2001-2002 Bill 3760: Firefighters Employment and Registration Act, Fire, Marshals, Acts

1 BIL: 3760 2 TYP: General Bill GB 3 INB: House 4 IND: 20010321 5 PSP: Knotts 6 SPO: Knotts, Whatley, Harvin, Keegan, Kelley, Meacham-Richardson, Riser, 7 Sandifer, Simrill, Sinclair, Snow, Stuart and Taylor 8 DDN: l:\council\bills\swb\5252djc01.doc 9 CBN: 493 10 RBY: House 11 COM: Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee 26 HLCI 12 SUB: Firefighters Employment and Registration Act, Fire, Marshals, Acts Cited 13 By Popular Name, Law Enforcement, SLED 14 15 16 HST: 17 18 Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved 19 ______20 ------20010323 Companion Bill No. 493 21 House 20010321 Introduced, read first time, 26 HLCI 22 referred to Committee 23 24 25 Versions of This Bill 26 27 28 29 30 TXT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO ENACT THE “SOUTH CAROLINA FIREFIGHTERS 12 EMPLOYMENT AND REGISTRATION ACT” INCLUDING 13 PROVISIONS TO AMEND TITLE 40 OF THE CODE OF LAWS 14 OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO PROFESSIONS 15 AND OCCUPATIONS, BY ADDING CHAPTER 80, 16 RELATING TO FIREFIGHTER EMPLOYMENT AND 17 REGISTRATION, SO AS TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS IN 18 REGARD TO FIREFIGHTER REGISTRATION, TO REQUIRE 19 CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECKS ON FIREFIGHTERS 20 EMPLOYED IN THIS STATE ON OR AFTER JULY 1, 2001, 21 TO REQUIRE REGISTRATION OF FIREFIGHTERS WITH 22 THE OFFICE OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL, TO REQUIRE 23 THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL ASSIGN REGISTRATION 24 NUMBERS TO AND MAINTAIN CERTAIN RECORDS ON 25 REGISTERED FIREFIGHTERS, TO PROVIDE THAT EXCEPT 26 FOR A FIREFIGHTER EMPLOYED BY THE UNITED STATES 27 GOVERNMENT, NO PERSON SHALL BE ALLOWED TO 28 PERFORM FIREFIGHTING DUTIES IN THIS STATE ON OR 29 AFTER JULY 1, 2001, WITH A PUBLIC FIRE DEPARTMENT 30 OR EMPLOYER WITHOUT BEING REGISTERED AS A 31 FIREFIGHTER, TO REQUIRE THE STATE FIRE MARSHALL 32 REGISTER EACH FIREFIGHTER AND MAINTAIN CERTAIN 33 INFORMATION AND RECORDS ON EACH FIREFIGHTER, 34 TO REQUIRE FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND EMPLOYERS OF 35 FIREFIGHTERS TO NOTIFY THE STATE FIRE MARSHALL 36 OF THE SEPARATION OF A FIREFIGHTER FROM 37 EMPLOYMENT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR WRITTEN 38 WARNINGS AND CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF 39 THIS CHAPTER. 40 41 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 42 Carolina:

1 [3760] 1 1 2 SECTION 1. Title 40 of the 1976 Code, is amended by adding: 3 4 “Chapter 80 5 6 Employment and Registration of Firefighters 7 8 Section 40-80-10. (A) This chapter may be cited as the ‘South 9 Carolina Firefighters’ Employment and Registration Act’. 10 (B) For purposes of this chapter: 11 (1) ‘Employer’ means any fire department or other entity 12 which puts an individual or employee in service as a firefighter or 13 assigns any person to work or official duties as a firefighter 14 whether or not the firefighter receives financial compensation. 15 (2) ‘Employment date’ means the date the fire chief certifies 16 the firefighter is trained and prepared to perform firefighting 17 duties. 18 (3) ‘Fire chief’ means the highest ranking officer or official in 19 charge of a fire department, whether or not called by some other 20 title. 21 (4) ‘Fire department’ means any organization providing 22 rescue, fire suppression, and related activities including any public 23 or government sponsored organizations engaged in rescue, fire 24 suppression, and related activities. 25 (5) ‘Firefighter’ means any person, male or female, paid or 26 unpaid, who engages in rescue, fire suppression, or related 27 activities under the supervision of a fire chief or fire department. 28 (6) ‘Firefighting duties’ means duties relating to rescue, fire 29 suppression, public safety, and related activities as assigned by a 30 fire chief. 31 32 Section 40-80-20. (A) Prior to employment of any firefighter, 33 paid or volunteer, the fire chief or other employer must ensure that 34 each prospective firefighter undergoes a criminal records check 35 conducted by a law enforcement agency. 36 (B) The cost of the criminal record check must not exceed five 37 dollars. 38 (C) A person who is convicted, pleads guilty or no contest, or 39 otherwise admits guilt, regardless of adjudication, to a felony, 40 arson related crime, or use of a controlled substance within the last 41 ten years, shall not be allowed to perform firefighting duties in the 42 State of South Carolina on or after July 1, 2001. After the 43 expiration of the ten year period a fire chief has the option and

1 [3760] 2 1 discretion to determine whether or not to hire a person with a 2 criminal record as a firefighter. 3 (D) A criminal records check is not required for a firefighter 4 employed on or before June 30, 2001. 5 6 Section 40-80-30. (A) No later than sixty days after the start of 7 his employment date as a paid or volunteer firefighter, each 8 firefighter must be registered with the Office of the State Fire 9 Marshal by their fire chief or other employer. 10 (B) The Office of the State Fire Marshal must maintain a file 11 on each registered firefighter in this State, that includes all 12 information required to be kept by this chapter, and must assign a 13 firefighter identification number to each registered firefighter 14 which corresponds with the firefighter’s social security number. 15 (C) The information in the file of an individual firefighter may 16 be released in its entirety to a potential fire department or other 17 employer and may be used as a basis for employment. The 18 requesting department or employer must maintain this information 19 in a confidential manner. 20 (D) Any registered firefighter may at any time request a copy of 21 his or her file. The fee for a copy of a firefighters file is five 22 dollars payable to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. 23 24 Section 40-80-40. (A) No person may be allowed to perform 25 firefighting duties with a public fire department, organization, or 26 employer of a county, municipality, special purpose district, or 27 other political subdivision in this State on or after July 1, 2001, 28 without first being registered as provided in Section 40-80-30. 29 (B) A firefighter employed by the United States Government 30 and working in the course and scope of his official duties as a 31 federal employee is not required to be registered under this 32 chapter. 33 34 Section 40-80-50. (A) Upon recommendation of a fire chief or 35 other employer, the Office of the State Fire Marshal must register 36 each firefighter subject to the provisions of sections 40-80-30 and 37 40-80-40. The Office of the State Fire Marshal must maintain as 38 minimum information of each firefighter the complete name, the 39 date of birth, the social security number, the South Carolina 40 driver’s license number, the department, and the date of 41 employment or membership. The Office of the State Fire Marshal 42 must notify the chief of the employing department or other 43 employer in writing of the registration. The fire chief must utilize

1 [3760] 3 1 forms as required and provided by the Office of the State Fire 2 Marshal. 3 (B) Prior to the initial recommendation for registration and 4 employment of a firefighter, the fire chief or other employer must 5 ensure that each prospective firefighter undergoes a criminal 6 records check conducted by a law enforcement agency. The cost 7 of the criminal records check may not exceed five dollars. No 8 person must be eligible for registration as a firefighter if, within 9 ten years prior to the date of application, he or she has been 10 convicted of a felony, use of a controlled substance or arson 11 related crime. 12 (C) A criminal records check is not required for firefighters 13 employed on or before July 1, 2001. 14 (D) A firefighter who works for or serves more than one 15 department must be registered by each department. 16 (E) A firefighter previously registered with the Office of the 17 State Fire Marshal, but not actively engaged with a fire department 18 or as a firefighter for a period of six months, must be required to 19 apply for registration and to submit a criminal records check as 20 required by subsection (B). Exempt from this section are 21 firefighters that are being reinstated to their last registered 22 department within a period not to exceed three years. The fire 23 chief must within sixty days make notification to the Office of the 24 State Fire Marshal of the firefighters inactive status. 25 26 Section 40-80-60. (A) Each fire department or other employer 27 must notify the Office of the State Fire Marshal at any time that a 28 firefighter is separated from employment or membership. 29 Notification of separation of a firefighter from employment must 30 be on a form as provided by the Office of the State Fire Marshal. 31 (B) The notification of the separation of a firefighter from 32 employment required by this section must be made within thirty 33 days after separation.” 34 35 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 36 Governor. 37 ----XX----

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