2017-2018 Bill 3444: Charlie's Law - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 H. 3444 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Rep. Bernstein 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\gt\5232cm17.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on January 12, 2017 13 Currently residing in the House Committee on Education and Public Works 14 15 Summary: Charlie's Law 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 1/12/2017 House Introduced and read first time ( House Journalpage 423) 22 1/12/2017 House Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works ( House Journalpage 423) 23 24 View the latest legislative information at the website 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 1/12/2017 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, TO ENACT “CHARLIE’S LAW”; TO AMEND SECTION 13 5655150, RELATING TO THE USE OF SAFETY DEVICES BY 14 A VEHICLE WHICH IS TOWING ANOTHER VEHICLE, SO 15 AS TO DEFINE THE TERM “VEHICLE”, TO REVISE THE 16 TYPE OF EQUIPMENT THAT MUST BE USED TO ATTACH 17 A TOWING VEHICLE TO A TOWED VEHICLE, TO PROVIDE 18 THAT THIS SECTION DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE 19 FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS, TO 20 PROVIDE A PENALTY FOR A VIOLATION OF THIS 21 SECTION, AND TO PROVIDE A LIST OF VEHICLES THAT 22 ARE EXEMPT FROM THIS SECTION. 23 24 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 25 Carolina: 26 27 SECTION 1. This act may be cited as “Charlie’s Law”. 28 29 SECTION 2. Section 5655150 of the 1976 Code is amended to 30 read: 31 32 “Section 5655150. (A) As used in this section, a ‘vehicle’ 33 includes, but is not limited to, a utility trailer. When a vehicle is 34 towing another vehicle on a public road or highway, the towing 35 vehicle must be attached to the towed vehicle by a two safety 36 chain, chains or cable devices, or equivalent device in addition to 37 the regular drawbar, tongue, trailer hitch, or other connection 38 trailer coupler with trailer ball and hinch pin. 39 (B) The safety connections or attachments must be of sufficient 40 strength to maintain connection of the towed vehicle to the pulling 41 vehicle under all conditions while the towed vehicle is being 42 pulled by the towing vehicle.

[3444] 2 1 (C) The provisions of this section do not apply to vehicles 2 using a hitch known as a fifth wheel and kingpin assembly. No 3 part of this section shall conflict with the requirements of a vehicle 4 subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. 5 (D) A violation of this section is subject to a penalty not to 6 exceed five hundred dollars or thirty days imprisonment. 7 (E) The provisions of this section do not apply to vehicles or 8 utility trailers: 9 (1) used for farming purposes; or 10 (2) that utilize a chain that is adequate for the weight 11 capacity of the trailer.” 12 13 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the 14 Governor. 15 XX 16

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