S 465 (SC Retirement System & SC PORS Study Committee) We contacted Senator Vincent Sheheen, the sponsor of this bill, regarding adding a person from the SC EMS Association to this study committee. He agreed to offer that amendment once it was before subcommittee. This bill was send to Senate Finance on 2/25/09. There were no meetings on this bill this week.H 3170 (ELECTRONIC HEALTH INFORMATION STUDY COMMITTEE) This bill was referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee on 3/3/09. This bill was heard before the Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee yesterday. The subcommittee voted it out favorably as amended. It will now go before the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee. This bill was reported out of full Medical Affairs Committee favorably with Amendment. This bill was further amended on the Senate floor changing the make-up of the study committee. It was given second reading on Wednesday and third reading on Thursday. It was then returned to the House with amendments. The House will now vote to table or adopt the Senate Amendments. House voted to concur in the Senate Amendment on Wednesday, March 24th. The House ratified it on Thursday, March 25th. Signed by the Governor on March 31, 2010.H 3710 (SC EMS Act)-This bill was introduced by Representative Crawford on March 11, 2009 and referred to the House 3M Committee. We discussed with the Rep. Crawford and DHEC the concern we had with the definition section and it was agreed upon to make amendments to this bill once it comes before the subcommittee. This bill went before the House 3-M subcommittee this week. The committee voted favorably on the amendments to the EMS Law and passed it out to the full House 3-M Committee. (These amendments were the ones agreed upon by the SC EMS Association and DHEC.) There was a full House 3-M Committee meeting on this bill on Tuesday, February 2nd. The SC State Firefighters Association offered an Amendment to add two positions to the EMS Advisory Council. One position for the SC Fire Chiefs Association and one for the SC State Firefighters Assoc. We expressed our firm opposition to this amendment and asked the Committee members to Table or Adjourn Debate on this amendment until we could further discuss. The full Committee voted to Adjourn Debate on this amendment. This bill will be up for reconsideration in the next week or two. The SC EMS Association has agreed to propose keeping the EMS Advisory Council makeup the way it currently exists. There was a full 3-M Committee meeting on this bill Tuesday, March 23rd. The Committee voted to recommit this bill back to the 3-M subcommittee to debate with S.907. This bill will be replaced by S.907.H 3468 (EMS for Children)- There was a meeting on this bill before the Full 3-M Committee on Tuesday, January 19th at 2:30pm. The Full Committee passed this bill out favorably. This bill was given second reading by the House on January 21st. It was given third reading and sent over to the Senate on 1/22/10. This bill was read across the desk in the Senate on 1/26/10 and referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee. This bill will be replaced by S.907.H 4193 (Motor Vehicle Accidents) This bill was introduced by Rep. Cooper and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee on 1/12/10. There were no meetings on this bill this week. H 4234 (Law Enforcement/EMS/First Responders and Epileptic Patients) This bill was introduced by Rep. James Smith and referred to the Judiciary Committee on 12/15/2009. We spoke with Representative James Smith regarding this bill and he has agreed to amend this bill to remove EMS and First Responders. There were no meetings on this bill this week. S 0921 (Law Enforcement/EMS/First Responders and Epileptic Patients) This bill was introduced by Senator Thomas and referred to Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on 1/12/10. We spoke with Senator Thomas regarding this bill and he has agreed to amend this bill to remove EMS and First Responders. There were no meetings on this bill this week. S 0907 (Repeal EMS Law) This bill was introduced by Senator Harvey Peeler on 12/9/09 and referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee. There was a meeting on this bill in the Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee this week. There was an amendment offered to go along with the House version of the revised makeup of the Advisory Council. There was also language in the amendment to protect patients and EMS workers identities from being released. The subcommittee voted in favorably on these amendments and passed it out to the full Medical Affairs Committee. This bill was before the full Medical Affairs Committee on Thursday, February 4th. There was a disagreement between us (SC EMS Assoc) and the SC Press Association on the issue of not releasing the names of EMS workers prior to a Peer Review or investigation. The Press Association wants to allow any relative or non-medical person that believes an EMT or Paramedic may have acted in any wrongful matter to release the names of the EMT or Paramedic to the media. This, will in turn, allow the EMT or Paramedic name to be published in the newspapers and on television. We expressed strong opposition to this before the full Committee. The full Committee voted to recommit this bill back to subcommittee to get this issue resolved. S. 907 was passed out of full committee by and 8-3 vote. For those that have not paid attention or been under a rock somewhere the past week or so this is the bill dealing with confidentiality and more importantly which type of information is able to be released or not. To bring you totally up to speed the SC Press Association wanted EMS Crews names to be released for anything under the sun, including being able to find out daily which crews were working which stations. We did not feel this to be appropriate and felt that prior to release of names of crew members from a call that there must be a peer review process to take place. In simpler words the EMS person should be treated no differently from that of a Doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider. This bill received second reading on Wednesday and third reading on Thursday. It has now been sent over to the House and should be read across the desk there next Tuesday. There was a 3-M subcommittee meeting on this bill on Wednesday. There was some concerned raised by the Mayor of Hilton Head which were addressed at the meeting by members of DHEC, SLED, and the SC EMS Association. These concerns were resolved with having any amendments added. The only amendment that was added to this bill was an amendment to put the Advisory Committee back to the current make-up as it stands now in current law. This amendment was adopted and passed out to full Committee. This bill was heard before the full 3-M Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The full Committee unanimously voted this bill out as amended to the full House. This bill was given second reading on 4/20 and third reading on 4/21 then sent back over to the Senate. The Senate concurred with the House amendment and enrolled. This bill was Ratified (R 184) on Thursday, May 6th. The Governor signed this bill into law on May 11th. S 0911 (Murder of an EMS worker) This bill was sponsored by Senator John Land and introduced on 12/9/10 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. There were no meetings on this bill this week.S 1207 (Property Tax Exemptions for Disabled EMT’s) This bill was sponsored by Senator Glenn Reese and introduced on February 23, 2010. This bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. There were no meetings on this bill this week.S 1293 (EMS Memorial Bike Ride)- This Concurrent Resolution, sponsored by Senator Jake Knotts, was introduced, adopted and sent to the House on Wednesday. House introduced, adopted and returned to the Senate with concurrence on Tuesday, March 23rd.S 1281 (DHEC Ambulance Service Licensure Moratorium)- This bill was sponsored by Senator Jake Knotts. It was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday and referred to the Senate Medical Affairs Committee. There were no meetings on this bill this week.H 4527 (DHEC Ambulance Service Licensure Moratorium)-This bill was sponsored by Representative Lanny Littlejohn. It was introduced on February 4, 2010 and referred to the House 3-M Committee. This bill was drafted/worded incorrectly therefore we have had an amendment drafted to amend this bill to do what we initially wanted it to do. The amendment will be offered in subcommittee to replace the current bill. There were no meetings on this bill this week.Both the House and the Senate voted to override the Governor's veto on the $.50 cigarette tax increase. However, the House was not successful in overriding the Governor's veto on H. 3161, court fee increases. Both the House and the Senate voted to adopt the Conference Committee Report on the General Appropriations bill, H. 4657. This report includes the additional $800,000 non-recurring money to the State Trauma Fund. The House and the Senate will come back for one last week of session, the week of June 15th to take up any vetoes.
