1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 S. 605 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator Climer 10 Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\climer\jud0043.hla.docx 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on March 30, 2017 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 14 15 Summary: Economic interest statement filing 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 3/30/2017 Senate Introduced and read first time ( Senate Journalpage 8) 22 3/30/2017 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary ( Senate Journalpage 8) 23 24 View the latest legislative information at the website 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 3/30/2017 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 8-13-1140 OF THE 1976 CODE OF 12 LAWS, RELATING TO FILING A STATEMENT OF 13 ECONOMIC INTERESTS, SO AS TO REQUIRE EACH 14 STATEWIDE CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICER AND MEMBER 15 OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PROVIDE A COPY OF 16 PERSONAL FEDERAL AND STATE INCOME TAX 17 RETURNS FOR THE PREVIOUS CALENDAR YEAR BY 18 APRIL TWENTY-FIFTH, UNLESS THE FILER REQUESTED 19 AN EXTENSION TO FILE TAX RETURNS, AND TO 20 FURTHER PROVIDE THAT A FILER’S IMMEDIATE 21 FAMILY MEMBER SUBMIT A COPY OF THEIR INCOME 22 TAX RETURN IF THE FILER’S INCOME TAX RETURN 23 DOES NOT INDICATE THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY 24 MEMBER’S SOURCE OF INCOME, AND TO FURTHER 25 PROVIDE THAT TAX RETURNS SUBMITTED PURSUANT 26 TO THIS SECTION ARE NOT SUBJECT TO PUBLIC 27 DISCLOSURE AND MUST BE DESTROYED AFTER THE 28 TIME PERIOD FOR AUDIT OR INCOME VERIFICATION, 29 AND TO FURTHER PROVIDE THAT THE STATE ETHICS 30 COMMISSION, SENATE ETHICS COMMITTEE AND HOUSE 31 ETHICS COMMITTEE CONDUCT RANDOM AUDITS TO 32 VERIFY THAT SOURCES OF INCOME ON A STATEMENT 33 OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS ARE FULLY AND 34 ACCURATELY DISCLOSED. 35 36 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 37 Carolina: 38 39 SECTION 1. Amend Section 8-13-1140 of the 1976 Code of 40 Laws to read: 41

[605] 2 1 “Section 8-13-1140 (A) A person required to file a 2 statement of economic interests under this chapter annually 3 shall file, pursuant to Section 813365, an updated statement 4 for the previous calendar year, no later than noon on March 5 thirtieth of each calendar year. If the person has filed the 6 description by name, amount, and schedule of payments of a 7 continuing arrangement relating to an item required to be 8 reported under this article, an updating statement need not be 9 filed for each payment under the continuing arrangement, but 10 only if the arrangement is terminated or altered. 11 (B)(1) Each statewide constitutional officer and member of 12 the General Assembly must provide a copy of his personal 13 federal and state income tax returns for the previous calendar 14 year in the following manner: 15 (a) A statewide constitutional officer must submit a 16 copy of his personal federal and state income tax returns to 17 the State Ethics Commission. 18 (b) A member of the House of Representatives must 19 provide a copy of his personal federal and state income tax 20 returns for the previous calendar year to the House Ethics 21 Committee and the State Ethics Commission. 22 (c) A member of the Senate must provide a copy of 23 his personal federal and state income tax returns for the 24 previous calendar year to the Senate Ethics Committee and 25 the State Ethics Commission. 26 (2) In the event that the personal income tax returns of a 27 statewide constitutional officer or a member of the General 28 Assembly does not include the source of income for all 29 members of his immediate family, a copy of that immediate 30 family member’s personal federal and state income tax 31 returns for the previous calendar year must also be provided. 32 (3) A copy of the personal income tax returns required 33 by this subsection must be submitted not later than April 34 twenty-fifth. If the filer requested an extension for filing his 35 personal federal or state income tax return, or both, a copy of 36 the request for extension must be submitted in the same 37 manner as provided in item (1) of this subsection, and the 38 personal income tax return for which an extension was

[605] 3 1 requested must be submitted within ten business days after 2 the personal income tax returns are filed. 3 (4) Information received pursuant to this subsection is 4 not subject to public disclosure and may be retained only for 5 the period of time necessary to conduct any audit or 6 verification of the filer’s applicable statement of economic 7 interests, after which time the documents must be destroyed. 8 Social security numbers may be redacted before providing a 9 copy of the income tax returns or request for filing an 10 extension of the income tax returns. 11 (5) The State Ethics Commission, House Ethics 12 Committee and the Senate Ethics Committee must each 13 establish a process to conduct random audits to verify that 14 sources of income provided on a statement of economic 15 interests are fully and accurately disclosed.” 16 17 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 18 Governor. 19 XX 20

[605] 4