South Carolina YMCA

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S1 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 9AUTHORS: Sabrina Cuadra; Arslan Valimohamed 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: AC Flora High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Increase the Annual Salary of Teachers with AP and IB Courses 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: This bill will increase the annual pay for teachers who teach Advanced 20 Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. 21 22Section 2:Teachers who have 1-3 AP and/or IB courses will be eligible for a 23 maximum of a 5% increase in annual pay. A teacher with 4 or more AP 24 and/or IB courses will be eligible for a maximum of a 10% increase in 25 annual pay. 26 27Section 3:A teacher who teaches 1-3 AP and/or IB courses who increases their 28 course load to a 4 or more AP/IB course loads will receive a 1% increase 29 in pay each year after increasing their course load, until they reach the 30 maximum 10% bonus. 31 32Section 4:If a teacher goes from 0 to 4 AP/IB courses then they will receive a 5% 33 increase and, as previously stated, a 1% increase until the 10% 34 maximum bonus is reached. 35 36Section 5:The IB coordinator will receive a 5% increase in pay alongside any other 37 bonuses that could apply to them. 38 39Section 6: After a teacher has taught AP/IB courses for an excess of 20 years, 40 they are eligible for an extra 5% increase to their existing bonus. (10% 41 for 1-3 courses, 15% for 4 or more). 42 43Section 7: The money for the increase in pay will come from the South Carolina 44 Department of Education.

45 d e n k a a 46Section 8: When signed into law, the first increase will take place on January g m d in s n 47 1, 2015. tt n a a io t te 48 rm ip a o r b ! f c e g r s d n a e r i le d e d 2Bill Checklist: [ ] Debatable [ ] Feasible [ ] State Importancee tt r [ ]n Evidence Support [ ] Original C is e e ta c b r rs 3 n r a e o o le d c f c n u 1

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S2 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 9AUTHORS: Allie Stubbs; Emma Woolbright 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: AC Flora High School 12 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Provide Tax Breaks for South Carolina School Districts 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Whereas forty-four percent of public school districts across the country 21 already have farm to school programs in place, and another thirteen 22 percent have committed to starting a farm to school program in the near 23 future. 24 25Section 2: This bill would provide tax breaks of 2% to school districts who 26 purchase food that is grown locally. 27 28Section 3: School districts will receive this tax break if they spend 60% or more of 29 their funds allocated to purchasing food on locally grown food. 30 31Section 4: “Locally grown” will be defined as any food grown within the state of 32 South Carolina. 33 34Section 5: School districts as well as local farms will be required to keep records of 35 their transactions, including the date, amount, and quantity of food 36 purchased. 37 38Section 6: The South Carolina Department of Agriculture reserves the right to 39 perform random checks of these records to ensure integrity. These 40 checks will include comparing the records of the school districts and 41 farms. 42 43Section 7: When signed into law, this bill will go into effect August 1, 2015. 44 45 46

2Bill Checklist: [ ] Debatable [ ] Feasible [ ] State Importance [ ] Evidence Support [ ] Original 3 1

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S3 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 10AUTHORS: Victoria Ansell; Madison Gambrill 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Bishop England High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Deny Colleges Private Social Networking Information 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The number of colleges that require college applicants’ social 21 networking passwords in order to apply to their college is growing. 22 23Section 2: This law will prohibit colleges’ access to private social networking 24 pages; it is a violation of privacy. 25 26Section 3: College acceptance should be based on educational merit, not on 27 outside social activities unless there is probable cause the applicant has 28 committed a crime. 29 30Section 4: When signed into law, this bill will go into effect immediately.

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S4 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 10AUTHORS: McCall Faciszewski; Joshua Perri 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Bluffton High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Reform Funding for School Districts 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Article I: To make up for a lack of funding in South Carolina’s school districts, it is 21proposed that 45 of the state’s sales tax exemptions are removed. 22 23Article II: With the removal of the sales tax exemptions, the State School Board will 24determine which school districts require more money than they are currently 25receiving, and those school districts will collect more funding. 26 27Article III: The removal of these Sales Tax exemptions will produce more revenue 28than required for our school districts, covering more than the 110 million dollars 29needed to properly fund all of our underfunded school districts. 30 31Article IV : Additional money created from the bill will be used to fully cover the 32first and second ACT and SAT tests for any qualifying 11th or 12th grade public 33school student who would like to take the test. 34 35Article V: Any additional money after that will be distributed to all school districts 36with the intent of creating more extracurricular programs for students. 37 38Article VI: When this bill is signed into law by the honorable youth governor, the 39sales tax exemptions will be removed on January 1, 2015. The new funding policy 40for all schools will be initiated at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S6 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 9AUTHORS: Cheyanne Ward; Michela Stephens 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Bluffton High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act To Decrease The Amount of Hunting Restrictions 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: The current state hunting law of minors under 16 being prohibited from 20procuring a hunting license would be changed to having no minimum age, but they 21must have passed a hunter safety course 22 23Section 2: When the person is going to get their hunting license, they must take 24and pass a hunter safety course in order to obtain the hunting license. The people 25in charge of handing out the licenses would need to make sure they have passed 26the hunting safety course. 27 28Section 3: Because minors under 16 are allowed to procure a hunting license, 29there may be minors too young to hunt although they passed the hunting safety 30course. In these cases, minors under the age of 12 would be required to be with an 31adult also with a hunting license. If these laws are not enforced, the person 32involved in the misdemeanor may have their license taken away for a period of 33time. 34 35Section 4: Minors under the age of 12 will be required to be with an adult with a 36hunting license while hunting. The previous law of minors under 16 being prohibited 37to procure a hunting license would need to be revoked. 38 39Section 5: When signed into law, the first increase will take place on January 1, 402015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S7 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 9AUTHORS: Dakota Story; Thomas Gwozdz 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Bluffton High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 No More “Pizzas" and “Salad Bars” 16 An Act to Improve School Lunches 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The current price of the average school lunch in the state of South 21Carolina is $1.90. The average options for these school lunches are pizzas and salad 22bars. The average price a school spends on a school lunch is $2.40. The state then 23reimburses the schools for the losses. We propose a higher quality of ingredient and 24higher standard of product be implemented within the schools of South Carolina. 25 26Section 2: If schools spent just 50 cents more per lunch, the quality of product 27would dramatically increase. To encourage purchasing within the county and 28keeping money within the community, a tax incentive will be given to schools who 29buy produce from local farmers for their meals. This will lower the taxes on the food 30the state program provides the school from 6% to 4%. 31 32Section 3 If lunches tasted better and were better for the students, more would be 33encouraged to buy them. This means more revenue to the school as more students 34spend money on the lunches. Even as prices for lunches remain stagnant, the 35increase of revenue would accommodate any monetary concerns the school may 36have. 37 38Section 4: Surpluses made from the increase in revenue can be put right back 39into other school improvement funds the school may have. 40 41Section 5: When signed into law, the new standards for school lunches and tax 42incentive will take place at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. 43

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S8 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 10AUTHORS: Jack Divers; Manuel Feigl 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Brashier Middle College 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Provide Tax Credit to Promote Renewable Resources 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Solar panels sold to South Carolina residents will give a $2,000 tax 21 credit per year to a maximum of $5,000 per year. 22Section 2: The first year of installation and electrical independence will result in a 23 $2,000 tax credit, the second year a $3,000 tax credit, and the third and 24 following years a $5,000 tax credit. 25Section 3: A tax bonus such as this one will shift the primary source of energy in 26 this state from nuclear and gas to solar. The homeowners of SC will be 27 producers of sustainable energy resources. 28Section 4: This tax credit will: 29 A. Reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources such as gas. 30 B. Make solar panels affordable for the common public. 31 C. Make South Carolina a leader for renewable energy. 32Section 5: When signed into law, the first tax credits will take place on January 33 1st, 2015. 34

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S9 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 10AUTHORS: Blenda dos Santos; Cassandra Figueroa 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Brashier Middle College 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act To Repeal Income Tax on Minors 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The current state income tax on minor’s yearly revenue would be 21repealed 22Section 2: This bill would apply to all minor citizens from ages 14 to 18 employed in 23the state of South Carolina 24Section 3: As a result of the continued rise of college tuition all money designated 25as income tax for employed minors in South Carolina, would be deposited in a 401 26(k) college savings plan 27Section 4: Employed minors in the state of South Carolina who choose not to attend 28college would have the withdrawn money deposited into the South Carolina board 29of education’s general fund 30Section 5: This bill would go into effect the next school year of 2015- 2016. 31

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S10 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 10AUTHORS: Schaefer Runge; Bradley Hughes 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Christ Church Episcopal School 13 14 A Bill To Be Entitled 15 16 An Act To Force Public Schools in South Carolina To Start 17 the School Day No Earlier Than 8:45 am 18 19 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 20 21Section 1: There is currently no law in South Carolina forcing public to start 22at a certain time. 23Section 2: This bill would force public schools to at start school no earlier 24than 8:45 a.m. 25Section 3: Students today are not getting enough sleep at night to perform 26at their highest 27 potential. This bill would force the start of schools to be later allowing 28the 29 kids the chance to get a good night of sleep (6-8). 30Section 4: When signed into law, this bill would go into law January 1st, 312015. 32 33

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S11 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 10AUTHORS: Zachary Kennemore; Hastings Stewart 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Clinton High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Legalize The Act of Male And Female Prostitution in 17 Licensed Brothels in South Carolina 18 19 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 20 21 22Section 1: Currently, it is illegal for any person to engage in any from of prostitution 23or run any sort of brothel. The purpose of this bill is to legalize prostitution in a 24licensed brothel. 25Section 2: Once legalized, prostitution (defined as the practice of engaging in 26sexual activity with someone[s] for payment) will be legal in licensed brothels (to 27be defined as a place of business where prostitutes partake in sex work that has 28passed to the proper requirements). 29Section 3: To obtain a license, a brothel must submit an application fee of 10,000 30dollars and fill out the application which will be authored by the county district 31attorney. The Brothel will also have to pass a yearly fire marshal inspection and 32pass a health inspector's inspection both of which the brothel is expected to pay for. 33If a brothel fails an inspection, the license will be voided. 34Section 4: To obtain a prostitution license a application fee of 1,000 dollars and a 35completed application (authored by the county district attorney). 36Section 5: Licenses for a prostitute are only usable in the county that accessed the 37license. The prostitute can apply for licenses in other counties. 38Section 6: Prostitutes are required to be tested to weekly for STDs. The test is 39mandatory and if the test does not show that the prostitute is disease free, the 40license for said prostitute will be suspended. 41Section 7: This law does not protect prostitutes who engage in the act of 42prostitution outside of a licensed brothel and the standard repercussions are 43enforced. 44Section 8: Prostitutes and brothels are expected to pay average taxes and the 45person paying for the service will pay a 5% tax on the service. The tax revenue 46from this will go to the fund to maintain public roads and government buildings. 47Section 9: If signed, this bill will become effective on January 1, 2016. 48

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S12 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 10AUTHORS: Will Logan; Nolan Anderson 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Eastside High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Buy Out of Class 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: That the current South Carolina Code of Laws, Chapter 65, Article 1, be 21rewritten to include the opportunity for children to be completely exempt from 22attending school if a fine can be paid. 23 24Section 2: This change would allow children to not have to attend school if they do 25not want to, as long as a fine of 25 dollars per day is paid. A student still allowed 26only 10 excused absences to maintain credit for the course, but exceeding 10 27excused absences would not result in punishment, as long as the fine is paid. 28 29Section 3: The revenue gained from this bill would be divided as follows: 30  50% of the fine would benefit the student’s assigned school. 31  30% of the fine would fund education at a state level. 32  20% would be used to increase teacher’s salary statewide. 33 34Section 4: If passed, this bill would work to create the following: 35 A. A better-funded education system and a smarter work force. 36 B. Relieve teachers of children who do not care about their 37 education. 38 C. Give students a way to not attend class if they feel they want to. 39 D. Make our youth better educated. 40 E. Pay teachers the way they deserve to be paid 41 42Section 5: When signed into law, this bill will take effect on July 30, 2015. 43

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S13 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 9AUTHORS: Savanna Sky Godfrey; Faith Hutchinson 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Greenville High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 A License to Sell Animals 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: Currently, it is not required to be licensed to sell domestic or non- 20domestic animals. This allows any person to sell and breed animals in poor living or 21breeding conditions. 22 23Section 2: This bill would require any person to obtain a paid license for the 24company and/or home of seller and be required by law to receive monthly 25inspections of the living and breeding conditions of animals to be sold. 26 27Section 3: Revenue from licenses (mentioned in Section 2) would fund: 28 A. Support for animal shelters; 29 B. Caring for animals; 30 C. Endangered Species Preservation, etc. 31 32Section 4: When this law takes effect, all companies and/or private institutions 33that sell or breed animals, this includes personal homes and websites like EBay, will 34have until January 2016 to obtain their licenses, not doing so would warrant a 35shutdown of the entity and/or they would no longer legally be able to sell animals. 36 37Section 5: This license would cost $150 annually with the renewal of the license. 38This law would go into effect on January 1, 2016.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 6BILL NUMBER: S14 7RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 8AUTHORS: LeAndrea Sligh; Imoni Doss; Alexis Blackwell 9HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 10SCHOOL/CLUB: Greenville High School 11 12 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 13 14 Mandate Electronic Textbooks 15 16 BE IT HERE ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 17 18Section 1: Electronic textbooks will help reduce the cost of manufacturing 19traditional textbooks. 20 21Section 2: This bill will only allow students to use the assigned textbook for the 22course or subject while in the school. 23 24Section 3: The State Board of Education could help fund and provide e-books for 25each school in South Carolina 26 27Section 4: When signed into law, students in South Carolina will be able to use 28electronic textbooks on January 1st, 2015.

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S15 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice 10AUTHORS: Ryan Moughan; Hamza Ahmed 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: Representatives Jay Gohil & Jacon Rabinovitch 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Revoke the Death Penalty 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The death penalty will not be allowed to be carried out in South 21Carolina. Despite setbacks in 2013, the overall trend of the death penalty has been 22on the decline according to Amnesty International. 23 24Section 2: By removing the death penalty, injustice will be prevented as innocent 25people will not be sentenced to death. Further injustice will be prevented as the 26death penalty is primarily used against the poor, minorities, and targeted members 27of racial groups. Thus, by January 1, 2015 the death penalty will no longer stand in 28South Carolina. 29 30Section 3: The violation of human rights that occurs from the execution of human 31life can be removed by revoking the death penalty. Moreover, the use of cruel and 32unusual punishment is a Constitutional violation and should not be tolerated with 33the death penalty. 34 35Section 4: The death penalty is an ineffective deterrent of crimes. As recently 36stated by the General Assembly of the United Nations, “there is no conclusive 37evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty” (UNGA Resolution 65/206). 38 39Section 5: Public support does not deem such an evil as the death penalty right. 40Throughout American history evils have existed with the support of the public and it 41should be brought to an end. 42 43Section 6: When signed into law, death penalty cannot be exercised after January 441, 2015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S16 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 9AUTHORS: Wil Carpenter 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: Representatives Jay Gohil & Jacon Rabinovitch 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Improve South Carolina Schools 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: Currently, South Carolina’s education system has been ranked 50th in 20the nation (including the District of Columbia) by the American Legislative Council. 21Section 2: South Carolina’s per pupil spending is comparable to states of 22comparable size, showing that funding is not at issue for most of the state. 23Section 3: According to the state superintendent, in 2011 38% of South Carolina 24Students were functionally illiterate and roughly 75% read at a level below grade 25level. 26Section 4: In June of 2014, a bill repealing the Common Core educational 27standards, which attempted to correct many of the deficiencies in the state’s 28teaching standards, was signed into law. 29Section 5: In this bill, a new provision requiring the standards to pass a joint 30resolution in the state legislature. Originally, the standards only had to pass the 31state school board and the Education Oversight Committee which is s non-partisan 32organization of educators. The new provision allows for the over-politicization of the 33state school standards, which could lead to a situation similar to those in Texas and 34Oklahoma, where scientific fact has been disregarded and the educational process 35has been perverted. 36Section 6: The educational process should return to the non-partisan method of 37implementing standards, in order to improve the quality of education received. 38Section 7: When signed into law this bill be enacted immediately. 39

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S17 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 10AUTHORS: Cassidy Wilson; Taylor Doggett 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Hammond School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 A Bill to Assist the Elderly in Voting 17 18BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Currently, voter participation increases throughout a person's lifetime 21until around the age of 85, where the trend decreases do to illnesses and growing 22bad health. 23Section 2: Under this bill, a state-funded program would be created to transport 24elderly South Carolina citizens who reside in nursing homes to voting registration 25events and the polls during the election period. 26Section 3: This bill's purpose is to help provide transportation for elderly citizens 27who are unable to transport themselves to and from the voting polls. By creating a 28program that would provide the transportation, the state could encourage and 29increase voter turnout. 30Section 4: A portion of the state taxes collected on cigarettes will go to the creation 31of a non-profit organization which will rent vans for the elderly and will pay for gas, 32drivers, and other expenses. 33Section 5: When signed into law, the bill will be implemented on January 3, 2015. 34

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S18 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 10AUTHORS: Max Parsons; Zeke Parsons 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: JL Mann High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Accept Medicaid Expansion under the ACA 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The Affordable Care Act (2010) expanded federal funding for states 21 Medicaid coverage. Medicaid is the government program that provides 22 health related services for low income citizens of the United States. 23 States were given the opportunity to accept an increase in government 24 funding to cover the low income Americans that were not incentivized 25 to buy health insurance under the ACA. The extra money only covers 26 those within 138% of the federal poverty level. The first ten years of 27 said expansion will be completely funded by the US federal 28 government as stated in the ACA. The next ten years will be spent 29 transferring 10% of the subsequent tax burden onto South Carolina, 30 so that by 2025 the US government will be providing 90% of the funds 31 necessary to cover citizens qualifying for Medicaid. 32Section 2: Currently South Carolina has neglected to accept the Medicaid 33 Expansion. The expansion would provide enough money to cover the 34 340,000 working citizens in the state of South Carolina who quality for 35 subsidized health insurance coverage. 36Section 3: The law proposed will exclude the following groups from expanded 37 coverage: 38 1. Illegal Immigrants

39 2. Citizens not enrolled in Medicaid despite being eligible

40 3. Individuals and families with incomes greater than 138% of the 41 federal poverty level 42 This is to prevent abuse of the Medicaid system and mitigate any 43 increase in the state or federal deficit. 44 45Section 4: The justifications for a Medicaid Expansion are as follows:

1 1. Today in South Carolina 340,000 people live without appropriate 2 health insurance. This law provides the resources to insure 3 every one of them.

4 2. Free Riders: those who do not purchase health insurance but 5 get all health care services from the Emergency Room on the 6 taxpayer’s dollar. This law would force these people into 7 purchasing health insurance or enrolling in Medicaid. This would 8 reduce the negative economic impacts of cost shifting which 9 total 17 billion dollars.

10 3. A natural influx in Medicaid enrollment will increase the number 11 of South Carolinians registered by 16%. Without Medicaid 12 Expansion there will be no resources to provide services to 13 these citizens.

14 4. The money saved through the benefits of Medicaid Expansion 15 would help mitigate the deficit in South Carolina’s budget. 16 17Section 5: The benefits of the bill are as follows: 18 1. This bill would provide the funds to insure and potentially 19 improve 340,000 lives here in South Carolina. At the same time 20 it would reduce cost shifting.

21 2. The 2.8% increase in spending by South Carolina would be 22 outweighed by the money saved. South Carolina would save 2 23 billion dollars over the next 20 years if they expand Medicaid.

24 3. Medicaid Expansion would cut state spending on uncompensated 25 care by 50% generating savings of roughly 500 million to 1 26 billion dollars.

27 4. The Expansion will generate revenue. State and local revenue 28 will increase when state residents pay income, sales, and other 29 taxes generated by the federal funding for the Medicaid 30 Expansion, which would offset nearly all of the additional costs. 31 This would save 372 million dollars in the first few years.

32 5. The Medicaid Expansion could help safety net and low-profit 33 margin hospitals keep their emergency departments open. From 34 1990 to 2009, the number of hospital emergency departments 35 in non-rural areas declined by 27%. Medicaid funding for 36 uninsured patient care could help emergency departments open. 37 38Section 6: This bill will take effect on January 1, 2015 after being signed into law. 39

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S19 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Education 10AUTHORS: Billy Gist; Mikey Summers 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: JL Mann High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Provide a Basic Education of Opportunities to Low-Income Parents 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1:Based on a study by the Pew Research Center, only 51% of students from 21low income families (bottom 20 percent of families based on income) go on to 22attend a 2 or 4 year college as opposed to 81% of students from high income 23families (top 20 percent of families based on income). Only 7.8 percent of low 24income students in college plan to obtain a professional level degree as opposed to 2522.2 percent of high income college students, according to a study done by ACT 26Inc. When these numbers are combined you get that only 4 percent of low income 27students achieve professional level degrees as opposed to 18 percent of high 28income students. This bill plans to increase both the importance of education in low 29income communities and the number of low income students that seek higher 30education. 31 32Section 2: Many low income families rely upon the education system to simply place 33their children into the right classes to prepare them for college. Conversely, many 34high income families know which classes to place their children in to be successful 35because they likely did the same thing. We propose a state based program whose 36responsibility is to communicate to the families of low income students, as early as 37the fifth grade, the importance of placing their student is in the correct classes to 38challenge them and prepare them for college. By educating low income parents that 39their child's high school career can start as early as sixth grade, they can place 40their children into challenging, advanced classes that will put them on an AP/Honors 41course that will make them more competitive for college. This will be done by 42having the guidance counselors and faculty of every school hold conferences at the 43end of every year with low income families. In these meetings they will be made 44aware of all of the advanced courses offered to their student. The goal is to give 45these students a chance at a higher quality of life. By not placing them at a 46disadvantage simply because their parents are unfamiliar with the education 47system.

1 2Section 3: This program will function through the schools and does not involve the 3hiring of new personnel. Any funding needed will be allocated by the South Carolina 4Department of Education. 5 6Section 4: The South Carolina Department of Education will be responsible for 7insuring that schools comply with this bill by holding conferences for all low income 8families. 9 10Section 5: This bill will go into effect January 1, 2015. 11 12

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S20 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 9AUTHORS: Luke De Mott; Christian Hansen 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Mauldin High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Replace the Tax Deduction for Organ Donations with a Tax Credit 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: A current South Carolina law offers a state income tax deduction of up 20 to $10,000 for an organ donation by a living person. 21Section 2: However, since the benefit is a tax deduction and not a tax credit, 22 organ donors typically only receive a small portion of this total. This is 23 because recipients of tax deductions only get part of the deduction 24 taken off of their taxes. The percentage of the deduction taken off is 25 the same percentage that they pay in taxes. For example, if a family 26 pays a 10% income tax and a member of that family donated an 27 organ, only $1,000 of the possible $10,000 deduction would be taken 28 off their taxes. On the other hand, recipients of tax credits get the 29 entire amount taken out of their taxes. 30Section 3: The financial cost for organ donors is high; kidney donors’ expenses 31 typically range from $907 to $3,089, meaning that even with the tax 32 deduction, donating an organ usually results in a net financial loss. For 33 this reason, tax deductions for organ donations in SC and other states 34 have had little impact on the number of organ donations. 35Section 4: This bill would replace the current tax deduction for organ donations of 36 $10,000 with a tax credit of $10,000 starting in 2015. 37Section 5: Currently, there are about 1,000 South Carolinians on waiting lists for 38 organ donations. Converting the organ donation tax deduction to a tax 39 credit would decrease the financial risk of donating an organ, and 40 increase its benefits, which, in turn, would encourage citizens to 41 donate to those in need. 42Section 6: When signed into law, this bill will go into effect on January 1, 2015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S21 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 9AUTHORS: Carson Hodge; Matthew Justus 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Mauldin High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Increase the Use of Nuclear Energy in South Carolina 16 17 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 18 19Section 1: South Carolina obtains approximately 50% of its power from the 20burning of fossil fuels that have to be imported into the state from places like the 21Gulf of Mexico and Kentucky. We aim to decrease South Carolina fossil fuel 22consumption because in the long run it will be better for the environment. 23 24Section 2: The goal of this bill is to increase the use of nuclear energy in the state 25from the 49% that we already get from reactors across the state. This will lower 26our dependence on oil, coal, and other fossil fuels produced outside of South 27Carolina. 28 29Section 3: The State government will create a fund that will be used to provide 30grants of money to companies willing to build and maintain nuclear reactors, and 31who actually have the ability to do so. This fund will be funded through an increase 32in the current tax rates on cigarettes. The current tax rate in South Carolina is 57 33cents per pack, the ninth lowest in the country. This bill calls for a new tax rate of 34100 cents ($1.00) per pack. The fund will also be funded through an increase in the 35tax on beer and alcoholic beverages. The current tax on beer is 77 cents per gallon. 36The current tax on distilled spirits is 272 cents ($2.72) per gallon. The current tax 37on wine is 108 cents ($1.08) per gallon. This bill calls for a new tax rate of 100 38cents ($1.00) per gallon on beer, 300 cents ($3.00) per gallon on distilled spirits, 39and 150 cents ($1.50) per gallon on wine. However, these tax increases will not be 40enough to fully fund and maintain a nuclear reactor but it will be a large sum of 41money, which will draw in the big energy companies who will use the money to 42lower their costs. 43 44Section 4: To encourage these companies to build these new Nuclear Power plants, 45any energy company that has over 75% of it’s energy production in South Carolina 46from non-fossil fuel sources will get a 15% cut of it’s total business tax. 47

1 Section 5: Once signed into law the increases in tax will occur on January 1st, 2 2015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S22 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 9AUTHORS: Sam Jones; Malone Vingi 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Porter-Gaud School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 Physician Assisted Suicide Legal By Court Ruling 16 17 An Act to Legalize Physician Assisted Suicide by Court Ruling 18 19 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 20 21Section 1: A person who has a life expectancy of 6 months or less would be able to 22ask a judge for physician assisted suicide. 23 24Section 2: If a person has a terminal illness and he/she has a life expectancy of 6 25months or less then he/she is eligible for physician assisted suicide. In order to 26determine if physician assisted suicide is necessary, the person with the terminal 27illness must go to court and apply for physician assisted suicide. 28 29Section 3: When a patient is determined eligible for physician assisted death, 30his/her doctor will administer secobarbitral, a drug that will cause organ failure if 31administered in the right dose. 32 33Section 4: This bill would allow for patients with terminal illnesses to die 34peacefully. Many patients with terminal illnesses would suffer a painful death, but if 35they apply for physician assisted death they can die with minimal pain. 36 37Section 5: When signed into law, physician assisted suicide by court ruling will be 38legalized on March 31, 2015. 39 40 41 42

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S25 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 10AUTHORS: Evans Harrison; Furman MacIlwinen 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Riverside High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Illegalize the Riding of Dogs in Truck Beds 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The American Humane Association experts caution that pets should 21 never be transported in the bed of a pickup truck. 22Section 2: 100,000 dogs die each year riding in trucks beds, dogs are free 23 thinking animals and they can jump out of the truck bed at any given 24 time and severely hurt themselves, and if the dogs were to jump out of 25 the truck bed it could cause fellow drivers to swerve to miss the dog and 26 wreck. 27Section 3: Dogs are free thinking animals and they can jump out of the truck bed 28 at any given time and severely hurt themselves The state will benefit 29 the lives of dogs in South Carolina do to this bill. 30Section 4: This Bill will making the riding of dogs in truck beds on any roads 31 illegal. 32Section 5: When signed into law, this bill will be made a law on December 1, 33 2015.

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S26 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issue 10AUTHORS: Mary Best; Elly Hickey 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Riverside High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Lower the Drinking Age on College Campuses 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1:This bill proposes to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 on all public 21 college campuses in South Carolina 22Section 2: Lowering the drinking age will contain college students to their campus 23 while they are under the influence. This will lower the amount of 24 causalities and accidents caused by students who are under the 25 influence. 26Section 3:This bill requires no funding 27Section 4:If a public college or university does not consent, then the state will 28 increase taxes on the school. If a student does not abide by this set law, 29 they will face normal underage drinking laws 30Section 5:When signed into law, this bill will be enforced on August 1, 2015. 31 32

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S27 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 9AUTHORS: Sangram Kadam; Nathaniel Boen; Daniel Bacheschi 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Southside High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Limit the Importation and Creation of Foods belonging to Genetically 16 Modified Origins as a Result of Laboratory Testing 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: There is no current legislation that calls for GMO’s to be restricted, 21 prevented, nor even labeled in South Carolina. GMO’s are genetically 22 altered organisms that are inserted into foods and crops for higher crop 23 yields at a lower cost. 24 25Section 2:The production and importation of GMO’s will be banned within the state 26 of South Carolina as a result of this bill. 27 28Section 3:This bill will apply to all manufacturers and importers of GMO’s within 29 the state. 30 31Section 4:The effects of approving this bill are: 32 A. Reduces health risks and illnesses caused by GMO’s, such as 33 Morgellon’s Disease. 34 B. Allows for less of a food surplus in South Carolina. 35 C. Reduces wastage of food. 36 D. Promotes better health by reducing amount of unnatural chemicals 37 in the human body. 38 39Section 6:This bill will go into effect January 1, 2015 upon passage and signature 40 by the honorable Youth Governor 41 42

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S28 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 10AUTHORS: Ben Ragan; Brianna Lewis 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Southside High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Remove the Institution of Marriage and to Institute Civil Unions 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: The South Carolina state government will henceforth consider all 21 current marriages Civil Unions. 22 23Section 2:A Civil Union shall be defined as a legal union between any two 24 consenting individuals not currently in a civil union. 25 26Section 3:All couples in Civil Unions shall have the same rights and privileges as 27 current married couples. 28 29Section 4:The Department of Health and the Environment shall oversee the 30 enforcement of this piece of legislation. 31 32Section 5:This bill will go into effect January 1, 2015 upon passage and signature 33 by the honorable Youth Governor 34 35 36

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S29 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 10AUTHORS: Mary Chandler; Kathleen Sowder 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Southside Christian High School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Expand Pandemic Media Procedures 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20SECTION 1: An emergency media alert will be implemented that uses social and 21mass medias 22 such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, television and radio. These 23 alerts are an expansion of the pre-existing Emergency Alert System. 24 The alerts will include: 25 26 A. The listing of symptoms related to the infectious disease; 27 B. The classifying of precautions needed to further the prevention of 28 the apparent disease; 29 C. The news of the progression of the disease. 30 31SECTION 2: The goal of these announcements is to alert all South Carolinians: 32 local, state, county and municipal governments, all hospitals and care 33 units in the state, all educational institutions, and private citizens. 34 35SECTION 3: The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control 36 (SCDHEC) will be responsible for issuing these alerts and informing 37 the public. 38 39SECTION 4: These alerts will occur as following: 40 A. The social media alerts will appear as a sponsored ad. These alerts 41 will be posted daily. 42 B. The mass media broadcastings will be announced daily on all 43 channels and radio stations. 44 45SECTION 5: When signed into law, the first broadcast will take place December 1, 462014.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S30 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: General Issues 9AUTHORS: Gray Phillips; Elizabeth Oakes 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Spartanburg Day School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act To Stop the Chaining/Tethering of Animals As Means of Permanent 16 Stationary Confinement 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: No animals will be chained or tethered as means of permanent 21stationary confinement. 22 I. Permanent stationary confinement is the attachment of animals to a 23stationary object giving them limited freedom of movement. 24 II. A witness must give testimony that the animal has been restricted in this way 25 in order for an offender to be charged. 26Section 2: Anyone who does not obey this law will be required to pay a $40 fine for 27each offense 28Section 3: Under the following circumstances the chaining/tethering of animals will 29be permissible: 30 I. If the animal will remain chained/tethered for less than 4 hours. 31 II. If the animal has a 6 feet range of movement. 32Section 4: This bill will be go into effect upon signature by the youth governor. 33

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S31 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 9AUTHORS: Devin Srivastava; Bryson Nager 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Spartanburg Day School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Change the Lottery Odds, Rewards, and 16 Distribution of Funds of the South Carolina Education Lottery 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Preamble: Whereas the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ranks South 21Carolina fiftieth in education amongst the American states, the ultimate goal of this 22bill is to eventually improve education in South Carolina by improving the odds of 23the South Carolina Education Lottery in favor of the state to increase funding for 24education, by changing the rewards of games, and by changing the distribution of 25the funds generated thereof. 26 27Section I: The South Carolina Education Lottery currently offers seven games. 28This bill will change the odds of the following games from a lower chance of winning 29to a higher chance of winning for the player. It will also change the rewards from a 30higher sum to a lower sum, while ensuring that the total amount of money 31distributed remains the same: 32 33 a. Powerball: The overalls odds will increase from 1 in roughly 32 people 34 to 1 in 27 people. The new reward will be decreased by roughly 15% of the 35 original reward. 36 37 b. Mega Millions: The overall odds will increase from 1 in roughly 15 38 people to 1 in 13 people. The new reward will be decreased by roughly 15% 39 of the original reward. 40 41 c. Pick Three: The overall odds will increase from 1 in roughly 5 people to 42 1 in 3 people. The new reward will be decreased by roughly 40% of the 43 original reward. 44 45Section II: Currently, the South Carolina Education Lottery appropriates 21% of 46its funds to “K-12 programs,” 77% to “higher education programs,” and 2% to 47“other community education programs.” This bill will shift the majority (specifically

175%) of funding from “higher education programs” to “K-12 programs.” The rest of 2the funds will be allocated to “higher education programs” (24%) and “other 3community education programs” (2%). 4 5Section III: When signed into law by the Honorable Youth Governor, this bill will 6go into effect on March 1, 2015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S32 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 9AUTHORS: Anthony Alber; Caroline Lovett 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: Representatives Nathan Petrofes & Walker Seman 11SCHOOL/CLUB: St. Joseph’s Catholic School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An Act to Hold Responsible Neglectful/Abusive Parents of Minors Who Commit 16 Murder 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Parents or legal guardians who are deemed neglectful or abusive, of a 21 minor (under 18 years of age) charged with criminal homicide, will also be 22 held criminally responsible as an accessory to the crime and be tried 23 thusly. 24 25Section 2: According to the South Carolina Statutes: 26  Physical Abuse 27 o ‘Child abuse or neglect’ or ‘harm’ occurs when the parent, 28 guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare: 29 • Inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the child physical or 30 mental injury or engages in acts or omissions that 31 present a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to 32 the child, including injuries sustained as a result of 33 excessive corporal punishment 34 • Abandons the child 35 • Encourages, condones, or approves the commission of 36 delinquent acts by the child and the commission of the 37 acts are shown to be the result of the encouragement or 38 approval 39 • Has committed abuse or neglect as described above such 40 that a child who subsequently becomes part of the 41 person’s household is at substantial risk of one of those 42 forms of abuse or neglect 43 o ‘Physical injury’ means death or permanent or temporary 44 disfigurement or impairment of any bodily organ or function. 45  Neglect 46 o ‘Child abuse or neglect’ or ‘harm’ occurs when the parent, 47 guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare 48 fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter,

1 education as required by law; supervision appropriate to the 2 child’s age and development; or health care even though 3 financially able to do so or offered financial or other 4 reasonable means to do so and the failure to do so has 5 caused or presents a substantial risk of causing physical or 6 mental injury. 7  Sexual Abuse/Exploitation 8 o ‘Child abuse or neglect’ or ‘harm’ occurs when the parent, 9 guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare 10 commits or allows to be committed against the child a sexual 11 offense as defined by the laws of this State or engages in 12 acts or omissions that present a substantial risk that a sexual 13 offense as defined in the laws of this State would be 14 committed against the child. 15  Emotional Abuse 16 o ‘Mental injury’ means an injury to the intellectual, emotional, 17 or psychological capacity or functioning of a child as 18 evidenced by a discernible and substantial impairment of the 19 child’s ability to function when the existence of that 20 impairment is supported by the opinion of a mental health 21 professional or medical professional. 22 23Section 3: This bill is intended to hold responsible the parents or legal guardians 24 who may have in the above ways contributed to the crime of the minor. If 25 legitimate evidence is provided to designate this party as a perpetrator of 26 either child neglect or abuse, such party shall receive due trial. 27 28Section 4: The primary benefit of this bill is as follows: that parents or legal 29 guardians who have exerted a negative influence on the minor through 30 neglect or abuse be held responsible for those actions, and be brought to 31 justice for the partial cause of the homicidal crime. 32 33Section 5: When passed, this bill will go into effect January 1st, 2016. 34 35

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S33 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 10AUTHORS: Caroline Baer; Sarah LeBlanc 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: Representative Walker Seman 12SCHOOL/CLUB: St. Joseph’s Catholic School 13 14 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 15 16 An Act to Provide Blood Type Disclosure on South Carolina State Driver’s Licenses 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Currently, the State of South Carolina does not have a law that allows 21for blood type to be placed on driver’s licenses or state identification cards. 22 23Section 2: This act will allow citizens of South Carolina to have the option of 24putting their blood type on the back of their state identification cards or driver’s 25licenses. Having this information is vital to emergency medical professionals in 26urgent situations that demand medical attention. Identification is the first thing that 27first responders look for at the scene of an accident, as well as in other emergency 28situations. If healthcare workers have this information they can expedite the 29process of blood identification and prevent blood misuse. 30 31Section 3: A single car accident victim can require up to 100 pints of blood in 32transfusions. According to South Carolina statistics from 2009, there is one car 33crash every 10.9 minutes that results in injury to any passenger or driver. 34 35Section 4: This bill will allow healthcare professionals to be more prepared for 36incoming patients; especially those will more rare blood types. This bill requires no 37additional funding and the cost of producing identifications will remain the same. 38The blood type, including Rh factor, will be placed on the reverse side of the cards. 39This measure is purely optional and blood will still have to be tested for verification 40before it is administered to the patient. This option will be available upon the 41renewal of current licenses and upon the issue of new identification cards. 42 43Section 5: When signed into law, the act will go into effect on January 1, 2015. 44

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27th Annual Model Legislature 4 November 19th – 22nd 5BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 6BILL NUMBER: S34 7RECCOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: ENVC 8AUTHORS: Will Limehouse and Jack Schaible 9HOUSE BILL SPONSORS: 10SCHOOL/CLUB: Porter-Gaud School 11 12 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 13 14 An Act to Raise the Tax on Styrofoam Products 15 16 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 17 18Section 1: The current sales tax in South Carolina is 6% would be increased to 1930% for Styrofoam products, an increase of 24%. . 20 21Section 2: The Average price for 500 styrofoam cups is $31.08 including current 22sales tax. The price would go up to $39.0 for 500 cups. 23 24Section 3: This tax will be implemented to put the price of styrofoam closer to 25biodegradable or more recyclable products. On average styrofoam takes 1 million 26years to decompose. 27 28Section 4: If signed into law the tax increase will take place on January 1, 2016. 29

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S35 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice 9AUTHORS: Mari Jones; Davis Latham; Sidney Ramsey 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Hammond School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 Stand Your Ground Law Amendment 16 17Section 1: The current "Stand Your Ground" law in South Carolina states that a 18person is allowed to use deadly force without the duty to retreat when faced with a 19reasonable perceived threat. 20 21Section 2: Amending "Stand Your Ground" to become ineffective against unarmed 22minors, under the age of 18, who were not the demonstrated attacking force, and 23no longer being allowed as a legal defense in cases where the plaintiff is an 24unarmed minor. 25 26Section 3: "Stand Your Ground" is a reasonable defense, but is controversial and 27ineffective in certain cases. This bill will help with the controversial nature of the 28law and provide protection for unarmed minors. 29 30Section 4: Funding will be provided by the state or private sponsoring companies. 31Penalties will vary due to the severity of offenses in accordance to the South 32Carolina state law. 33 34Section 5: When signed into law, this bill will be implemented on January 1, 2015.

1 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 2 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 3 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 4 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 5 6BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 7BILL NUMBER: S36 8RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice 9AUTHORS: Ian Rodgers; George Skenteris 10HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 11SCHOOL/CLUB: Eastside High School 12 13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 14 15 An act to not allow anyone convicted with illegal drug charges to live close to 16 schools 17 18 BE IT HEREBY ENACTED BY THE YMCA MODEL LEGISLATURE OF SOUTH CAROLINA 19 20Section 1: Illegal drug charges include: Illegal possession, manufacturing, 21 distributing, or possession with intent to distribute. Also, trafficking of 22 marijuana, anabolic steroids, crack, cocaine, hashish, methaqualone, 23 and/or amphetamines. These charges have fines and jail time ranging from 24 $100 and less than 30 days to $25,000 and two years. South Carolina only 25 has a drug free buffer of 1,000 feet around schools. With this new law any 26 person convicted of any above charges will not be able to live within a two 27 mile radius from any school. 28 29Section 2: Currently, there is no program for people caught near a school. If 30 someone has committed one of the above charges, they must not live 31 within 2 miles of a school. If they do, more jail time and fines would be 32 issued to the person. 33 34Section 3: Any person who has been arrested for a drug related charge would be 35 included into a registry similar to that of registered sex offenders. This 36 registry will be open to the public. 37 38 Section 4: The residencies of criminals charged with an illegal drug charge would 39 have the benefits of: 40 A. The number of drug deals near a school would go down resulting 41 in less accessibility to drugs in schools 42 B. The registry of drug charged criminals will keep neighborhoods 43 safer. 44 C. Moving these criminals away from schools will lower the exposure 45 of drugs to students at young ages.

1 2 SOUTH CAROLINA YMCA 3 YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT 4 27TH ANNUAL MODEL LEGISLATURE 5 NOVEMBER 19–22, 2014 6 7BILL ORIGINATES IN: Senate 8BILL NUMBER: S37 9RECOMMENDED FOR COMMITTEE: HHS 10AUTHORS: Savannah Guimaraes; Victoria Savage 11HOUSE BILL SPONSOR: 12SCHOOL/CLUB: Bishop England High School 13 14 15 16 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 17 18 An Act to Shorten Wait Period for Disability Hearings 19 20Section 1: The average wait time before a disability hearing to receive Social 21 Security Disability compensations is 338 days. 22 23Section 2: This wait time forces people to not receive their rightful compensation 24 in a timely manner. 25 26Section 3: There should be a maximum wait time of 200 days before a disability 27hearing. 28 29Section 4: In order to allow for the hearings to be heard in a faster process, more 30 administrative law judges would be needed or the judges currently 31 employed would need to work overtime. 32 33Section 5: This bill would require funding to pay the increased labor of the 34 administrative law judges. The cost would be defrayed by a tax increase 35 on tobacco products by 1 percent. 36 37Section 6: When signed into a law, this bill will go into effect immediately changing 38 the wait time to a maximum of 200 days. 39 40

2Bill Checklist: [ ] Debatable [ ] Feasible [ ] State Importance [ ] Evidence Support [ ] Original 3