South Carolina General Assembly
112th Session, 1997-1998

Bill 3829


Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


                    Current Status

Bill Number:                       3829
Type of Legislation:               General Bill GB
Introducing Body:                  House
Introduced Date:                   19970403
Primary Sponsor:                   Harrell
All Sponsors:                      Harrell, Altman, Cobb-Hunter,
                                   Breeland, H. Brown, Kirsh, Scott,
                                   Campsen, Townsend, J. Smith, Boan,
                                   Harrison, R. Smith, Limehouse,
                                   Littlejohn, Whatley, Wilkins,
                                   Hodges, Allison, Witherspoon and
                                   Lanford 
Drafted Document Number:           psd\7157ac.97
Companion Bill Number:             446
Residing Body:                     House
Current Committee:                 Education and Public Works
                                   Committee 21 HEPW
Subject:                           Regional transportation
                                   authorities, city references changed
                                   to municipality; Transportation
                                   Department



History


Body    Date      Action Description                       Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  _______________________________________  _______ ____________
House   19970403  Introduced, read first time,             21 HEPW
                  referred to Committee

View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTIONS 58-25-30, AS AMENDED, 58-25-35, 58-25-40, AS AMENDED, AND 58-25-70, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, ALL RELATING TO REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES, SO AS TO CHANGE REFERENCES TO "CITIES" TO "MUNICIPALITIES".

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 58-25-30 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 449 of 1992, is further amended to read:

"Section 58-25-30. In order to activate a regional transportation authority the following steps must be taken:

(1) A plan of service must be prepared. The plan of service must be consistent with any locally adopted transportation plan for the area to be served and must include, but not be limited to:

(a) The area to be served.

(b) The procedures to be used to serve the area.

(c) The estimated capital and operating costs by year for the first five years of operation, and the mechanism to be used to raise the local funds necessary to support the operation.

(d) The source and amount of funds expected to be available to finance the first year's capital and operating costs.

(2) Upon adoption of the plan of service, set forth in (1) above, by a majority of the governing bodies of general purpose local governments within the service area, an agreement to create an authority in conformity with the terms of this chapter may be executed within the proposed service area of the authority. The area to be served by the proposed authority must contain at least fifty thousand population.

(3) Upon the execution of the agreement by the governing bodies of the cities municipalities and the counties which include at least ninety percent of the population of the proposed service area within their jurisdictions, and only if the agreement provides for imposition of a new source of revenue such as a new tax, the question of creating such an authority under the terms of the executed agreement must be submitted for ratification to the qualified electors within the proposed service area at a general election or at a special election called for that purpose as set forth in the agreement. If an existing source or sources of revenue are utilized to fund the authority, an election is not required. If an election is required, the agreement shall become operational upon the approval of the majority of the voters within the service area voting on the question and the authority must be created not less than sixty days after the results of the election are certified. If an election is not required, the agreement becomes operational upon the execution of the agreement by the governing bodies of the cities municipalities and counties which include at least ninety percent of the population of the proposed service area, and the authority must be created not less than sixty days after the agreement is executed.

(4) If an election is required, the question to be placed before the electorate must state the municipalities and counties in the service area of the proposed authority (cities and counties involved) and the proposed method of financing, including the level of tax to be initially imposed, and membership on the board.

(5) Dissolution of the authority created pursuant to this chapter must be in the same manner as that for creation of the authority as set forth in this chapter. All resources of the authority including, but not limited to, real and personal property, structures, improvements, buildings, equipment, plants, rolling stock, vehicle improvements, vehicle parking, or other facilities and rights-of-way must be disposed of and the proceeds distributed among the authority's government members proportionate to their financial contribution.

(6) The adopted agreement and referendum may be revised in whole or in part through repeating the process as stated in this section.

(7) The Plan of Service may be updated as required to remain consistent with locally adopted transportation plans.

(8) For fiscal years after creation of a regional transportation authority, the governing bodies of the cities municipalities and counties within the service area of the authority publicly must make available information regarding the portion of their budgets which is devoted to the financial support of the authority and the estimated portion of any revenue source which would be utilized to support the authority."

SECTION 2. Section 58-25-35 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 58-25-35. The members of a regional transportation authority created under authority of this chapter must be the cities municipalities within the service area as defined by this chapter and the counties within the unincorporated areas or the service area of the authority."

SECTION 3. Section 58-25-40 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 449 of 1992, is further amended to read:

"Section 58-25-40. The authority's board members, officers, and staff must be as follows:

(1) The members of the authority must be represented on the governing board of the authority by appointees of the governing bodies of the cities municipalities and counties within the service area as set forth in Section 58-25-35. The appointees may be elected officials of these local governing bodies and if so would serve in an ex officio capacity. The governing board of the authority must be made up of not more than two times the number of authority governmental members and up to three additional members appointed by the legislative delegation as provided in this section.

There must be at least five board members. The membership of the governing board must be apportioned among the member cities municipalities and counties proportionate to population within the authority's service area.

As many as three additional members of the governing board of a transportation authority may be appointed by the legislative delegations of the member counties if approved in accordance with the procedures set forth in Section 58-25-30. If the authority receives a grant of the state funds from the general fund or the highway fund, the delegation shall appoint three additional members. Unless the agreement provides otherwise, the members of the governing board appointed by the delegation must be apportioned as determined by a majority of the delegation members, including the resident senator. No member government, regardless of population, may have less than one member on the board. County population must be determined after subtracting the member city municipality population in that county. The terms of the representatives serving on the governing board of the authority must be staggered so that the terms of approximately one-third of the governing board expire each year. After the initial terms as set forth in the agreement to achieve staggered terms, subsequent terms must be for three years. Members of the governing board of the authority may be reimbursed for expenses incurred in connection with their service on the authority but they may not receive salaries, per diem, or other compensation. Members shall adopt and abide by rules governing meeting attendance.

(2) No county or city municipality may be a member in more than one authority except that a metropolitan government may be a member of more than one authority when the services provided by the authorities are different.

(3) Subsequent to the activation of the authority, contiguous counties or cities municipalities not participating initially may become members of the authority with the same benefits as the initial members pursuant to the procedure set forth in Section 58-25-30 and with the approval by a majority vote of the board of the authority.

(4) The board of the authority shall elect one of its members as chairman, one as vice-chairman, and other officers as may be necessary, to serve for one year in that capacity or until their successors are elected and qualify. A majority of the board constitutes a quorum. A vacancy on the board does not impair the right of the authority to exercise all of its rights and perform all of its duties. Upon the effective date of his appointment, or as soon after appointment as practicable, each board member shall enter upon his duties.

(5) A board member of the authority may be removed from office by the governing body which appointed him for misconduct, malfeasance, or neglect of duty in office. Any vacancy so created must be filled as provided above.

(6) The authority may employ an executive director, who may serve as secretary or treasurer, to serve at the pleasure of the authority. The executive director may employ any employees as may be necessary for the proper administration of the duties and functions of the authority and may determine the qualifications of the persons. The authority shall adopt compensation plans for employees."

SECTION 4. Section 58-25-70 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 58-25-70. The authority must keep books of account, which must be independently audited at least once in each calendar year. A copy of the audit report must be provided to the member cities municipalities and counties. The authority must make an annual report of its activities to the member cities municipalities and counties. The authority must submit to the member cities municipalities and counties the annual operating and capital budget proposed for each fiscal year, at least sixty days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year. In the event a member city municipality or county disagrees with the proposed budget, it may set forth points of disagreement and transmit its statement to the authority and other governing bodies of the member cities municipalities and counties within thirty days of the receipt of the proposed budget. Budgets must be adopted by a majority of the member governments. In the event a majority of the governing bodies of the member cities municipalities and counties do not agree with the proposed budget, the authority must convene a meeting of chief elected and administrative officials of member governments to develop a budget which may be acceptable to a majority of the member governments; a majority, for the purposes of this section, includes the governing bodies of the member cities municipalities and counties representing more than one-half of the service area population. In the event a budget acceptable to a majority of the member governments is not developed prior to the beginning of its fiscal year, the authority shall continue to operate at the budget levels of the previously approved budget. Any budget changes requiring an increase in local funds in excess of ten percent during the budget year must be approved as provided above for annual budgets."

SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

-----XX-----