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Vaccine Relief Legislation Passes Senate, Awaits Approval in House
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House bill 3707 was approved by the full Senate this week after being amended and debate extensively. The bill authorizes funding for a statewide vaccination effort and to provide financial relief to vaccine providers. It also further expands the vaccinator pool for COVID-19, establishes a regional allocation methodology, and includes vaccine reporting requirements for DHEC and vaccine providers.
The Senate made several changes to the bill passed by the House two weeks ago. Some of the amendments include clarification that an entity receiving funding in Section 1 cannot also receive funding in Section 2; removing the formal regional panels and instead allowing DHEC to allocate based on regional population with input from stakeholders; and adding an end date for the COVID-19 vaccine daily reporting requirements in the legislation.
On Thursday, the House received the Senate version of H. 3707 and amended it further to re-insert the formal regional panels for vaccine allocation advisory and add details to the membership of the committees. After further amending the legislation, the House adjourned debate on the resolution until next week.
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Teacher Vaccination Prioritization Remains a Hot Topic in General Assembly
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The Senate spent a lot of time this week discussing S. 516 which would prioritize teachers for COVID-19 vaccination with a goal of having all schools in the state offering five-day per week in-person instruction this spring.
As introduced, the resolution would have required DHEC to implement a plan to offer the opportunity for all teachers and support staff to be fully vaccinated within 30-days of enactment. Logistical issues with offering two doses of vaccines to more than 70,000 teachers and staff within that time period led to an amendment this week which removes the 30-day requirement for full vaccination and instead simply adds teachers to the existing Phase 1a eligibility category. The resolution as amended also requires schools to offer five-day per week in-person instruction by the Monday following their scheduled spring break.
Additional amendments to the legislation would add daycare providers to Phase 1a and increase the annual earnings limit to $50,000 per year for retired state workers reentering the workforce to assist in schools.
S. 516 was given third reading in the Senate on Tuesday and introduced in the House this week. It is currently scheduled for a subcommittee hearing next week on Tuesday afternoon along with a similar House bill, H. 3858. The House bill would put teachers and support staff into the Phase 1a eligibility category and require schools to offer five-day per week in-person instruction within 28 days of the effective date of the resolution. |
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Senate Judiciary Committee Debates Liability Legislation
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The full Senate Judiciary Committee met Thursday morning to discuss two bills related to liability. The first was S.82, which would increase the liability limits in the Tort Claims Act for one person on a single occurrence from $300,000 to $500,000 and total loss from a single occurrence from $600,000 to $1,000,000. The Tort Claims Act covers government agencies and extends to the Charitable Immunity Statute, meaning non-profit entities are also impacted by the increase in liability limits. This bill contains the same language passed by the Senate in 2019 based on negotiations with stakeholders, including SCHA. S. 82 received a favorable report from the full committee.
The committee also debated S. 147, a joint resolution that would establish a COVID-19 liability safe harbor. This legislation provides protections during the public health emergency for healthcare providers, government agencies, and businesses that follow public health guidelines related to COVID-19. This legislation was originally introduced in the spring and discussed throughout the summer and fall without success. After discussion about whether or not the legislation is needed, and the adoption of an amendment to tighten the standards to qualify for the safe harbor and lower the level of evidence necessary to refute it, the committee gave a favorable report to the resolution.
SCHA supports S. 147 and wrote a letter to the committee asking for passage of the legislation as introduced.
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In Other News
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- Co-Prescription of Naloxone Bill Discussed: A subcommittee of the House 3M committee heard testimony Wednesday on H. 3366, a bill to require the co-prescription of naloxone in certain circumstances when an opioid is being prescribed. SCHA worked with the author of the bill and other stakeholders to adjust the penalty language contained in the bill and provided clarifying language to ensure the requirement would not be misinterpreted to apply more liberally than intended. The 3M panel ran out of time before being able to take any action on the bill and will likely reconvene in a couple weeks to take up the issue again.
- Open Carry Legislation Approved by House Panel: House General Laws subcommittee held a second subcommittee hearing this week to hear testimony on a bill to allow individuals with a permit to carry a gun openly. After testimony concluded, the subcommittee gave the legislation a favorable report on a 3-1 vote. The legislation requires a permit with training, like the concealed weapons permit in current law, for an individual to carry a weapon either openly or concealed. The legislation does not change the list of existing locations where an individual is still prohibited from carrying a weapon, which includes hospitals and healthcare facilities.
- Fetal Heartbeat Abortion Ban Continues on Fast-Track: On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee met to discuss S.1, the fetal heartbeat abortion ban bill. There was robust discussion on the constitutionality of this legislation, with both sides arguing whether a court would or would not uphold the law. One proposed amendment would have delayed the implementation of this bill until the United States Supreme Court issues an opinion to uphold other states that have similar heartbeat bills, but the amendment was tabled. S.1 received a favorable report and is expected to be debated by on the House floor next week.
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Chamber Action
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- H. 3707 (Ways and Means Committee) - a joint resolution to authorize funding for DHEC and COVID-19 vaccine providers to improve the efficiency of the administration of the vaccine in South Carolina - amended and received 3rd reading in Senate, sent to House and amended
- S. 516 (Massey) - a joint resolution to add teachers to Phase 1a of the COVID-19 vaccination eligibility categories and to establish that all teachers who wish to be vaccinated should received both doses within thirty days - amended and received 3rd reading in the Senate, referred to House Ways and Means Committee
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Committee Action
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- S.1 (Grooms, et al) - a bill to outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected with certain exceptions - favorable, House Judiciary Committee
- H. 3094 (B. Cox, et al) - a bill to enact the Open Carry with Permit Act in South Carolina to amend the laws related to carrying a gun openly in allowed locations - favorable, House Judiciary subcommittee
- H. 3366 (Fry) - a bill to require prescribers to offer a prescription for naloxone to a patient under certain circumstances - received testimony and carried over, House 3M subcommittee
- H. 3325 - removes exception for physicians and funeral homes who certify fewer than 12 deaths per year from reporting electronically to DHEC - favorable as amended, House 3M subcommittee
- S. 82 (Malloy) - a bill to increase the liability limits in the Tort Claims Act from $300,000 to $500,000 per person per occurrence and $600,000 to $1,000,000 aggregate per occurrence and to provide for interest payments in certain circumstances - favorable as amended, Senate Judiciary Committee
- S. 147 (Massey) - a joint resolution to provide liability protections for businesses and healthcare providers for claims related to COVID-19 during the time declared a state of emergency and to establish that an entity must reasonably adhere to certain public health guidelines to receive protections - favorable as amended, Senate Judiciary Committee
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Intros of Interest
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- H. 3833 (Erickson) - a bill to join the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact or PSYPACT licensure compact - referred to House 3M Committee
- H. 3838 (Martin) - a resolution to require teachers be offered to be fully vaccinated within 30-days and to offer five-day in-person instruction within two weeks of that offer, and to add law enforcement and firefighters to Phase 1a of the vaccine eligibility categories - referred to House 3M Committee
- H. 3840 (Erickson) - a bill to join the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Licensure Compact - referred to House 3M Committee
- H. 3858 (Ott, Collins, et al) - a resolution to make teachers eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1a and to require schools to offer five-day, in-person instruction within twenty-eight days of the effective date of the resolution - referred to House Ways and Means Committee
- H. 3867 (Sandifer) - a bill to establish a registration process for a health professional not licensed in South Carolina to provide services via telemedicine to a patient in this state - referred to House LCI Committee
- H. 3876 (Murray, et al) - a bill to require nursing home directors and community residential care facility directors to assist residents who wish to register to vote or vote absentee - referred to House 3M Committee
- H. 3886 (Brawley, et al) - a resolution to make teachers eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1a and to require schools to offer five-day, in-person instruction within twenty-eight days of the effective date of the resolution - referred to House Ways and Means Committee
- H. 3888 (King, et al) - a bill to establish a study committee to look at the state of mental health of the citizens of South Carolina - referred to House 3M Committee
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February 12, 2021
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