1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 117th Session, 2007-2008 3 4 S. 250 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator Martin 10 Document Path: l:\s-res\lam\006appe.mrh.doc 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 3219 12 13 Introduced in the Senate on January 9, 2007 14 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 15 16 Summary: Occupational health and safety cases 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 1/9/2007 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-140 23 1/9/2007 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-140 24 1/17/2007 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Moore (ch), Ford, Mescher, Rankin, Scott 25 1/24/2008 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Martin (ch), Hutto, Ritchie, Lourie 26 27 28 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 29 30 1/9/2007 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 1-23-600, AS AMENDED, CODE OF 12 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO 13 ADMINISTRATIVE LAW COURT HEARINGS AND 14 PROCEEDINGS, TO DELETE THE EXCEPTION PROVIDING 15 THAT CONTESTED CASES ARISING UNDER THE 16 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT ARE NOT TO 17 BE HEARD BY AN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; TO 18 AMEND SECTION 14-8-200, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO 19 JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF APPEALS, TO INCLUDE 20 IN ITS JURISDICTION A FINAL DECISION OF AN AGENCY 21 OR OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE IF PROVIDED 22 BY LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 41-15-310, AS AMENDED, 23 RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, LICENSING 24 AND REGULATION HEARING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 25 AND SAFETY CONTESTED CASES, TO PROVIDE THAT A 26 PARTY AGGRIEVED BY A CITATION, PENALTY, OR 27 ABATEMENT ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 28 LICENSING AND REGULATION, DIVISION OF LABOR 29 MAY REQUEST A CONTESTED CASE HEARING BEFORE 30 THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW COURT IN ACCORDANCE 31 WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT AND TO 32 PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR APPEARING IN AND 33 APPEALING SUCH CASES; AND TO REPEAL ARTICLE 6, 34 CHAPTER 15, TITLE 41, RELATING TO THE SOUTH 35 CAROLINA OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 36 REVIEW BOARD. 37 38 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 39 Carolina: 40 41 SECTION 1. Section 1-23-600(B) of the 1976 Code, as last 42 amended by Act 202 of 2004, is further amended to read:

1 [250] 1 1 2 “(B) An administrative law judge shall preside over all hearings 3 of contested cases as defined in Section 1-23-310 involving the 4 departments of the executive branch of government in which a 5 single hearing officer is authorized or permitted by law or 6 regulation to hear and decide such cases, except those arising 7 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, those matters which 8 are otherwise provided for in Title 56, or those other cases or 9 hearings which are prescribed for or mandated by federal law or 10 regulation, unless otherwise by law specifically assigned to the 11 jurisdiction of the Administrative Law Court.” 12 13 SECTION 2. Section 41-15-310 of the 1976 Code, as last 14 amended by Act 181 of 1993, is further amended to read: 15 16 “The Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing, and 17 Regulation or his designee shall promulgate regulations as may be 18 necessary to establish a procedure for administrative review before 19 the Commissioner or his authorized representative or 20 representatives for any employer or employee or employee’s 21 representative affected or aggrieved by (1) any act of the 22 Commissioner, (2) any citation issued by the Commissioner, (3) 23 any penalty assessed by the Commissioner, or (4) any period of 24 abatement set by the Commissioner. 25 Any employer, employee or their representatives has the right to 26 appear as a party in any review proceedings before the 27 Commissioner or his authorized representative or representatives 28 by giving written notice to the Director of the Department of 29 Labor, Licensing, and Regulation or his designee within twenty 30 days of the act or receipt of citation, or notice of the penalty or 31 period of abatement. 32 Within a reasonable time, the Commissioner shall make and 33 serve in writing, upon each party, his decision, which becomes 34 final upon the thirtieth day after service thereof. 35 Any employer or employee or their representative or 36 representatives aggrieved by any order or findings of the 37 Commissioner may obtain a review of the order or findings by 38 petitioning the court of common pleas in the county where the 39 employer maintains his principal place of business or where the 40 violation is alleged to have occurred for a review of the order or 41 findings by proper service upon the Director of the Department of 42 Labor, Licensing, and Regulation or his designee within thirty 43 days after service upon the party of the decision of the

1 [250] 2 1 Commissioner. The commencement of proceedings under this 2 section shall not, unless ordered by the court, operate as a stay of 3 the order of the Commissioner. No objection that has not been 4 urged before the Commissioner shall be considered by the court. 5 Notwithstanding the above provisions of this section, on 6 October 1, 1983, or such later time as the South Carolina 7 Occupational Health and Safety Review Board is duly constituted, 8 the Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing, and 9 Regulation or his designee shall cease to provide administrative 10 review pursuant to this section. All matters pending before the 11 Director of the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation or 12 his designee pursuant to this section and the regulations hereunder 13 shall be transferred to the South Carolina Occupational Safety and 14 Health Review Board on October 1, 1983, or such later time as it is 15 duly constituted. (A) Within thirty days after receipt of a citation, 16 notice of penalty, or notice of abatement issued by the Division of 17 Labor pursuant to the authority of this chapter, any aggrieved party 18 may request a contested case hearing before the Administrative 19 Law Court in accordance with Articles 3 and 5 of Chapter 23, Title 20 1 and the Rules of the Administrative Law Court. The parties to 21 the contested case are the Division of Labor and any aggrieved 22 employer, employee, or employee representative who requests a 23 contested case hearing. 24 (B) Hearings must be conducted according to the rules of the 25 Administrative Law Court. 26 (C) A party aggrieved by the decision of the Administrative 27 Law Court may appeal the decision as provided in Section 1-23- 28 380 and 1-23-61. 29 (D) An individual, partnership, corporation, or other business 30 entity is not required to be represented by an attorney when 31 appearing in a contested case before the Administrative Law Court 32 pursuant to this section, but may appear by an officer or an 33 employee. 34 (E) All matters pending before the South Carolina 35 Occupational Safety and Health Review Board on the effective 36 date of this act must be transferred to the Administrative Law 37 Court for adjudication, and the South Carolina Occupational 38 Safety and Health Review Board shall no longer provide 39 administrative review.” 40 41 SECTION 3. Article 6, Chapter 15, Title 41 of the 1976 Code is 42 repealed. 43

1 [250] 3 1 SECTION 4. This act takes effect January 1, 2008. 2 ----XX---- 3

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