers and subjects in the video. From there, those groups can decide whether to release video to the public.
The bill stops others, including media outlets, from gaining access to video before trial, unless officers and subjects in the video make it available.
On the removal of the FOIA power, Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, referenced the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to a fair trial.
"The sixth amendment trumps all when seeking a fair trial," Taylor said.
Massey added the bill is designed to protect officers and the people officers are interacting with in the video.
Outside of those parties, Massey said it is unnecessary for every video to be made available for public consumption unless there are claims of abuse or a death.
"I don't know if it serves any real purpose to have every video being subject to being posted on YouTube," he said.
FOIA/ethics legislation
A FOIA bill passed through the House in February but never made it out of the Senate. The bill was designed to create transparency in government and provide easier access to government and public information for residents.
If passed, the bill would shorten the time government entities have to allow residents and public bodies to resolve FOI disputes without having to file a suit in Circuit Court.
In addition, the bill would cut the time for receiving a requested response for information from 15 days to 10 days.
All but one member of the Aiken delegation voted for the passage of the bill.
S.C. Rep. Chris Corley, R-Graniteville, stood his ground in his belief that the bill would put unnecessary time constraints on government entities to process information requests.
"I don't want us to go from 10 days to seven days to three days and it get to a point where we have to grow government offices just for FOI requests," he said. "Outside of that, I'm in support of stronger FOI legislation."
The passage of the bill garnered immediate support from Taylor, who has been the primary sponsor of the bill for the past two sessions and been fighting for its passage for five years.
"It's about regular citizens having access to materials from a government that they pay for. It's the people's government, and they have a right to know," Taylor said. "So, it makes it much easier and less expensive for the public to access documents."
In similar fashion, an ethics bill was passed in the House in January, but also died in the Senate.
Massey and Corley said the bill failed because some senators preferred an in-house ethics committee rather than having an independent committee evaluate issues that question a legislator's integrity.
"It's really difficult to tell the people of South Carolina that if they do something wrong, police will get involved and they'll have to go before a judge. But if we (legislators) do something wrong, we'll police ourselves," Corley said.
State budget/supplemental funds
The regular session ended Thursday without the Legislature passing the state budget.
The budget bill is in a Conference Committee where senators and representatives are both hashing out the details. Legislators are optimistic that the budget will pass during the special session beginning June 16.
Whether the General Assembly can pass a separate, supplemental funds bill, or incorporate that surplus money into the budget bill, is still in the air.
Surplus funding totals $302 million, and Haley has said most of the funding should go toward roads and bridges.
The Senate version of the surplus bill looks to provide $150 million for infrastructure and another $70 million for redesigning the area near the Berkeley County exit on I-26, a part of the state's recent Volvo acquisition.
Debates flared up earlier this week on if the state should borrow the funding or use surplus dollars, but S.C. Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta, is in favor of the latter.
"I see no reason to borrow money when you have the cash to pay for it," Hixon said.
The Senate was also seeking $4.1 million for ice storm cleanup - which would include $1.6 million for Aiken - but the House's version of the bill removed the funding.
Hixon added an amendment to the bill in an effort to regain the funding.
"Aiken County's trying to balance their budget; and they have it in there that they'll be getting it, so we need that funding," Hixon said.
Aiken County Council member Chuck Smith indicated Tuesday at a budget work session that the nonrecurring $1.6 million the County expected to receive from the state for ice storm reimbursement could help offset the County's expected $3 million deficit in the County's budget.
This deficit has prompted Council to explore ways to increase revenue, including a possible millage rate hike, which could increase property taxes for county residents.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013.
He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University.
Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.