2015-2016 Bill 248: Department Of Transportation Commission - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 121st Session, 2015-2016 3 4 S. 248 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senators McElveen and Johnson 10 Document Path: l:\s-res\jtm\005dot .kmm.jtm.docx 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2015 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Transportation 14 15 Summary: Department of Transportation Commission 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/10/2014 Senate Prefiled 22 12/10/2014 Senate Referred to Committee on Transportation 23 1/13/2015 Senate Introduced and read first time ( Senate Journalpage 152) 24 1/13/2015 Senate Referred to Committee on Transportation ( Senate Journalpage 152) 25 1/21/2015 Scrivener's error corrected 26 27 View the latest legislative information at the website 28 29 30 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 31 32 12/10/2014 33 1/21/2015 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 571310(A) OF THE 1976 CODE, 12 RELATING TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE DEPARTMENT 13 OF TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, TO PROVIDE THAT 14 THE JUDICIAL CIRCUITS OF THIS STATE ARE 15 CONSTITUTED AND CREATED AS DEPARTMENT OF 16 TRANSPORTATION DISTRICTS, TO PROVIDE THAT THE 17 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION WILL 18 BE COMPRISED OF ONE MEMBER ELECTED FROM EACH 19 TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT AND ONE MEMBER FROM 20 THE STATE AT LARGE APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR; 21 TO AMEND SECTION 571320, TO ELIMINATE 22 REFERENCES TO DIVIDED COUNTIES, TO LIMIT COUNTY 23 RESIDENT REPRESENTATION TO TWO CONSECUTIVE 24 TERMS; TO AMEND SECTION 571325, TO PROVIDE THAT 25 ALL MEMBERS OF EACH TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT 26 DELEGATION ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE FOR 27 TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION CANDIDATES, TO 28 PROVIDE THAT THE VOTE TAKEN MUST BE A 29 WEIGHTED VOTE; TO AMEND SECTION 571330 TO LIMIT 30 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONERS 31 TO TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS; TO MAKE CONFORMING 32 AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 571730(4), SECTION 33 571740(A), SECTION 571740(B)(1), SECTION 571740(D)(2)(a) 34 (iii), AND SECTION 571740(D)(2)(c) TO REFLECT THE NEW 35 COMPOSITION OF THE TRANSPORTATION DISTRICTS; TO 36 AMEND 57-1-740(D)(2)(a)(iii), (b), AND (c) TO PROVIDE FOR 37 THE REPORTING OF THE REVIEW COMMITTEE’S 38 FINDINGS; AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRANSITION TO 39 THE NEW COMMISSION COMPOSITION. 40 41 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 42 Carolina:

[248] 2 1 2 SECTION 1. Section 571310(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to 3 read: 4 5 “Section 571310. (A) The congressional districts judicial 6 circuits of this State are, for the purposes of this chapter, 7 constituted and created as Department of Transportation Districts 8 of the State, designated by numbers corresponding to the numbers 9 of the respective congressional districts judicial circuits. The 10 Commission of the Department of Transportation shall be 11 composed of one member from each transportation district elected 12 by the delegations of the congressional district Department of 13 Transportation District delegation and one member appointed by 14 the Governor from the State at large. Such elections or 15 appointment, as the case may be, shall take into account race and 16 gender so as to represent, to the greatest extent possible, all 17 segments of the population of the State; however, consideration of 18 these factors in making an appointment or in an election in no way 19 creates a cause of action or basis for an employee grievance for a 20 person appointed or elected or for a person who fails to be 21 appointed or elected.” 22 23 SECTION 2. Sections 571320, 571325, and 571330 of the 1976 24 Code are amended to read: 25 26 “Section 575320. (A) A county that is divided among two or 27 more Department of Transportation districts, for purposes of 28 electing a commission member, is deemed to be considered in the 29 district which contains the largest number of residents from that 30 county. 31 (B) No county within a Department of Transportation district 32 shall have a resident commission member for more than one two 33 consecutive term terms and in no event shall any two persons from 34 the same county serve as a commission member simultaneously 35 except as provided hereinafter. 36 37 Section 571325. (A) Legislators residing in the congressional 38 district To elect a commissioner to represent a transportation 39 district, the transportation district delegation shall meet upon 40 written call of a majority of the members of the delegation of each 41 district at a time and place to be designated in the call for the 42 purpose of electing a commissioner to represent the district. A 43 majority present, either in person or by written proxy, of the

[248] 3 1 delegation from a given congressional transportation district 2 constitutes a quorum for the purpose of electing a district 3 commissioner. No person may be elected commissioner who fails 4 to receive a weighted majority vote of the members of the 5 delegation. 6 (B) The delegation must be organized by the election of a 7 chairman and a secretary, and the delegations of each 8 congressional transportation district shall adopt such rules as they 9 consider proper to govern the election. Any absentee may vote by 10 written proxy. When the election is completed, the chairman and 11 the secretary of the delegation shall immediately transmit the name 12 of the person elected to the Secretary of State who shall issue to 13 the person, after he has taken the usual oath of office, a certificate 14 of election as commissioner. The Governor shall then issue a 15 commission to the person, and pending the issuance of the 16 commission, the certificate of election is sufficient warrant to the 17 person to perform all of the duties and functions of his office as 18 commissioner. Each commissioner shall serve until his successor 19 is elected and qualified. 20 (C) Legislators who represent any portion of a county 21 located within a transportation district constitute the transportation 22 district delegation. All members of the delegation are eligible to 23 vote on candidates to represent the district on the commission. 24 Voting shall be conducted based upon weighted voting that is 25 proportional to the transportation district’s total population in 26 relation to the population of the district represented by each 27 member. 28 29 Section 571330. (A) For the purposes of electing a commission 30 member, a legislator shall vote only in the congressional district in 31 which he resides. All commission members elected by a 32 transportation district delegation are elected to a term of office of 33 four years which expires on February fifteenth of the appropriate 34 year. No person may be elected by a transportation district 35 delegation for more than two consecutive terms. Commissioners 36 shall continue to serve until their successors are elected and 37 qualify, provided that a commissioner may only serve in a 38 holdover capacity for a period not to exceed six months. Any 39 vacancy occurring in the office of commissioner shall be filled by 40 election or appointment in the manner provided in this article for 41 the unexpired term only. No person is eligible to serve as a 42 commission member who is not a resident of that transportation 43 district at the time of his appointment. Failure by an elected

[248] 4 1 commission member to maintain residency in the district for which 2 he is elected shall result in the forfeiture of his office. 3 (B) The atlarge commission member shall serve at the pleasure 4 of the Governor. The atlarge commission member may be 5 appointed from any county in the State unless another commission 6 member is serving from that county. Failure by the atlarge 7 commission member to maintain residence in the State shall result 8 in a forfeiture of his office. 9 (C) All elected commission members may be removed from 10 office as provided in Section 13240(C)(1).” 11 12 SECTION 3. A.Section 571730(4) of the 1976 Code is amended 13 to read: 14 15 “(4) to submit the names of all qualified candidates to the 16 congressional transportation district delegation for election.” 17 18 B.Section 571740(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read: 19 20 “Section 571740. (A) For purposes of this section, a vacancy 21 is created on the commission when a term expires, a new 22 congressional transportation district is created, or a commission 23 member resigns, dies, or is removed from office as provided in 24 Section 571330(C). If known in advance, the review committee 25 may provide notice of a vacancy and begin screening prior to the 26 actual date of the vacancy.” 27 28 C.Section 571740(B)(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read: 29 30 “(B) Whenever a commission member must be elected to fill a 31 vacancy: 32 (1) The review committee must forward a notice of the 33 transportation commission district member vacancy to: 34 (a) a newspaper of general circulation within the 35 congressional transportation district from which a commission 36 member must be elected with a request that it be published at least 37 once a week for four consecutive weeks; 38 (b) any person who has informed the committee that he 39 desires to be notified of the vacancy; and 40 (c) to each member of the congressional transportation 41 district delegation. 42 The committee may provide such additional notice that it deems 43 appropriate.”

[248] 5 1 2 D. Section 571740(D)(2)(a)(iii), (b), and (c) of the 1976 Code is 3 amended to read: 4 5 “(iii) The review committee shall render its tentative findings 6 as to whether the candidates are qualified to serve on the 7 commission as a district member and its reasons for making the 8 findings within a reasonable time after the hearing. If only one 9 person applies to fill a vacancy or if the review committee 10 concludes there are fewer candidates qualified for a vacancy than 11 those who initially filed, it shall submit to the congressional 12 transportation district delegation for election only the names and 13 qualifications of those who are considered to be qualified. The 14 nominations of the review committee for any candidate for the 15 election to the commission are binding on the congressional 16 transportation district delegation, and it shall not elect a person not 17 nominated by the review committee. Nothing shall prevent the 18 congressional transportation district delegation from rejecting all 19 persons nominated. In this event, the review committee shall 20 submit another group of names and qualifications for that position. 21 Further nominations in the manner required by this chapter must 22 be made until the office is filled. 23 (b) As soon as possible after the completion of the 24 hearing, a verbatim copy of the testimony, documents submitted at 25 the hearing, and the review committee ’ s findings related to a 26 candidate ’ s qualifications of fact shall be transcribed and published 27 in the journals of both houses or otherwise made available in a 28 reasonable number of copies to the members of both houses and a 29 copy must be furnished to each candidate upon request. 30 (c)(i) The review committee must transmit to the 31 congressional transportation district delegation the names of all 32 qualified candidates. 33 (ii) No member of the congressional transportation 34 district delegation may pledge his vote to elect a candidate until 35 the review committee has released its written report concerning the 36 qualifications of the candidate to the members of the appropriate 37 congressional transportation district delegation. The release of the 38 written report of qualifications shall occur no earlier than 39 fortyeight hours after the names of the qualified candidates have 40 been initially released to members of the appropriate congressional 41 transportation district delegation. 42 (iii) No candidate may directly or indirectly seek the 43 pledge of a vote from a member of the candidate’s congressional

[248] 6 1 transportation delegation or, directly or indirectly, contact a 2 statewide constitutional officer, a member of the General 3 Assembly, or the Joint Transportation Review Committee 4 regarding screening for the commission until the review committee 5 has released its written report as to the qualifications of all 6 candidates in a particular congressional transportation district. For 7 purposes of this section, ‘indirectly seek the pledge’ means the 8 candidate, or someone acting on behalf of and at the request of the 9 candidate, requests another person to contact a member of the 10 General Assembly, a statewide constitutional officer, or a member 11 of the review committee on behalf of the candidate before the 12 review committee’s release of the written report of qualifications. 13 (iv) The prohibitions of this section do not extend to an 14 announcement of candidacy by the candidate and statements by the 15 candidate detailing the candidate’s qualifications.” 16 17 SECTION 4. Members of the Department of Transportation 18 Commission holding office as the date that the Governor approves 19 this act shall represent the transportation district that corresponds 20 with the judicial circuit in which the member resides. The 21 members shall continue to hold office for the balance of the term 22 to which they were elected. The members may be elected to serve 23 an additional term at the expiration of the term that they are 24 currently serving as provided by law. 25 26 SECTION 5. (A) Transportation districts that are not represented 27 on the Department of Transportation Commission as a result of the 28 provisions contained in this act are declared vacant and must be 29 filled in the manner provided for in this act except as provided in 30 subsection (B) and (C). 31 (B) To expedite the filling of vacancies created by this act, the 32 Joint Transportation Review Committee may waive the publication 33 notice of vacancy requirements contained in Section 571740(B) 34 and shorten the notice of intention filing period contained in 35 Section 571740(C). 36 (C) The Joint Transportation Review Committee shall establish 37 new time periods related to the publication of notice of vacancy 38 and notice of intention filing period. The new time periods must be 39 posted on the General Assembly website as soon a practicable after 40 adoption. 41 (D) The provisions contained in this SECTION 5 only apply to 42 filling vacancies created by this act. Subsequent elections for those

[248] 7 1 Department of Transportation districts must be held as provided by 2 law. 3 4 SECTION 6. This act takes effect July 1, 2015. 5 XX 6

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