Department of Transportation

2025-2026 Bill 5071: Department of Transportation - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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Indicates Matter Stricken
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H. 5071
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Erickson, Crawford, G.M. Smith, Willis, Kirby, Garvin, Hixon, Montgomery, Martin, Brewer, Teeple, Bradley, Gilliam, Robbins, Hiott, B. Newton, Rankin, Hager, Sessions, Hewitt, Landing, Bowers, Wooten, Guffey, Taylor, Hartz, Oremus, Forrest, Guest, Vaughan, Davis, J.E. Johnson, Bannister, W. Newton, Pope, Jordan, Haddon, Herbkersman, Brittain, M.M. Smith, Ligon, Gagnon, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, Pedalino, Stavrinakis, Chapman and Gilreath
Companion/Similar bill(s): 831, 5362
Document Path: LC-0398DG26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 29, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Ways and Means
Summary: Department of Transportation
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

1/29/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 32
)

1/29/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Ways and Means
(
House Journal-page 32
)

2/10/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Chapman

4/2/2026

House

Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Ways and Means
(
House Journal-page 14
)

4/14/2026

House

Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Moss

4/15/2026

House

Requests for debate-Rep(s). B Newton, Pace,
Gilreath, Cromer, White, Magnuson, Edgerton,
Beach, Harris, Kirby, Gatch, Erickson, Hart, C
Mitchell, Guest (
House Journal-page 30
)

4/16/2026

House

Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Whitmire

4/23/2026

House

Debate adjourned (
House Journal-page 167
)

4/29/2026

House

Recommitted to Committee on
Ways and Means
(
House Journal-page 144
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
01/29/2026
04/02/2026

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

Committee Report

April 2, 2026

H. 5071

Introduced by Reps. Erickson, Crawford, G. M.
Smith, Willis, Kirby, Garvin, Hixon, Montgomery, Martin, Brewer, Teeple,
Bradley, Gilliam, Robbins, Hiott, B. Newton, Rankin, Hager, Sessions, Hewitt,
Landing, Bowers, Wooten, Whitmire, Guffey, Taylor, Hartz, Oremus, Forrest, Guest,
Vaughan, Davis, J. E. Johnson, Bannister, W. Newton, Pope, Jordan, Haddon,
Herbkersman, Brittain, M. M. Smith, Ligon, Gagnon, McGinnis, C. Mitchell, Moss,
Pedalino, Stavrinakis and Chapman

S. Printed 4/2/26--H.

Read the first time January 29, 2026

________

The committee on House Ways and
Means

To whom was referred a Bill (H. 5071) to amend
the South Carolina Code of Laws by amending Section
57-1-410
, relating to the Secretary
of the Department of Transportation, so as to provide that the Governor, etc.,
respectfully

Report:

That they have duly and carefully considered
the same, and recommend that the same do pass with amendment:

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all
after the enacting words and inserting:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
57-1-410
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-410
. The
commission
Governor
shall
appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Secretary of
Transportation who shall serve at the pleasure of the
commission
Governor
. A person appointed to this position shall
possess practical and successful business and executive ability and be
knowledgeable in the field of transportation. The Secretary of Transportation
shall receive such compensation as may be established under the provisions of
Section
8-11-160
and for which funds have been authorized in the general appropriations
act.

SECTION 2. Section
1-30-10
(B)(1)(iv) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(iv) in the case of
the Department of Transportation, a
seven member
commission constituted in a manner provided by law, and a
Secretary of
Transportation appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the Governor.

S
ECTION 3.
S
ection
57-1-310
(A) and (B) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(
A)
The congressional districts of this State are constituted and created
Department of Transportation Districts of the State, designated by numbers
corresponding to the numbers of the respective congressional districts. The
Commission of the Department of Transportation shall be composed of
:

(1)
o
ne member from
each transportation district, all appointed by the Governor, subject to the
provisions of Section
57-1-325
.
; and

(2) two members from the State at large, both
appointed by the Governor, upon the advice and consent of the General Assembly.
Each house must hold a separate confirmation vote.

I
n making appointments to the commission, the Governor
shall take into account race, gender, and other demographic factors, such as
residence in rural or urban areas, so as to represent, to the greatest extent
possible, all segments of the population of the State; however, consideration
of these factors in making an appointment in no way creates a cause of action
or basis for an employee grievance for a person appointed or for a person who
fails to be appointed. The members of the commission shall represent the
transportation needs of the State as a whole and may not subordinate the needs
of the State to those of any particular area of the State.

(
B)
The
at-large appointments made by the Governor must be transmitted to the Senate
and the House of Representatives for confirmation
Reserved
.

S
ECTION 4.
S
ection
57-1-330
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-330
.
(
A) All commission members are
appointed to a term of office of four years which expires on February fifteenth
of the appropriate year. However, a commission member may not serve more than
two consecutive terms, and may not serve more than twelve years, regardless of
when the term was served. Commissioners shall continue to serve until their
successors are appointed and confirmed, provided that a commissioner only may
serve in a hold-over capacity for a period not to exceed six months. Any
vacancy occurring in the office of commissioner shall be filled by appointment
in the manner provided in this article for the unexpired term only.
Except for the at-large member, a
A
person is not eligible to serve as a commission
member who is not a resident of that district at the time of his appointment.
Failure by such commission member to maintain residency in the district for
which he is appointed shall result in the forfeiture of his office.

(
B) An
at-large commission member may be appointed from any county in the State unless
another commission member is serving from that county. Failure by an at-large
commission member to maintain residence in the State shall result in a
forfeiture of his office.

(
B)
Commission members may be removed from office at
the discretion of the Governor.

S
ECTION 5.
S
ections
57-1-360
(B) through Section
57-1-370
of the S.C. Code are amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-360
.
(
B)
(
1) The chief internal auditor must be
a
certified public accountant
Certified
Public Accountant
, a certified internal auditor, or
a certified fraud examiner,
and possess any other experience the State
Auditor may require. The chief internal auditor must establish, implement, and
maintain the exclusive internal audit function of all departmental activities.
The State Auditor shall set the salary for the chief internal auditor as
allowed by statute or applicable law.

(
2) The audits performed by the chief
internal auditor must comply with recognized governmental auditing standards.
The scope of internal audit services shall cover the entire
department, including all the department's activities, assets, and personnel.
The scope of internal audit activities also encompasses all, but is not limited
to, objective examinations of evidence to provide independent assurance on the
adequacy, effectiveness, and efficiency of governance, risk management, control
processes, and compliance for the department.
The department and any
entity contracting with the department must fully cooperate with the chief
internal auditor in the discharge of his duties and responsibilities and must
timely produce all books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records
considered necessary in connection with an internal audit. All final audit
reports must be submitted to the
secretary, the

commission and the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the Chairman of the House of
Representatives Education and Public Works Committee, and the Chairman of the
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee before being made public. All
final audit reports shall be published on the department's and the State
Auditor's websites.

(
3) The State Auditor is vested with
the exclusive management and control of the chief internal auditor.

S
ection
57-1-370
.
(
A) The
commission

department
must develop the long-range
Statewide Transportation Plan, with a minimum twenty-year forecast period at
the time of adoption, that provides for the development and implementation of
the multimodal transportation system for the State. The plan must be developed
in a manner consistent with all federal laws or regulations and in consultation
with all interested parties, particularly the metropolitan planning
organizations and the nonmetropolitan planning organization area local officials.
The plan may be revised from time to time as permitted by and in the manner
required by federal laws or regulations.

(
B) Concerning the development,
content, and implementation of the Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program, the
commission
department

must:

(
1) develop a process for consulting
with nonmetropolitan local officials, with responsibility for transportation,
that provides an opportunity for their participation in the development of the
long-range Statewide Transportation Plan and the Statewide Transportation
Improvement Program;

(
2) approve the Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program and ensure that it is developed pursuant to
federal laws and regulations and approve an updated Statewide Transportation
Improvement Program from time to time as permitted by and in the manner required
by federal laws or regulations;

(
3) develop and revise the
transportation plan for inclusion in the Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program, for each nonmetropolitan planning area in consultation with local
officials with responsibility for transportation
described
in Section
57-1-25
;

(
4) work in consultation with each
metropolitan planning organization to develop and revise a transportation
improvement program for each metropolitan planning area;

(
5) select from the approved Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program the transportation projects undertaken in
nonmetropolitan areas in consultation with the affected nonmetropolitan local
officials with responsibility for transportation;

(
6) select projects to be undertaken,
in consultation with each metropolitan planning organization, from the
metropolitan planning organization's approved transportation improvement plan
in metropolitan areas not designated as a transportation management area;

(
7) consult with each metropolitan
planning organization, in metropolitan areas designated as transportation
management areas, concerning the projects selected to be undertaken from the
approved transportation improvement program and in accordance with the
priorities approved by the transportation improvement program; and

(
8) when selecting projects to be
undertaken from nontransportation management area metropolitan planning
organizations' transportation improvement programs, or selecting the
nonmetropolitan area projects to be undertaken that are included in the
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, and when consulting with
metropolitan planning organizations designated as transportation management
areas, the
commission

department

shall establish a priority list of projects to the extent permitted by
federal laws or regulations, taking into consideration at least the following
criteria:

(
a) financial viability including a
life cycle analysis of estimated maintenance and repair costs over the expected
life of the project;

(
b) public safety;

(
c) potential for economic development;

(
d) traffic volume and congestion;

(
e) truck traffic;

(
f) the pavement quality index;

(
g) environmental impact;

(
h) alternative transportation
solutions; and

(
i) consistency with local land use
plans.

(
C)
(
1) To the extent that state funds are
available to address the needs of the state highway system, the commission must
develop a comprehensive plan specifying objectives and performance measures for
the preservation and improvement of the existing system. The projects included
in this plan must be supported solely by state funds including the Non-Federal
Aid Highway Fund or other state revenue source. When developing the plan
required by this subsection, the commission must consider, but is not limited to,
considering the criteria in subsection (B)(8).

(2)
(
C)
When state funding is
programmed for a project
selected from the plan to be
undertaken
, the department may use federal law, regulations, or
guidelines relevant to the type of project being undertaken to be eligible for
federal matching funds.

(
D) The commission must approve the
department's annual budget.

(
D) The commission shall have any other
rights, duties, obligations, or responsibilities as specifically provided by
law.

S
ECTION 6.
S
ection
57-3-20
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-20
.
T
he
responsibilities and duties of the following
division
deputy directors
deputy secretaries
must
include, but not be limited to
, the following
:

(
1)
division deputy
director for finance and administration
Deputy
Secretary for Finance and Administration
:

(
a) financial planning and management;

(
b) accounting systems necessary to
comply with all federal and/or state laws and/or regulations as well as all
policies established by the Comptroller General;
and

(
c) administrative functions, including
recording proceedings of the commission and developing policy and procedures to
ensure compliance with these policies and procedures;
and

(
d) financial management of funding from
federal, state, and local transit, rail, and other intermodal transportation.

(
2)
division deputy
director for construction, engineering, and planning
Deputy Secretary for Engineering
:

(
a)
develop
statewide strategic highway plans; and
operations
and management of the department's highway districts;

(
b) direct highway engineering
activities, including
preconstruction,
construction,

design,
construction oversight, and maintenance of
state highways;
and

(
c) establish project and program
priority lists.

(
3)
division deputy
director for intermodal and freight programs
Deputy
Secretary for Intermodal and Freight Programs
:

(
a) develop a statewide public transit
system;

(
b) coordinate the preservation and
revitalization of existing rail corridors;

(
c) develop and coordinate a statewide
passenger and freight rail system, including the development of a comprehensive
state rail plan for passenger and freight railroads and rail infrastructure
services;

(
d)
plan, develop,
and
coordinate
and implement
a comprehensive
intermodal transportation program for the movement of passengers and freight
through integrated highway, railroad, port, airport, and other transit systems;
and

(
e) financial management of funding from
federal, state, and local transit, rail, and other intermodal sources; and

(f)
(
e)
manage the Office of
Railroads and the Office of Public Transit.

(
4) Deputy Secretary for Planning:

(
a) develop statewide strategic
transportation plans; and

(
b) coordinate statewide plans with
federal and state-funded regional and local transportation planning
organizations.

S
ECTION 7.
A
rticle 2,
Chapter 3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-20
5.
(
A) The department may enter into
public-private partnership arrangements between or among the department and any
public or private entity for the purpose of planning, designing, financing,
constructing, operating or maintaining the highways, roads, streets, bridges,
public transit, and work, improvements or facilities incidental or related
thereto under the jurisdiction of the department. The provisions of this
section may be used with any other provisions of state law to accomplish one or
more projects.

(
B) Public-private partnership
arrangements may take the form of design-build agreements, design-build-operate
agreements, design-build-operate-maintain agreements,
design-build-finance-operate-maintain agreements, franchise agreements,
pre-development agreements, tolling services agreements, direct agreements,
guarantees, concession agreements, lease agreements, availability payments
agreements, performance-based payments agreements, or any other form of
contract approved by the department, or other similar arrangements or
agreements pursuant to which the design, right-of-way acquisition, relocation
of structures or utilities, construction, financing, management, maintenance,
and operation, or any combination thereof, of a public highway, road, streets,
buildings and facilities owned by the department, broadband technology, bridge,
public transit project and work, improvements or facilities incidental or
related thereto is accomplished by the department or on behalf of the
department by any public or private entities or methods. Additionally, such
agreements may:

(
1) be short-term or long-term
agreements, but not exceed ninety-nine years;

(
2) authorize the establishment,
adjustment, indexation, and enforcement of fares, tolls, or other user fees,
including time-of-day or dynamic pricing, consistent with policies adopted by
the department, which may allow enforcement through photo monitoring, cashless
tolling, toll-by-mail, and toll-by-license plate. Such enforcement tools are
authorized for projects under this section as well as on a turnpike facility
designated under Title 57, Chapter 5, Article 9;

(
3) specify a revenue application
waterfall, reserves, rate covenants, and collection and enforcement measures;
and

(
4) be structured on a revenue-risk,
availability-payment, or hybrid basis, including shadow tolls or usage-based
performance components.

(
C) Subject to Section
57-3-615
, any
contracts entered into pursuant to this section may authorize funding to be
established, set, modified, adjusted, and retained by the private entity, may
include fares, tolls, or other user fees for use of the project that is the
subject of the arrangement, and the department may provide enforcement and
collection services for the benefit of a public-private partnership
arrangement. The funding may be distributed among the participants in the
project as may be provided for by contract. Multiyear payment obligations may
be appropriation backed availability payments or milestone payments and may
include standard non-appropriation clauses and
termination-for-non-appropriation remedies with predefined compensation
formulas.

(
D) The department may:

(
1) take any action to obtain federal,
state, or local assistance for a qualifying project that serves the public
purpose and the public-private partnership arrangements authorized by this
section and may enter into any contracts required to receive such assistance;

(
2) determine that it serves the public
purpose and the public-private partnership arrangements authorized by this
section for all or any portion of the costs of a project to be paid, directly
or indirectly, from the proceeds of a grant or loan made by federal, state, or
local government or any agency or instrumentality thereof. Such assistance
includes, but is not limited to, assistance under the Transportation
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, railroad rehabilitation and
improvement financing, private activity bonds, and other federal credit or
tax-exempt financing programs; and

(
3) cooperate with private partners to
obtain allocations or approvals necessary for the issuance of private activity
bonds and similar instruments, and may establish or incorporate, or assist in
the establishment and incorporation of, a not-for-profit corporation or entity
for purpose of borrowing funds through a governmental conduit bond issuer for
the benefit of a project procured by the department.

(
E) Any contract entered into pursuant
to this section shall require the private partner or each of its prime
contractors to provide performance and payment security to the extent deemed
necessary by the department or required by the financing parties. Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, the penal sum or amount of such security may be
less than the price of the contract involved, such as the value of the
construction elements of the contract, based upon the department's
determination on a project-by-project basis of what sum may be required to
adequately protect the department, the state, and the contracting and
subcontracting parties.

(
F) Notwithstanding any provision of
law to the contrary, proposals under this section, with respect to public
highway, road, bridge, building, facility, or public transit projects or work
incidental or related thereto that the department determines can be more
efficiently accomplished by any of the means enumerated in this section, may be
evaluated and awarded by the department based on qualifications of participants
or best value, or both, as evaluated by procedures of the department and taking
into consideration the best interest of the State of South Carolina. Projects
authorized under a pre-development agreement may be authorized without
specifying or finalizing the full or final scope of work to be performed under
the procurement or pre-development agreement. The department may utilize a
two-step request for qualifications or request for proposals process with
shortlisting, conduct competitive dialogue or confidential meetings with
proposers, solicit and accept alternative technical concepts, and make best-value
tradeoffs without mandated formulaic weights.

(
G)
(
1) To the extent not authorized by
statutory provisions other than this section, the solicitation pursuant to
subsection (B) for a given project must be submitted to the Joint Bond Review
Committee for review and comment prior to advertisement of the solicitation.

(
2) The contract may include an
agreement to make payments to a development entity on a multi-year basis,
provided either that payment and performance obligations for succeeding fiscal
periods are subject to the availability and appropriation of funds for such
periods, or that specific, limited revenues are identified in a solicitation
which has received review and comment by the Joint Bond Review Committee prior
to the solicitation of the procurement and such revenues are payable solely
from a revenue-producing project or from a special source, which source does
not involve revenues from any tax.

(
3) The department may set up separate
accounts, which may be with a commercial trustee, to account for any such funds
and provide for the deposit and disbursement of moneys therein under the
public-private partnership arrangement.

(
4) The department shall notify the
Joint Bond Review Committee within thirty days of execution of the
public-private partnership arrangement and shall provide the Joint Bond Review
Committee an annual report within one hundred twenty days of the end of each
fiscal year regarding the status of all public private partnership arrangements
outstanding.

(
H) When the department proposes to
enter into a public-private partnership arrangement under this section, it
shall, prior to the execution and delivery of the contract documents for the
public-private partnership arrangement, file a copy of the documents in the
office of the Secretary of State. It is the duty of the Secretary of State to
file and index the filing in a special book to be kept by such officer for such
purpose. The Secretary of State shall be authorized to prepare and deliver
certified copies of the filed documents and to deliver them to interested
parties. For each certification a reasonable fee may be charged. No action
shall be commenced on account of the validity of a public-private partnership
arrangement after the expiration of twenty days from the date of the filing and
indexing of the proposed contract documents for the public-private partnership
arrangement in the office of the Secretary of State. The period within which
such actions may be commenced shall not begin to run until such records have
been filed as prescribed in this section.

(
I) The department may promulgate
regulations to implement the provisions of this section.

S
ECTION 8.
S
ection
57-3-615
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-615
.

I
f a toll is administered on a project by the
Department of Transportation, the toll must be used to pay for the
construction, maintenance costs, and other expenses for only that project. A
toll project that is in excess of one hundred fifty million dollars may only be
initiated as provided in Chapter 37 of Title 4.

N
o toll may be imposed on passage of any vehicle on
federal interstate highways in this State which were in existence as of January
1, 1997, unless the imposition is otherwise affirmatively approved by the
General Assembly in separate legislation enacted solely for that purpose.

(
A) No toll may be imposed on the
passage of any vehicle on any publicly owned or controlled road, bridge,
highway, or interstate in this State except as provided by this section. Any
toll imposition must be allowed by or not contrary to federal law. Tolls may be
imposed on a publicly owned or controlled road, bridge, highway, or interstate
under any of the following circumstances:

(
1) the toll imposition is specifically
authorized by the General Assembly;

(
2) the toll imposition is on a
turnpike facility designated under Title 57, Chapter 5, Article 9; or

(
3) the toll imposition is reviewed by
the Joint Bond Review Committee and approved by the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority in connection with an agreement under Section
57-3-20
0 or
57-3-20
5
prior to the solicitation of proposals for the agreement. The manner and method
of toll imposition and rate setting are not required to be reviewed or
approved, but must be set forth in the agreement, as may be amended from time
to time.

(
B) Tolls imposed under subsection
(A)(2) or (3) of this section may only be imposed on managed or choice lane
facilities that increase the capacity of the applicable road, bridge, highway,
or interstate. Managed or choice lane facilities are those facilities that are
actively managed to achieve more effective and efficient use of a road, bridge,
highway, or interstate using various strategies including but not limited to
pricing, vehicle eligibility, and access control; the managed or choice lane
facilities shall be in addition to and not in place of existing lanes.

(
C) Tolls may continue to be imposed on
the passage of vehicles on any publicly owned or controlled road, bridge,
highway, or interstate in this State on which tolls were imposed as of January
1, 2026.

S
ECTION 9.
A
rticle 7,
Chapter 3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-790
.
(
A) The State waives its immunity under
the 11th Amendment of the United States Constitution and consents to suit in a
federal court for lawsuits arising out of the department's compliance,
discharge, or enforcement of responsibilities assumed pursuant to 23 U.S.C.
Sections 326 and 327. The waiver of immunity under this section is valid only
if:

(
1) the Secretary of Transportation
executes a memorandum of understanding with the United States Department of
Transportation accepting the jurisdiction of the federal courts as required by
23 U.S.C. Sections 326(c) and 327(c);

(
2) before execution of the memorandum
of understanding under subsection (A), the South Carolina Attorney General has
issued an opinion letter to the Secretary of Transportation and the
administrator of the Federal Highway Administration that the memorandum of
understanding and the waiver of immunity are valid and binding upon the State;

(
3) the act or omission that is the
subject of the lawsuit arises out of or relates to compliance, discharge, or
enforcement of responsibilities assumed by the department pursuant to 23 U.S.C.
Sections 326 and 327; and

(
4) the memorandum of understanding is
in effect when the act or omission that is the subject of the federal lawsuit
occurred.

(
B) Within one year of submitting an
application to assume administration of 23 U.S.C. Sections 326 and 327,
otherwise known as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Assignment
Program pursuant to this section, the secretary shall issue a NEPA Manual
detailing the manner in which the department will carry out its NEPA
responsibilities. The department must provide a public comment period of at
least thirty days on a draft NEPA Manual prior to issuance of a final NEPA
Manual.

(
C) The department must annually
publish a report describing the department's assumption of NEPA
responsibilities. The annual report must be made available to the public and
posted on the department's website. That report shall include, but not be
limited to, an analysis of time savings, an analysis of positive and negative
financial impacts, and a summary of any legal actions challenging the
department's actions under the program.

S
ECTION 10.
C
hapter
3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-800
.
T
he
Department of Transportation may enter into reciprocal agreements with other
jurisdictions including the federal government and any state, or agencies or
departments thereof, to enforce toll violations. The agreement shall provide
that, when another jurisdiction certifies that the owner of a vehicle
registered in this State has failed to pay a toll, processing fee, or civil
penalty due to that jurisdiction, the unpaid toll, processing fee, or civil
penalty may be enforced by placing a registration suspension as if the owner of
the motor vehicle has an outstanding judgment for failure to pay a toll under
Section
56-3-1335
, upon electronic notification by the Department of
Transportation to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The agreement shall only be
enforceable to the extent that:

(
1) the other jurisdiction has its own
reciprocal procedure for toll violation enforcement and does, in fact,
reciprocate in enforcing toll violations within this State by withholding the
registration renewal of registered owners of motor vehicles from such
jurisdiction, and the other jurisdiction provides due process and appeal
protections to avoid the likelihood that a false, mistaken, or unjustified
claim will be pursued against the owner of a vehicle registered in this State;

(
2) drivers and vehicles licensed or
registered in this State, while operating on the highways and bridges of the
other jurisdiction, shall receive the benefits, privileges, and exemptions of a
similar kind with regard to toll enforcement as are extended to the drivers and
vehicles licensed or registered in the other jurisdiction while they are
operating on the highways and bridges of this State;

(
3) the owner of a vehicle registered
in this State may present evidence to the other toll agency or jurisdiction by
mail or other means to invoke rights of due process without having to appear
personally in the jurisdiction where the violation allegedly occurred;

(
4) the reciprocal violation
enforcement arrangement between the department and the other toll agency
provides that each party shall charge the other for costs associated with
registration holds, or the like, in their respective jurisdictions.

S
ECTION 11.
C
hapter
3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-1345
.
(
A) In order to administer, collect,
and enforce any toll, toll violation, processing fee, civil penalty, or
registration-based enforcement mechanism authorized by this title, the
Department of Transportation shall coordinate with the Department of Motor Vehicles
to ensure access to current motor vehicle and owner registration data.

(
B) The Department of Transportation
shall, at a minimum, receive updated toll-related vehicle data from the
Department of Motor Vehicles monthly. The data shall include, but is not
limited to, vehicle identifiers, registration status indicators, and any information
necessary to support toll billing, notice, enforcement actions, or registration
renewal blocks authorized by law.

(
C) The Department of Transportation
and the Department of Motor Vehicles shall enter into a memorandum of
understanding governing:

(
1) the frequency, format, and method
of data exchange;

(
2) data security standards and
confidentiality requirements;

(
3) limitations on use of the data
solely for toll administration and enforcement purposes; and

(
4) procedures to ensure data
accuracy, error resolution, and due process protections for registered vehicle
owners.

(
D) No toll enforcement action that
relies upon registration suspension, renewal block, or similar Department of
Motor Vehicles action may be initiated unless the vehicle data relied upon has
been updated in accordance with this section.

(
E) Nothing in this section authorizes
the disclosure of personal information except as otherwise permitted by state
and federal law.

S
ECTION 12.
C
hapter
5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-5-105
.
(
A) The department shall publish a list
of roads not essential to the operation of the State Highway System and
ownership may be transferred to counties, municipalities, or other entities,
provided that mutual consent is reached between the department and the county,
municipality, or other entity pursuant to Section
57-5-80
. The list shall be
approved by the commission.

(
B) The System Realignment Fund is
hereby created to fund the transfer to local government of roads identified in
subsection (A), subject to appropriations by the General Assembly or transfers
from the State Highway Fund approved by the Secretary of Transportation.

(
C) In counties where all roads
identified by the department as non-essential to the State Highway System under
this section have been transferred to the county and municipalities within that
county, that county's county transportation committee shall not be required to
meet the thirty-three percent on state highway system requirements of Section
12-28-2740
(C).

(
D) In counties where all roads
identified by the department as non-essential to the State Highway System under
this section have been transferred to the county and municipalities within that
county, that county may impose a sales tax of two cents in accordance with the
requirements of Section
4-37-30
(A).

(
E)
(
1) In a county where all the roads
identified by the department as non-essential to the State Highway System under
this section that are located in the unincorporated areas of the county have
been transferred to the county, the local government may impose additional
millage to meet the funding requirements of maintaining the roads. An
additional millage imposed pursuant to this section is not subject to the
provisions of Section
6-1-320
.

(
2) In a municipality where all roads
identified by the department as non essential to the State Highway System under
this section that are located within the municipality have been transferred to
the municipality, the municipality may impose additional millage to meet the
funding requirements of maintaining the roads.

(
3) Any additional millage imposed
pursuant to this section is not subject to the provisions of Section 6 1 320.

S
ECTION 13.
S
ections
57-5-820
and
57-5-830
of the S.C. Code are amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-820
.
(
A)
As used in this section and Section
57-5-830
:

(
1)
"Structurally
deficient" means not adequate to handle the vehicle weights authorized on roads
leading to them.

(
2)
"Functionally
obsolete" means narrow clearances or sharp roadway approach angles that make
passage difficult or hazardous, or with too few lanes for existing traffic
needs.

(
B)
(
1)
All work
to be performed by the
Ddepartment
department
on state highways within a municipality
must be with the consent and approval of the proper municipal authorities,
except that work performed or to be performed on a bridge and its approaches,
certified by the
Ddepartment
department
as functionally obsolete or structurally
deficient, to remove, replace, or improve such bridge and its approaches shall
not require prior consent and approval of a municipal authority if the bridge
crosses the intracoastal waterway.

(
2) A decision by a municipality to not
consent and approve the work must be communicated in writing to the department
within one hundred eighty days of receiving notice of the work from the
department. A decision to disapprove of the work shall result in the
cancellation of the project, unless the project is determined by the commission
to be in the best interest of the State.

(
3) Failure to provide consent and
approval within one hundred eighty days shall be deemed acceptance of the work.

(
4) A municipality shall not
conditionally approve the work to be performed by the department.

S
ection
57-5-830
. In every case of a
proposed permanent improvement, construction, reconstruction, or alteration by
the
Ddepartment
department

of any highway or highway facility within a municipality, the
municipality may review and approve the plans before the work is started
, but in no event shall such review and approval of the plans
delay the project schedule as communicated by the department to the
municipality
; except that a municipality may not have the right to
review and approve plans to remove, replace, or improve a bridge and its
approaches within its limits where such bridge and its approaches have been
certified by the
Ddepartment
department
to be functionally obsolete or
structurally deficient and if the bridge crosses the intracoastal waterway.
Any costs incurred by the department caused by the unreasonable
delay in the review and approval of the plans shall be the responsibility of
the municipality.

S
ECTION 14.
S
ections
57-5-1320
through
57-5-1360
of the S.C. Code are amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-1320
.
A
s used in this section:
Unless the context indicates another meaning or intent:

(
1) "Department" means the Department
of Transportation;

(
2) "Turnpike facility" means any
express highway or limited access highway
constructed

or any specified lanes or portion thereof, designated and
ratified or approved as such
under the provisions of this article
by the department
, whether or not financed with turnpike
bonds, including any bridge, tunnel, overpass, underpass, interchange, entrance
plaza, approach, toll house, service station and administration and storage and
other buildings and facilities which the department considers necessary or
desirable. A turnpike facility constitutes a portion or extension of any
existing or proposed highway in the state highway system;

(
3) "Bonds or turnpike bonds" means
revenue bonds of the State authorized under the provisions of this article and
Paragraph (9), Section 13, Article X of the South Carolina Constitution;

(
4) "Authority" means the State Fiscal
Accountability Authority;

(
5) "Turnpike facility revenues" means
all revenues resulting from tolls or other charges derived from the operation
of a turnpike facility, including revenues derived from concession leases or
other concessionaire operated facilities
;
, and, to the extent designated by the bond resolution, such
nontax revenues or other legally available funds as are or may be made
available to the department from whatever source for the purpose of operating,
financing, enforcing, and maintaining, or any combination thereof, turnpike
facilities;

(
6) "Bond resolution" means the
resolution
or resolutions
of the
state board
authority
making
provision for the issuance of turnpike revenue bonds
;
, as may be supplemented or amended from time to time;

(
7) "General obligation bonds" means
state highway bonds issued pursuant to Paragraph (6)(a), Section 13, Article X
of the South Carolina Constitution
.
;

(
8) "State" means the State of South
Carolina;

(
9) "Commission" means the Commission
of the Department of Transportation.

S
ection
57-5-1330
.
1.
(
A)
The department may designate, establish, plan,
improve, construct, maintain, operate, and regulate turnpike facilities as a
part of the state highway system or any federal aid system whenever the
department determines the traffic conditions, present or future, justify the
facilities, except that the department may not designate as a turnpike facility
any highway, road, bridge, or other transportation facility funded in whole or
in part by a
then imposed
local option sales and
use tax
as provided in

imposed
pursuant to
Chapter 37 of Title 4
, unless by
agreements with the applicable county government
The department may
utilize
turnpike facilities revenues and
funds
available for the maintenance of the state highway system for the maintenance
and operation
of any turnpike facility
financed pursuant to this article
.

The authority to designate turnpike facilities under this section shall at all
times be subject to the provisions of Section
57-3-615
, and such designation
shall not be effective until ratified or approved by the State Fiscal
Accountability Authority.

2.
(
B)

In every highway construction project, except federal and state secondary
projects, rehabilitation and widening of federal and state primary and
secondary road and bridge projects and highway safety projects, the Department
shall consider making all or part of the highway construction a turnpike
facility and financing it by the use of turnpike bonds. It shall make an entry
in the construction project file indicating whether or not it determines making
all or part of the project a turnpike facility.
If the determines it
is feasible to make all or part of
the

any
construction project a turnpike facility,
then
it may engage in the preliminary estimates and
studies incident to the determination of the feasibility or practicability of
constructing any toll road as it from time to time considers necessary and the
cost of the preliminary estimates and studies must be paid from the general
highway fund and must be reimbursed from funds provided under this authority
only if the studies and estimates lead to the construction of a toll road.

3.
(
C)
The
department
may acquire such lands and property including
rights of access as may be needed for turnpike facilities by gift, devise,
purchase, or condemnation by easement or in fee simple in the same manner as
now or hereafter authorized by law for acquiring property or property rights in
connection with other state highways.

4.
(
D)
In designating,
establishing, planning, abandoning, improving, constructing, maintaining and
regulating turnpike facilities the
department
may
exercise
such
authorizations
as
are
granted to the
department
by the
provisions of other statute law applicable to the state highway system, except
as they may be inconsistent with the provisions included herein.

5.
(
E)
(
1)
The
Department
department
may contract with any person, partnership,
association or corporation desiring the use of any part of the turnpike
facility, including the right-of-way adjoining the paved portion, for placing
thereon telephone, telegraph, electric light or power lines, gas stations,
garages, stores, hotels and restaurants or for any other purpose, except tracks
for railroad or railway use and to fix the terms, conditions, rents and rates
of charges for such use provided that a sufficient number of the aforementioned
facilities shall be authorized to be established in each service area along any
such turnpike project to permit reasonable competition by private business in
the public interest. Revenues from these contracts would be included in
turnpike facility revenues.

(
2) The department may contract with
any political subdivision desiring to assist the department, whether
financially, in kind, or otherwise, in any of the designating, establishing,
planning, abandoning, financing, improving, constructing, maintaining, and
regulating turnpike facilities as may be set forth in a short-term or long-term
intergovernmental agreement between the department and the political
subdivision. Revenues from these contracts may be pledged for the term thereof
and may be included in turnpike facility revenues should the contract so
provide. The right to receive any payments under such an intergovernmental
agreement may be maintained by the department or assigned to the trustee for
the turnpike revenue bonds, as may be provided or authorized in the bond
resolution. The authority to enter into such an intergovernmental agreement is
concurrent and supplementary to those general powers granted political
subdivisions and the department in the South Carolina Code of Laws, including,
without limitation, Title 57.

S
ection
57-5-1335
. The

Department of Transportation
department
,
before constructing a bridge or replacing an existing bridge which
qualifies
is or is anticipated to
be designated
as a turnpike facility
as defined in
Section
57-5-1320
, shall conduct the feasibility study
required by
referenced in
Section
57-5-1330
and shall forward copies of the study to the Chairman of the
Transportation and Finance Committees of the Senate and the Education and
Public Works and Ways and Means Committees of the House of Representatives
within fifteen days of the completion of the study.

S
ection
57-5-1340
.
I
n
addition to the powers listed above, the South Carolina Department of
Transportation may:

1.
(
1)

Request
request
the issuance of turnpike bonds for the purpose of
paying all or any part of the cost of any one or more turnpike projects;

2.
(
2)

Fix
fix
and revise from time to time and charge and collect
a program of
tolls for transit over each
designated
turnpike facility
;

constructed by it;
and each
program may provide for dynamic tolling, scheduled tolling, variable tolling,
uniform tolling, or some combination thereof, and may take into account the
weight and class of certain vehicles, real-time and planned usage, and any
other factors deemed appropriate by the department;

3.
(
3)
Combine
combine
, for the purposes of financing
the

any turnpike
facilities,
any two or more turnpike facilities;

4.
(
4)

Control
control
access to turnpike facilities;

5.
(
5)

To
to
the extent permitted by a bond resolution, expend
turnpike facility
or facilities
revenues in
advertising the
turnpike
facilities and services of
the turnpike facility or facilities to the traveling public;

6.
(
6)

Receive
receive
and accept from any federal agency grants for or
in the aid of the construction of any turnpike facility;

7.
(
7)

Establish
establish
a separate division to administer turnpike
facilities and a separate turnpike facility account
.
;

8.
(
8)

Do
do
all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry
out the powers expressly granted in this article.

S
ection
57-5-1350
.
W
henever
it becomes necessary that monies be raised for a turnpike facility, the
commission may make request to the State Fiscal Accountability Authority for
the issuance of turnpike bonds. The request may be in the form of resolution
adopted at any regular or special meeting of the commission. The request shall
set forth on the face thereof or by schedule attached thereto:

1.
(
1)
the turnpike facility
proposed to be constructed
or designated
;

2.
(
2)
the amount required
for feasibility studies, planning, design, right-of-way acquisition, and
construction of the turnpike facility;

3.
(
3)
a tentative time
schedule setting forth the period of time for which the sum
request must
requested is expected
to
be expended;

4.
(
4)
a debt service table
showing the estimated annual principal and interest requirements for the
requested turnpike bonds;

5.
(
5)
any feasibility study
obtained by the commission relating to the proposed turnpike facility;

6.
(
6)
the commission's
recommendations relating to any covenant to be made in the bond resolution of
the State Fiscal Accountability Authority respecting competition between the
proposed turnpike facility and possible future highways whose construction
would have an adverse effect upon the turnpike
facility

revenues which would otherwise be derived by the proposed turnpike facility.

S
ection
57-5-1360
. Following the receipt of
a request pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
, the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority shall review the request and, to the extent that it approves the
request, it may effect, by
bond
resolution duly
adopted, the issuance of turnpike bonds, or pending their issuance, may effect
the issuance of bond anticipation notes pursuant to Title 11, Chapter 17.
A resolution approving any proposed turnpike bonds may not be
adopted unless before approval the state board conducts, after not less than
ten days' published notice, a public hearing in the City of Columbia.

S
ECTION 15.
S
ections
57-5-1380
through
57-5-1460
of the S.C. Code are amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-1380
.
(
A)
For the payment of the principal of and interest on
all turnpike bonds, there is irrevocably pledged
all
turnpike revenues derived from the
turnpike facility
revenues

financed by the bonds
to
the extent and in the manner prescribed by the bond resolution. Any interest
earned on turnpike facility account balances must be credited to the turnpike
facility account
as prescribed in the bond resolution
.

(
B) The turnpike bonds authorized by
this article are special limited obligations of the State. The principal and
interest are payable solely out of the turnpike facility revenues. The turnpike
bonds issued do not constitute an indebtedness of the State, State Fiscal
Accountability Authority, or department within the meaning of any state
constitutional provision or statutory limitation, except indebtedness payable
solely from a revenue producing source or from a special source that does not
include revenues from any tax within the meaning of Paragraph (9), Section 13,
Article X of the South Carolina Constitution. The full faith, credit, and
taxing powers of the State, State Fiscal Accountability Authority, or
department are not pledged to the payment of the turnpike bonds and this fact
must be plainly stated on the face of each turnpike bond. The State Fiscal
Accountability Authority and the department each lack taxing power.

S
ection
57-5-1390
. Turnpike bonds shall bear
interest, payable on occasions prescribed by the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority, at a rate not exceeding the maximum prescribed by
Section
11-9-350
the bond
resolution
. Each issue of turnpike bonds shall mature on the occasion
prescribed by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, not exceeding forty
years from the date the bonds
bear
are issued
. Turnpike bonds may, in the discretion of the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority, be made subject to redemption at par and
accrued interest, plus such redemption premium as it approves and on occasions
and under conditions it prescribes. Turnpike bonds are not redeemable before
maturity unless they contain a statement to that effect.

S
ection
57-5-1400
. Turnpike bonds must be
sold at private or public sale under conditions prescribed by the
bond resolution
State Fiscal
Accountability Authority
. For the purpose of bringing about successful
sales of the bonds, the State Fiscal Accountability Authority may do
, or cause to be done,
all things ordinarily and
customarily done in connection with the sale of state or municipal bonds. All
expenses incident to the sales of the
turnpike
bonds
must be paid from the proceeds of the sale of the bonds
or
turnpike facility revenues
.

S
ection
57-5-1410
. All turnpike bonds must
be executed in the name of and on behalf of the State
of
South Carolina
and must be signed by the Governor and the State
Treasurer. The Great Seal of the State must be affixed to, impressed, or
reproduced upon each of them and they must be attested by the Secretary of
State. If approved by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority,
any one or two of
the officers may, in lieu of manually
signing, employ the use of the facsimile of their signatures in executing any
turnpike bonds.

S
ection
57-5-1420
. The proceeds derived from
the sale of turnpike bonds must be applied only to the purposes
for which bonds are issued
authorized
by this article and provided in the bond resolution
.

S
ection
57-5-1430
. Turnpike bonds must each
be in the denomination of one thousand
or five thousand
dollars
or some multiple thereof
or such larger denominations as
may be authorized by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority in the bond
resolution
.

S
ection
57-5-1440
.

T
urnpike bonds issued pursuant to this article may be
in the form of negotiable coupon bonds, payable to bearer, with the privilege
to the holder of having them registered in his name on the books of the State
Treasurer as to principal only, or as to both principal and interest, and the
principal or both principal and interest, as the case may be, thus made payable
to the registered holder, subject to conditions the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority prescribes. Turnpike bonds so registered as to principal in the name
of the holder may thereafter be registered as payable to bearer and made
payable accordingly.

T
urnpike bonds may
also
be
issued as fully registered bonds with both principal and interest made payable
only to the registered holder. The fully registered bonds are subject to
transfer under conditions the State Fiscal Accountability Authority prescribes.
The fully registered bonds may, if the proceedings authorizing
their issuance so provide, be convertible into negotiable coupon bonds with the
attributes set forth in the first paragraph of this section
.

S
ection
57-5-1450
.
(
A) The

State
Fiscal Accountability Authority, by
bond
resolution
duly adopted, may make provision for the issuance of turnpike bonds. In the
bond
resolution, the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority may prescribe:

(
1) the amount, denomination, and
numbering of turnpike bonds to be issued;

(
2) the
date as
of which they must be issued
method or manner of
dating the turnpike bonds
;

(
3) the
estimated

maturity schedule for the retirement of the turnpike bonds
and a pro forma table of anticipated principal and interest
payments for such turnpike bonds
;

(
4) the form or forms of the
turnpike
bonds of the particular issue;

(
5) the redemption provisions
or manner of determining the same
, if any, applicable to
the bonds;

(
6) the maximum rate or rates of
interest the
turnpike
bonds shall bear;

(
7) the specific purposes for which
the
turnpike
bonds must be issued;

(
8) the purposes for which the
proceeds of the
turnpike
bonds must be expended, in
the discretion of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, a portion of the
proceeds may be used as capitalized interest during the period of construction
and initial operation and for the creation of appropriate debt service reserves
and other funds and accounts as the State Fiscal Accountability
Authority deems necessary or expedient from the turnpike bonds and the proper
operation and functioning of the turnpike facilities
;

(
9) the method and conditions by which
turnpike revenues from the turnpike facility so financed must be collected and
utilized;

(10)
(
9)
the extent to which
and the conditions under which additional parity
turnpike
bonds
may be issued;

(11)
(
10)
any covenant
considered necessary protecting the turnpike facility so financed from possible
future competition from other highways or comparable facilities;

(12)
(
11)
the
authorized
method
or methods
by
which the
turnpike
bonds must be sold and such
other matters as may be considered necessary in order to effect the sale,
issuance, and delivery of the
turnpike
bonds
.
;

(
12) the conditions under which
refunding turnpike bonds may be issued.

(
B) Except as otherwise provided in
this article, all expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this
article are payable solely from funds provided under the authority of this
article or from any funds provided by the federal government or from other
special sources and no liability or obligation may be incurred by the
department beyond the extent to which money has been provided under the
provisions of this article.

(C)
(
B)
The
bond
resolution shall set forth further a finding on the
part of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority that the estimate of turnpike
facility revenues made by the commission and approved by the State Fiscal
Accountability Authority indicates that collection from turnpike
facility
revenues for applicable fiscal years is
expected to be
not less than that required for annual
debt service requirements of the requested turnpike bonds.

In making such finding, the department and the authority may rely in whole or
in part on the work product of third-party professionals engaged to provide
financial, feasibility, or practicability studies related to the turnpike
facilities or the financing thereof through turnpike bonds.

(
C) The authority, by bond resolution
duly adopted, may ratify and approve, in whole or in part, or modify in any
way, the designation of turnpike facilities proposed pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
.

(
D) The authority, by bond resolution
duly adopted, may ratify and approve, in whole or in part, the combining of any
turnpike facilities then existing or proposed pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
;
provided, however, that prior to ratifying and approving such a combination
from time to time the authority shall make a finding that it is in the best
interest of the State after taking into account factors including, but not
limited to, geographic connection, regional transportation planning,
operational efficiencies, revenue stability, bonding capacity, and such other
factors as it finds relevant.

S
ection
57-5-1460
. If following presentation
of a certified copy of the bond resolution it appears to the satisfaction of
the Governor and the State Treasurer that the estimated collection from the
sources of revenue
turnpike facility
revenues
in applicable future fiscal years are not less than that
required for annual debt service requirements for the requested turnpike bonds,

then
the Governor and State Treasurer may effect
the delivery of bonds in accordance with the bond resolution.

S
ECTION 16.
S
ections
57-5-1480
through
57-5-1495
(A), (B), and (C) of the S.C. Code are amended to
read:

S
ection
57-5-1480
. It is lawful for all
executors, administrators, guardians, and other fiduciaries and all sinking
fund commissions, including the
State Fiscal
Accountability Authority

Retirement System
Investment Commission
and Public Employee Benefit Authority in their
capacities as cotrustees of the funds of the South Carolina Retirement System
and
as
any
manager and
administrator of
other
state sinking funds, to
invest any monies in their hands in turnpike bonds.

S
ection
57-5-1490
. Any person who uses any
turnpike
project

facility
and
fails or refuses to pay
the

any

toll
provided therefor
then
due
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and
,

upon conviction
,
shall be punished by a fine of not
more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days,
and in addition thereto the
Ddepartment
department
shall have a lien upon the vehicle driven
by such person for the amount of such toll and may take and retain possession
thereof.

S
ection
57-5-1495
.
(
A) As used in this section:

(
1) "Electronic toll collection
system" means a system of collecting tolls or charges which is capable of
charging an account holder
or person
the
appropriate toll or charge by
electronic means
transmission of information from an electronic device on a motor
vehicle to the toll lane, which information is used to charge the account the
appropriate toll or charge
.

(
2) "Lessor" means any person,
corporation, firm, partnership, agency, association, or organization renting or
leasing vehicles to a lessee under a rental agreement, lease, or otherwise
wherein the said lessee has the exclusive use of the vehicle for any period of
time.

(
3) "Lessee" means any person,
corporation, firm, partnership, agency, association, or organization that
rents, leases, or contracts for the use of one or more vehicles and has
exclusive use of the vehicles for any period of time.

(
4) "Owner" means a person
, other than a lienholder, having the property interest in or
title to a vehicle. The term includes a person entitled to the use and
possession of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person, but
excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security

or an entity who, at the time of a toll violation and with
respect to the vehicle involved in the violation, is the registrant or
co-registrant of the vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles of this
State or another state, territory, district, province, nation, or jurisdiction
.

(
5) "Photo-monitoring system" means a
vehicle sensor installed to work in conjunction with a toll collection facility
which automatically produces one or more photographs, one or more
microphotographs, a videotape, or other recorded images of a vehicle at the
time it is used or operated in violation of toll collection regulations.

(
6) "Toll violation" means the passage
of a vehicle through a toll collection point without payment of the required
toll.

(
7)
"Motor
vehicle" or "vehicle" means every vehicle which is
self-propelled
"Vehicle" means a device in, upon, or
by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway,
except devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks
.

(
B) Notwithstanding another provision
of law, when a vehicle is driven through a turnpike facility without payment of
the required toll, the owner
and operator
of the
vehicle is
jointly and severally liable

responsible
to the Department of Transportation to pay
the required toll, administrative fees, and civil penalty as provided in this
section. The department or its authorized agent may enforce collection of the
required toll as provided for in this section.

(
C) A certificate, sworn to or
affirmed by an agent of the department, or a facsimile of it, that a toll
violation has occurred, based upon inspection of photographs, microphotographs,
videotape,
or
other recorded images
, or other electronic means,
produced by a
photo-monitoring system, is prima facie evidence of the violation and is
admissible in any proceeding charging a toll violation pursuant to this
section. A photograph, microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image
evidencing a violation must be available for inspection by the party charged
and is admissible into evidence in a proceeding to adjudicate liability for a
violation.

S
ECTION 17.
C
hapter
5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-5-1710
.
(
A). As used in this section, "phased
design-build" means a project delivery method that uses a stepped or
progressive qualifications-based selection process, followed by a progression
to a contract price. The department must select the phased design-build
contractor exclusively on qualifications and technical approach, without
consideration of schedule or costs, which must deliver the project in multiple
phases.

(
1) The phased design-build contractor
is initially under contract for preconstruction activities including, but not
limited to, project validation, designing and developing plans, performing
constructability reviews, and developing construction schedules and pricing.

(
2) The department and the phased
design-build contractor shall establish a guaranteed maximum construction cost.
The guaranteed maximum construction cost is the total dollar amount within
which the phased design-build contractors shall complete the final design and
construction of the project including the contractor's direct costs, overhead,
and profit, plus any authorized contingency. Upon agreement of the guaranteed
maximum construction cost, the department and the phased design-build
contractor will execute a second contract or an amendment to the initial
contract for completion of the final designs and construction of the project
consistent with subsection (C).

(
3) If the department and phased
design build contractor cannot reach agreement on a guaranteed maximum
construction cost, then the department shall take ownership and assume
liability of the design work product. Nothing shall prohibit the department
from pursuing the project under any other legally allowed method.

(
B) The department may only award a
contract under this section if the department:

(
1) determines that it is in the
public's interest to use the phased design-build project delivery method; and

(
2) prequalifies the prime contractor
and lead designer firm that will be awarded the contract.

(
C) The method for the department to
award a contract using phased design-build procedures shall be:

(
1) Prior to the initiating a phased
design build procurement under this section, the department shall submit a
report to the Joint Bond Review Committee on the nature and scope of the
project and the reasons the phased design-build procurement project delivery
method will best serve the public interest. The department shall not initiate a
procurement until the Joint Bond Review Committee has provided its review and
comment.

(
2) Upon completion of a project
awarded under subsection (B), the department shall submit a post-completion
report to the Joint Bond Review Committee detailing the project results,
including any cost and time efficiencies achieved using the phased design-build
project delivery method. This report must include a cost analysis comparing the
use of phased design-build for awarding contracts with the award of contracts
under the existing procedure.

(
D) The department may promulgate
regulations to implement the phased design-build method.

S
ection
57-5-1720
.
(
A) The department may award highway
construction contracts using a construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC)
procedure. Under a CM/GC contract, the department shall perform preconstruction
services via department personnel or via contract. A CM/GC contractor is
responsible for providing advisory preconstruction services of the department's
design including, but not limited to, constructability review, scheduling,
pricing, and phasing. The CM/GC contractor shall be able to perform
construction should the department and the contractor agree to a guaranteed
maximum price.

(
B) Should a guaranteed maximum price
agreement be reached, construction services shall commence under a subsequent
contract instrument. The contract instrument may be in the form of a CM/GC
contract, a franchise agreement, or any other form of contract approved by the
department. Before execution of a construction contract, the department shall
retain an independent third party to develop a cost estimate to verify the
guaranteed maximum price submitted by the contractor.

(
C) Selection criteria shall include
the contractor's cost for preconstruction services associated with the project,
contractor qualifications, experience, past performance, best value, or any
combination of the aforementioned criteria, or any other combination of
selection criteria considered appropriate by the department.

(
D) The department may promulgate
regulations to implement the CM/GC project delivery method.

S
ECTION 18.
S
ections
56-5-4210
through
56-5-4220
of the S.C. Code are amended to read:

S
ection
56-5-4210
.
(
A)
Anything in this article to the contrary
notwithstanding, the Department of Transportation with respect to state
highways and local authorities with respect to highways under their
jurisdiction may prescribe, by notice as herein provided, loads and weights and
speed limits lower than the limits prescribed in this chapter and other laws,
whenever in their judgment any road or part thereof or any bridge or culvert
shall by reason of its design, deterioration, rain or other climatic or natural
causes be liable to be damaged or destroyed by motor vehicles, trailers or
semitrailers, if the gross weight or speed limit thereof shall exceed the
limits prescribed in such notice. And the Department of Transportation or such
local authority may, by like notice, regulate or prohibit, in whole or in part,
the operation of any specified class or size of motor vehicle, trailer
,
or semitrailer on any highways or specified parts
thereof under its jurisdiction, whenever in its judgment, such regulation or
prohibition is necessary to provide for the public safety and convenience on
such highways or parts thereof by reason of traffic density, intensive use
thereof by the traveling public or other reasons of public safety and
convenience. The notice or the substance thereof shall be posted at
conspicuous places at terminals of and all intermediate cross-roads and road
junctions with the section of highway to which such notice shall apply. After
any such notice shall have been posted, the operation of any motor vehicle or
combination contrary to its provisions shall constitute a violation of this
chapter.

(
B) The imposition of any restrictions
pursuant to subsection (A) must first be approved by the Department of
Transportation on any highways transferred to local authorities after July
2026.

S
ection
56-5-4220
. No limitation shall be
established by any county, municipal
,
or other
local authority pursuant to the provisions of Section
56-5-4210
that would
interfere with or interrupt traffic as authorized hereunder
over

along public
state
highways, including officially established detours for such highways and cases
where such traffic passes over roads, streets or thoroughfares within the sole
jurisdiction of such county, municipal
,
or other
local authority, unless such limitations and further restrictions shall have
first been approved by the Department of Transportation, except that with
respect to county roads, other than such as are in use as state highway
detours, the respective county road authorities shall have full power and
authority to further limit the weights of vehicles upon bridges and culverts
that have failed to meet the National Bridge Inspection
Standards as administered by the Department of Transportation
upon such
public notice as they deem sufficient, and existing laws applicable thereto
shall not be affected by the terms of this article.

S
ECTION 19.
S
ection
11-43-140
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
11-43-140
. The board of directors is
the governing board of the bank. The board consists of seven voting directors
as follows:
the Chairman of the Department
the Secretary
of Transportation
Commission
,
ex officio; one director appointed by the Governor who shall serve as
chairman; one director appointed by the Governor; one director appointed by
the Speaker of the House of Representatives; one member of the House of
Representatives appointed by the Speaker, ex officio; one director appointed
by the President of the Senate; and one member of the Senate appointed by the
President of the Senate, ex officio. Directors appointed by the Governor, the
Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate shall serve terms
coterminous with those of their appointing authority. The terms for the
legislative members are coterminous with their terms of office. The vice
chairman must be elected by the board. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy
must be appointed in the same manner as the original appointee for the
remainder of the unexpired term.

S
ECTION 20.
S
ection
11-35-710
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
11-35-710
.
(
A) The board, upon the recommendation
of the chief procurement officer, may exempt governmental bodies from
purchasing certain items through the respective chief procurement officer's
area of responsibility. The board may exempt specific supplies, services,
information technology, or construction from the purchasing procedures required
in this chapter and for just cause by unanimous written decision limit or may
withdraw exemptions provided for in this section. The following exemptions are
granted from this chapter:

(
1)
the
construction, maintenance, and repair of bridges, highways, and roads; vehicle
and road equipment maintenance and repair; and other emergency-type parts or
equipment utilized by the Department of Transportation or the Department of
Public Safety
the acquisition by the Department of
Transportation of: transportation planning; the construction, maintenance,
design, financing, operation, and repair of bridges, highways, roads, and other
improvements within the state rights of way; technology related to operations
within the state rights of way; and vehicle and road equipment maintenance and
repair and other emergency-type parts and equipment
;

(
2) the purchase of raw materials by
the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Division of Prison Industries;

(
3) South Carolina State Ports
Authority;

(
4) Division of Public Railways of the
Department of Commerce;

(
5) South Carolina Public Service
Authority;

(
6) expenditure of funds at state
institutions of higher learning derived wholly from athletic or other student
contests, from the activities of student organizations, and from the operation
of canteens and bookstores, except as the funds are used for the procurement of
construction, architect-engineer, construction-management, and land surveying
services;

(
7) livestock, feed, and veterinary
supplies;

(
8) articles for commercial sale by
all governmental bodies;

(
9) fresh fruits, vegetables, meats,
fish, milk, and eggs;

(
10) South Carolina Arts Commission
and South Carolina Museum Commission for the purchase of one-of-a-kind items
such as paintings, antiques, sculpture, and similar objects. Before a
governmental body procures the objects, the head of the purchasing agency shall
prepare a written determination specifying the need for the objects and the
benefits to the State. The South Carolina Arts Commission shall review the
determination and forward a recommendation to the board for approval;

(
11) published books, periodicals,
and technical pamphlets;

(
12) South Carolina Research
Authority;

(
13) the purchase of supplies,
services, or information technology by state offices, departments,
institutions, agencies, boards, and commissions or the political subdivisions
of this State from the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Division of Prison
Industries;

(
14) Medical University Hospital
Authority, if the Medical University Hospital Authority has promulgated a
procurement process in accordance with its enabling provision;

(
15) if approved in writing by the
State Engineer in advance, and if some aspect of the overall transaction is
otherwise approved by the board in advance of the acquisition, an acquisition
of construction from an eleemosynary corporation or foundation, or a wholly
owned business thereof, established solely for the governmental body's benefit,
but only if the eleemosynary corporation or foundation acquires the
construction on behalf of or for the use of the governmental body and does so
pursuant to this code, as required by Section
11-35-40
(4).

(
16) the acquisition by the
Department of Public Safety of vehicle and road equipment maintenance and
repair and other emergency-type parts and equipment.

(
B) The State Fiscal Accountability
Authority shall maintain and post publicly a running list of all currently
effective actions taken by the board pursuant to subsection (A)
.
;

S
ECTION 21.
S
ection
12-28-2740
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
12-28-2740
.
(
A) The proceeds from
two and sixty-six
three and
ninety-nine
one-hundredths cents a gallon of the user fee on gasoline
only as levied and provided for in this chapter must be deposited with the
State Treasurer and expended for purposes set forth in this section. The monies
must be apportioned among the counties of the State in the following manner:

(
1) one-third distributed in the
ratio which the land area of the county bears to the total land area of the
State;

(
2) one-third distributed in the
ratio which the population of the county bears to the total population of the
State as shown by the latest official decennial census;

(
3) one-third distributed in the
ratio which the mileage of all rural roads in the county bears to the total
rural road mileage in the State as shown by the latest official records of the
Department of Transportation. The Department of Revenue shall collect the
information required pursuant to Section
12-28-1390
regarding the number of
gallons sold in each county for use in making allocations of donor funds as
provided in subsection
(H)
(I)
.
The Department of Revenue shall submit the percentage of the total represented
by each county to the Department of Transportation and to each county
transportation committee annually by May first of the following calendar year.
Upon request of a county transportation committee, the Department of
Transportation shall continue to administer the funds allocated to the county.

(
B)
All interest earnings on the County Transportation
Fund in the State Treasury must be added to the distribution to counties under
this section in proportion to each county's portion of the entire County
Transportation Fund. Except for those funds being used in connection with
highway projects administered by the Department of Transportation on behalf of
counties administering their own "C" funds, these distributions of earnings and
the calculation required to determine the appropriate amount shall not include
those counties administering their own "C" funds.

(B)
(
C)
(
1)
The funds expended must be
approved by and used in furtherance of a countywide transportation plan adopted
by a county transportation committee.

(
2) The county legislative delegation
shall appoint the county transportation committee, and shall ensure that the
committee includes fair representation from municipalities and unincorporated
areas of the county. All members of the county transportation committee must be
residents of the county. The Department of Transportation shall publish a
register on its website of members of the respective county transportation
committees. The county transportation committee shall publish on the county
website the members of the county transportation committee.

(
3) The countywide transportation
plan shall list the criteria by which projects shall be selected by the county
transportation committee. The criteria shall include, but not be limited to,
the condition of state and local highway roads and bridges, safety, efficient
traffic operations, and economic development. The plan shall be updated at
least every four years. Expenses related to preparing a plan may be incurred
from "C" funds. This subsection does not prohibit the county legislative
delegation from making project recommendations to the county transportation
committee. The county transportation committee shall publish on the county
website the countywide transportation plan.

(
4)
County transportation
committees may join in approving a regional transportation plan, and the funds
must be used in furtherance of the regional transportation plan.
The regional transportation plan shall be updated every four
years. Expenses related to preparing a plan may be incurred from "C" funds.

This subsection does not prohibit the county legislative delegation from making
project recommendations to the county transportation committee.

(
5)
A county transportation
committee may expend from the funds allocated under this section an amount not
to exceed
two
ten

thousand dollars for reasonable administrative expenses directly related to the
activities of the committee. Administrative expenses may include costs
associated with copying, mailings, public notices, correspondence, and
recordkeeping but do not include the payment of per diem or salaries for
members of the committee.

(
6) A county transportation committee
shall comply with notice requirements under Section
30-4-80
(a). The agenda
shall include the proposed actions of the county transportation committee and
include the requested amount of "C" funds to be allocated.

(
7) A county transportation committee
shall comply with the minutes requirements Section
30-4-90
. The minutes shall
include the final amount of "C" funds allocated to each recipient.

(
8) A county transportation committee
shall meet at least twice annually.

(C)
(
D)
At least
twenty-five
thirty-three
percent
of a county's apportionment of "C" funds, based on a biennial averaging of
expenditures, must be expended on the state highway system for construction,
improvements, and maintenance.
The Secretary of
Transportation, or his designee, shall approve the proposed expenditure based
on the anticipated improvement to the existing condition and operations of the
state highway system.
The Department of Transportation shall administer
all funds expended on the state highway system unless the department has given
explicit authority to a county or municipal government or other agent acting on
behalf of the county transportation committee to design, engineer, construct,
and inspect projects using their own personnel. The county transportation
committee, at its discretion, may expend up to
seventy-five

sixty-seven
percent of "C" construction
funds for activities including other local paving or improving county roads,
for street and traffic signs, and for other road and bridge projects.

(D)
(
E)
The funds allocated
to the county also may be used to issue county bonds or state highway bonds as
provided in subsection
(J)
(K)
,
pay directly for appropriate highway projects, including engineering,
contracting, and project supervision, and match federal funds available for
appropriate projects. Beginning July 1, 2002, for any new "C" fund allocations
received on or after this date, the balance of uncommitted funds carried
forward from one year into the next may not exceed three hundred percent of the
county's total apportionment for the most recent year. Expenditures must be
documented on a per-project basis upon the completion of each project in
reports to the respective county transportation committees. This documentation
must be provided by the agency or local government actually expending the funds
and it shall include a description of the completed project and a general
accounting of all expenditures made in connection with the project summaries of
these reports then must be forwarded by each county transportation committee to
the department using guidelines established by the department and the
department shall compile these reports into an annual statewide report to be
submitted to the General Assembly by the second Tuesday of January of each
year. The documentation and reporting requirements of this subsection apply
only to counties administering their own "C" funds. For purposes of this
section, "uncommitted funds" means funds held in the county's "C" fund account
that have not been designated for specific projects.

(E)
(
F)
All unexpended "C"
funds allocated to a county remain in the account allocated to the county for
the succeeding fiscal year and must be expended as provided in this section.

(F)
(
G)
The countywide and
regional transportation plans provided for in this section must be reviewed and
approved by the Department of Transportation. Before the expenditure of funds
by a county transportation committee, the committee shall adopt specifications
for local road projects. In counties electing to expend their allocation
directly pursuant to subsection (A), specifications of roads built with "C"
funds are to be established by the countywide or regional transportation
committee. In counties in which the county transportation committee elects to
have "C" funds administered by the Department of Transportation, primary and
secondary roads built using "C" funds must meet Department of Transportation
specifications.

(G)
(
H)
This section must not
be construed as affecting the plans and implementation of plans for a Statewide
Surface Transportation System as developed by the Department of Transportation.

(H)
(
I)
(
1) For purposes of this subsection,
"donor county" means a county that contributes to the "C" fund an amount in
excess of what it receives under the allocation formula as stated in subsection
(A). In addition to the allocation to the counties pursuant to subsection (A),
the Department of Transportation annually shall transfer to the donor counties
an amount equal to seventeen million dollars in the ratio of the individual
donor county's contribution in excess of "C" fund revenue allocated to the county
under subsection (A) to the total excess contributions of all donor counties.

(
2) A county is eligible for an
additional allocation from the Department of Transportation if the county
contributed to the "C" fund an amount in excess of what it receives under the
allocation formula as stated in subsection (A) plus what it receives under item
(1). The Department of Transportation annually shall transfer to the eligible
counties an amount up to three and one-half million dollars in the ratio of the
individual eligible county's contribution to the "C" fund in excess of the
eligible county's total allocations under subsection (A) and item (1) to the
total excess contributions of all eligible counties remaining after all
allocations under subsection (A) and item (1) have been made. Under no
circumstances can an allocation under this item result in an eligible county
receiving total allocations in excess of what the county contributed to the "C"
fund.

(I)
(
J)
(
1) In expending funds pursuant to
this section, counties that administer their own "C" funds shall use a
procurement system that requires competitive sealed bids, no bid preferences
not required by state or federal law, and public advertisement of all projects.
All bids for contracts in excess of one hundred thousand dollars must be
accompanied by certified bid bonds, and all work awarded under the contracts
must be covered by performance and payment bonds for one hundred percent of the
contract value. Bid summaries must be published in a newspaper of general
distribution following each award.

(
2) The requirement of a bond for bid
security or a bond for payment and performance may not include the requirement
that the surety bond be furnished by a particular surety company or through a
particular agent or broker.

(J)
(
K)
State highway bonds
may be issued for the completion of projects for which "C" funds may be
expended for projects as determined by the county transportation committee.
The applicable source for payment of principal and interest on
the bonds is the share of "C" fund revenues available for use by the county
transportation committee.
The application for the bonds must be filed by
the county transportation committee with
the Commission of

the Department of Transportation and the State Treasurer, which shall
forward the application to the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
The Department of Transportation shall review the request and
ensure it includes the information and schedules contemplated by Section
57-11-220
and that estimated principal and interest on the proposed bonds may
be met from such county's "C" funds, and if it, through the Secretary of
Transportation, finds that such request, as submitted or as supplemented by the
department, includes the required information, demonstrates that available "C"
funds will satisfy estimated principal and interest on the proposed bonds, and
does not unreasonably impact the published plans of the Department of
Transportation, then it shall submit such request for state highway bonds to
the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
The State Fiscal
Accountability Authority shall consider the
application
request
in the same manner that it considers state
highway bonds, mutatis mutandis.
The county transportation
committee shall allocate and apply from its share of "C" fund
revenues available for use by the county transportation committee the amount of
principal and interest on the state highway bonds. The department shall
provide notice of the debt service requirements of such state highway bonds
upon the issuance thereof to the county transportation committee.

(K)
(
L)
Members of the
committee are insulated from all personal liability arising out of matters
related directly to and within the scope of the performance of official duties
and functions conferred upon the committee pursuant to this section.

(
L) In Berkeley County, appointments
made pursuant to this section are governed by the provisions of Act 159 of
1995.

(
M) In Dorchester County,
appointments made pursuant to this section are governed by the provisions of
Act 512 of 1996. In addition to the members and appointment procedures of the
Dorchester County Transportation Committee as provided by this section and
subsection, two additional members of the county transportation committee must
be appointed from that portion of the Town of Summerville in Dorchester County
and that portion of the City of North Charleston in Dorchester County. These
members must be residents of the designated municipalities and of the county,
and notwithstanding another provision of this subsection, must be appointed by
the governing body of the respective municipality.

(
N) In Georgetown County,
appointments made pursuant to this section are governed by the provisions of
Act 515 of 1996 and Section 2, Act 141 of 2001.

(O)
(
M)
Notwithstanding other
provisions of this section, the legislative delegation of a county may by
delegation resolution
abolish the county transportation
committee and
devolve its powers and duties
to
appoint the members of the committee to
on
the
governing body of the county. This devolution may be reversed
and the county transportation committee reestablished
by
a subsequent delegation resolution.
The exercise of county
transportation committee powers and duties by a county governing body is not
deemed to constitute dual office holding.

(P)
(
N)
The Department of
Transportation shall perform reviews to ensure compliance with subsections
(C)(3), (C)(4), (C)(5), (C)(6), (C)(7), (C)(8),
(C)
(D)
,
(D)
(E)
,
(F)
(G)
,
and
(I)
(J)
. A county
failing to comply with these subsections must have all subsequent "C" fund
allocations withheld until the requirements of those subsections are met. If a
county fails to comply with those subsections within twenty-four months,
then
the county forfeits fifty percent of its allocations
for the following year and the forfeited amount must be divided among the other
counties as provided in subsection (A).

(Q)
(
O)
A county subject to a
proposed withholding or forfeiture of "C" fund allocations pursuant to this
section must be notified in writing of the department's decision. The county,
within sixty days of receipt of notice of the decision, may request a review of
the decision by a panel consisting of the state highway engineer or his
designee, the chairman of the affected county's transportation committee or his
designee, and a third person named by mutual agreement between the state
highway engineer and the county transportation committee chairman. The panel
shall meet and render a decision within ninety days of the request by the
county transportation committee. The decision of the panel may be appealed by
requesting a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court
pursuant to Section
1-23-600
and the rules of procedure for the Administrative
Law Court. The request for a hearing must be made within thirty days of receipt
of the panel's decision.

(R)
(
P)
The legislative
delegation of the county, by resolution, may rename the county transportation
committee established by this section as the (insert name of county)
Legislative Delegation transportation committee. Upon the adoption of such a
resolution, all references in this section and any other provisions of law to
the county transportation committee, for purposes of that county, are deemed
references to that county's legislative delegation transportation committee.

(
S) Notwithstanding the provisions of
subsection (A), on July 1, 2018, and each July first thereafter until after
July 1, 2021, the amount of proceeds of the user fee on gasoline only as levied
for in this chapter that must be deposited with the State Treasurer and
expended for the purposes of this section must be increased by .3325 cents a
gallon, until such time as the total amount equals three and ninety-nine
one-hundredths cents a gallon. Any increase in proceeds resulting from the
provisions of this subsection must be used exclusively for repairs,
maintenance, and improvements to the state highway system.

(
Q) It is unlawful for a member of a
county transportation committee, an engineer, agent, or other employee, acting
for or on behalf of a committee, to accept or agree to accept, receive or agree
to receive, or ask or solicit, either directly or indirectly, with the intent
to have his decision or action on any question, matter, cause, or proceeding
which at the time may be pending or which by law may be brought before him in
his official capacity or in his place of trust or profit influenced, any:

(
1) money;

(
2) contract, promise, undertaking,
obligation, gratuity, or security for the payment of money or for the delivery
or conveyance of anything of value;

(
3) political appointment or
influence, present, or reward;

(
4) employment; or

(
5) other thing of value.

A
person violating the provisions of subsection is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than five
years and is disqualified forever from holding any office of trust or profit
under the Constitution or laws of this State.

(
R) Any official or employee of a
county transportation committee is subject to the provisions of Chapter 13,
Title 8, the State Ethics Act.

S
ECTION 22.
S
ection
12-28-2920
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
12-28-2920
.
T
he
department shall review projects for the possibility of constructing toll roads
to defray the cost of these projects pursuant to the authority granted the
department in
Section
57-5-1330
Title 57, Chapter 5, Article 9, as well as Section
57-3-20
5
.
No project may be funded
in whole or in part
by
means of imposing a toll on the users of the project unless
in conjunction with federal funds authorized for use on toll
roads
it is determined to be substantially feasible by the department
, taking into account all funding sources
. The funds
derived from tolls must be:

(
1) credited to the State Highway
Fund
or
;

(
2)
retained and applied by
the entity or entities developing the toll road pursuant to an agreement
authorized under Section
57-3-20
0
or
57-3-20
5
for
the purpose of funding the cost of construction, financing, operation, and
maintenance of the toll project;
or

(2)
(
3)
used to service
bonded indebtedness for highway transportation purposes incurred pursuant to
Paragraph 9, Section 13, Article X of the South Carolina Constitution
.
; or

(
4) used to pay for the operation and
maintenance costs of the toll project.

Upon
repayment of the cost of construction and financing, toll charges shall cease.

S
ECTION 23.
C
hapter
5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

S
ection
57-5-1800
(A) There is established
within the Department of Transportation the Pothole Mitigation Program for the
purposes of public reporting of pothole locations along the state highway
system. The department must implement the program in each county.

(
B) The Pothole Mitigation Program
must provide means for the public to report the location of potholes to the
department via telephone, the internet, a website application, or other
electronic means as determined by the department. Within one year of adoption
of this act, the department shall make available on the commercial mobile
application stores a free application that allows the public to report the
location of a pothole. The department must post notices in conspicuous
locations including the department website, the State Highway Map, rest areas,
and other facilities that provide information about the means for the public to
report potholes.

(
C) The department must ensure that,
within seven days of receiving notice of the location of a pothole, the pothole
is repaired. Each pothole repair must be a permanent repair unless weather
conditions, emergency events, supplier availability, or other exigent
circumstance requires a temporary repair until a permanent repair can be made.
The department may use its own personnel or may contract with outside parties
for pothole repair pursuant to the Pothole Mitigation Program.

(
D) From the Infrastructure
Maintenance Trust Fund, the department shall annually allocate $15 million for
full depth pavement repairs of repetitive potholes as identified in Section
57-5-1800
(B). These funds shall be in addition to existing funds allocated for
pavement rehabilitation.

S
ECTION 24.
S
ection
57-11-210
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-11-210
.
T
he
terms
defined herein shall have the meanings
hereinafter set forth
used in this section shall
have the following meaning
:

(
1) "Fiscal year" means the fiscal
year upon which the affairs of the State of South Carolina are then being
conducted. As of the date of this enactment it is that which begins on July
first and ends on June thirtieth of the succeeding calendar year.

(
2) "Fuel oil user fee" means the user
fee levied pursuant to Chapter 28, Title 12.

(
3) "Gasoline user fee" means the per
gallon user fee imposed upon gasoline, components thereof or substitutes
therefor, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 28 of Title 12.

(
4) "Commission" means that agency of
government now composed in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of
Chapter 1, Title 57, and any other commission or agency of government hereafter
exercising the powers granted to the commission pursuant to the provisions of
Chapter 1, Title 57.

(
5) "Highway transportation purposes"
means the construction of roads and bridges now or hereafter made a part of the
state highway system, or the reconstruction and improvement of highways and
bridges now or hereafter made a part of the state highway system and to provide
state funds to obtain matching federal highway funds.

(
6) "Motor vehicle license tax" means
the annual tax imposed upon a corporation, an individual, and an owner of a
motor and other vehicle pursuant to the provisions of Title 56 and Title 57.

(
7) "Road tax" means the road tax
imposed on motor carriers pursuant to Chapter 11, Title 56.

(
8) "Sources of revenue" means the
gasoline user fee, the fuel oil user fee, the road tax,
the alternative fuel fees,
and the motor vehicle
license tax.

(
9) "Authority" means the State Fiscal
Accountability Authority of South Carolina.

(
10) "State highway bonds" means all
general obligation bonds of the State of South Carolina designated as state
highway bonds, which are now outstanding and which may hereafter be issued
pursuant to the authorizations of this article.

(
11)
"Alternative fuel fees" means those charges imposed pursuant to Section
56-3-645
.

S
ECTION 25.
S
ection
56-3-645
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
56-3-645
.
(
A) In addition to the registration
fees imposed by this chapter, the owner of motor vehicles that are powered:

(
1) exclusively by electricity,
hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor fuel, as defined in Section
12-28-110
(39), that are not subject to motor fuel user fees imposed by Chapter
28, Title 12 shall pay a biennial
road use
alternative fuel
fee of
one
four
hundred
twenty

dollars; and

(
2) by a combination of motor fuel
subject to motor fuel user fees imposed by Chapter 28, Title 12 and
electricity, hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor fuel that is not subject to
motor fuel user fees imposed by Chapter 28, Title 12 shall pay a biennial
road use
alternative fuel

fee of
sixty
two
hundred
dollars.

(
B)
Notwithstanding subsection (A), when a vehicle owner registers a vehicle with a
declared gross vehicle weight, pursuant to Section
56-3-660
, of at least eleven
thousand one pounds that is powered by a source prescribed in either subsection
(A)(1) or (A)(2), the owner owes the applicable alternative fuel fee plus an
additional ten percent. The total alternative fuel fee owed increases ten
percent for each of the gross vehicle weight ranges prescribed in Section
56-3-660
(B). Vehicle owners registered under Section
56-3-660
must pay the
applicable amount based on the gross vehicle weight of the registered vehicle.
Commercial motor vehicles powered by alternative fuels that participate in the
international registration plan or international fuel tax agreement are exempt
from this subsection.

(
C) Beginning
October 1, 2030, and every fourth year thereafter, the Revenue and Fiscal
Affairs Office must review and may adjust the amount of fees charged pursuant
to subsection (A)(1) and (A)(2) according to the average change in the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Customers as published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the United States Department of Labor from the previous review.
The adjustment may be either upward or downward in accordance with the Consumer
Price Index. The Office must report the new fee to the Department of Motor
Vehicles no later than October fifteenth of the appropriate year. The
department must apply the revised fee amount to vehicles subject to the fee
beginning with those required for registration in January of the next calendar
year and conspicuously post the new fee on its official agency website. This
does not apply to section
56-3-645
(B).

(
B)
(D)
All of the fees
collected pursuant to this section must be credited to the
Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund
State Highway Fund
.

(
C)
(E)
The Department
of Motor Vehicles shall collect this fee at the same time as the vehicle
subject to the fee is
titled or
registered.

(
F) The
charges imposed by this section constitute a tax or license imposed upon
individuals or vehicles for the privilege of using the public highways of the
State.

S
ECTION 26.The
General Assembly finds that the sections presented in this act constitute one
subject as required by Article III, Section 17 of the South Carolina
Constitution, in particular finding that each change and each topic relates
directly to or in conjunction with other sections to the subject of improving
the state's transportation system as clearly enumerated in the title. The
General Assembly further finds that a common purpose or relationship exists
among the sections, representing a potential plurality but not disunity of
topics, notwithstanding that reasonable minds might differ in identifying more
than one topic contained in the act.

S
ECTION 27.If
any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or
word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such
holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining
portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have
passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph,
subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the
fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs,
subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to
be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.

S
ECTION
28. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. County Legislative
delegations have ninety days from the effective date of this act to comply with
the provisions of Section 12 28 2740(C)(2).

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.

B.W. BANNISTER for Committee.

statement of estimated fiscal impact

Explanation of Fiscal Impact

State Expenditure

This bill establishes the CCTM, which is
responsible for developing coordinated transportation plans and policy for
South Carolina, for approving the long-range Statewide Transportation Plan, and
for reviewing and commenting on plans developed by the member agencies for the
furtherance of coordinated transportation planning in the state. The CCTM will
consist of the Secretary of Transportation, the Director of DPS, the Executive
Director of DMV, the Secretary of Commerce, the Executive Director of ORS, the Director
of DNR, the Director of DES, the Executive Director of the State Ports
Authority, the Chairman of the Aeronautics Commission, the Chairman of the
SCTIB, and one municipal and one county representative, both appointed by the
Governor.

The bill reduces the number of members of
the Commission of DOT, transfers certain responsibilities from the Commission
to DOT, and designates the governing authority of DOT to the Secretary of
Transportation, who will be appointed by the Governor. Additionally, the bill
provides that the Secretary of Transportation is a member of the board of
directors of the SCTIB. Further, the bill creates within DOT the position of
Deputy Secretary for Planning, who is responsible for developing statewide
strategic transportation plans, coordinating statewide plans with federal and
state-funded regional and local transportation planning organization, and
serving as staff to the newly created CCTM.

This bill updates DOT's authority to
designate turnpike facilities and impose tolls to allow dynamic tolling,
scheduled tolling, variable tolling, uniform tolling, or some combination
thereof, and may take into account the weight and class of certain vehicles,
real-time and planned usage, and any other factors deemed appropriate by the
department. The designation of a turnpike facility is subject to the provisions
of Section
57-3-615
and must be ratified or approved by SFAA. The Commission
may request the issuance of turnpike bonds by SFAA. Principal and interest are
payable solely out of the turnpike facility revenues. The bill also allows all
executors, administrators, guardians, and other fiduciaries and all sinking
fund commissions, including RSIC in its capacity as a co-trustee of the funds
of the SC Retirement System, to invest any monies in turnpike bonds.

DOT may utilize turnpike facility revenues
and funds available for the maintenance of the state highway system for the
maintenance and operation of any turnpike facility. DOT also may contract with
any political subdivision desiring to assist the department with turnpike
facilities. Revenues from these contracts may be included in turnpike facility
revenues. It also allows DOT to enter into reciprocal agreements with other
jurisdictions, including the federal government and any other state, to enforce
toll violations.

The bill provides requirements for the
selection of highway construction contracts and phased design-builds. Further,
the bill permits DOT to enter into public-private partnership arrangements for
planning, constructing, operating, and maintaining the roads, bridges, and
other infrastructure under the jurisdiction of DOT. The determination of the
type of contract to use for a given project must be reviewed by the Joint Bond
Review Committee (JBRC), and DOT must update the JBRC annually on the status of
all outstanding public-private partnership arrangements. DOT must also file a
copy of public-private partnership contract documents with the Secretary of
State, who must file and index the documents and is authorized to prepare and
deliver certified copies of the documents as filed. For each certification, a
reasonable fee may be charged. Lastly, SFAA may exempt from procurement code
specific supplies, services, information technology, or construction.

DOT is required to publish a list of
nonessential roads and may transfer ownership to counties, municipalities, and
other entities. The list must be approved by the CCTM. To fund the transfer of
nonessential roads to local governments, the bill creates the System
Realignment Fund within DOT. The fund may receive monies from an appropriation
or authorization of the General Assembly, and the Secretary of Transportation
may transfer monies from the SHF.

This bill creates a felony for a member or
employee of a county transportation committee who accepts, receives, or
solicits money, contract or obligation, political appointment or influence,
employment, or any other thing of value in exchange for influence
. A person convicted of this felony must be imprisoned
for not more than five years and is disqualified forever from holding any
office of trust or profit under the Constitution or laws of this state. As this
is a new offense, there are no data to determine the number of new cases that
may be heard in circuit court. This bill may result in an increase in the number
of circuit court cases and potentially the number of incarcerations, which may
increase the workload of the court system and the Commission of Indigent
Defense, the Commission on Prosecution Coordination, the Department of
Corrections, and PPP. The potential increase in expenses for Judicial and each
agency will depend upon the increase in the number of cases and number of
incarcerations. Judicial and these agencies indicate that if this bill results
in a significant increase in the workload, then an increase in General Fund
appropriations may be requested. For information, according to Corrections, in
FY 2024-25, the annual total cost per inmate was $37,503, of which $35,696 was
state funded.

Department of Transportation.
This
bill makes changes to the administration and operation of DOT, including
governance restructuring, expanded planning and oversight requirements,
authorization for tolling and project delivery methods, and the creation of new
coordination and funding mechanisms. DOT indicates that requested public
hearings for transportation projects, expanded audit and reporting
responsibilities, the creation of the CCTM, and additional planning and
oversight functions may result in minimal increases in expenditures. However,
DOT expects to manage these expenditures with existing appropriations and
staff.

This bill gives DOT the authority to
collect tolls, impose administrative fees and penalties, and utilize electronic
toll collection systems. Implementation of these responsibilities will require
2.0 FTEs related to procurement functions and 7.0 FTEs related to the
management of public-private partnerships and other administrative and
operational functions. Salary and fringe benefits for the FTEs will increase
Other Funds expenditures by $1,200,000 in FY 2026-27 and each year thereafter.
Other major operating expenses related to the implementation of tolls include
credit card transaction fees, call center contractual costs, InterAgency Group
E-Z pass costs, and transponder issuance contractual costs. These expenses will
increase Other Funds expenditures of DOT by at least $50,000. DOT indicates
that they can manage the expenses with existing appropriations and revenues
generated by the bill. Please note that over time, the expenditures are
expected to be offset or fully recouped through toll revenues, user fees, and
project financing mechanisms, subject to project performance and traffic
volumes.

State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
This
bill will have no fiscal impact on SFAA because the Authority will manage the
provisions of the bill with existing staff and resources.

Retirement System Investment Commission.

The duties in the bill related to RSIC will be performed in the normal
course of business. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to RSIC.

Department of Public Safety.
This
bill requires the Director of Public Safety to be a member of the CCTM. DPS
will manage this responsibility with its existing appropriations. Therefore,
there is no fiscal impact to DPS.

Department of Motor Vehicles.
This
bill requires the Executive Director of DMV to be a member of the CCTM.
Additionally, the bill requires DMV to notify motor vehicle registrants of
pending registration suspensions related to toll violations and to suspend
vehicle registrations when such violations remain unpaid. DMV anticipates
having to mail a high volume of notices of suspension related to toll
violations. The agency indicates that it currently does not have the capacity
to manage these duties with existing staff and resources. Therefore, the bill
will increase recurring expenses of DMV by approximately $154,000 beginning in
FY 2026-27. Of this amount, $136,000 is for 3.0 FTEs to manage the new
responsibilities of the bill. The remaining $18,000 is for annual mailing
costs. The agency will request a General Fund appropriation increase for these
expenses.

Department of Commerce.
This bill
requires the Secretary of Commerce to be a member of the CCTM. The Department
of Commerce will manage this responsibility with its existing appropriations.
Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to the Department of Commerce.

Office of Regulatory Staff.
This
bill requires the Executive Director of ORS to be a member of the CCTM. ORS
anticipates that this responsibility will be managed with existing resources.
However, if the Director's time served on the CCTM exceeds a de minimis amount,
ORS may request an increase in Other Funds authorization to ensure utility
ratepayers do not bear the costs.

Department of Natural Resources.
This
bill requires the Director of DNR to be a member of the CCTM. DNR will manage
this responsibility with its existing appropriations. Therefore, there is no
fiscal impact to DNR.

Department of Environmental Services.
This
bill requires the Director of DES to be a member of the CCTM. DES will manage
this responsibility with its existing appropriations. Therefore, there is no
fiscal impact to DES.

South Carolina Ports Authority.
This
bill requires the Chairman of the Ports Authority to be a member of the CCTM.
The fiscal impact of the bill on the Ports Authority is pending, contingent
upon a response from the agency.

South Carolina Aeronautics Commission.
This
bill requires the Chairman of the Aeronautics Commission to be a member of the
CCTM. The fiscal impact of the bill on the Aeronautics Commission is pending,
contingent upon a response from the agency.

South Carolina Transportation
Infrastructure Bank.
This bill requires the Chairman of the SCTIB to be a
member of the CCTM and replaces the Chairman of the DOT Commission with DOT's
Secretary of Transportation. SCTIB indicates that amending the SCTIB Board
could fiscally impact SCTIB. However, the impact to SCTIB is undetermined since
it is unclear as to how the bill will affect the SCTIB's operations.

Governor's Office.
The duties in the
bill related to the Governor's Office will be performed in the normal course of
business. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to the Governor's Office.

Office of the State Auditor.
The
bill expands who may be employed by the State Auditor as the chief internal
auditor of DOT. Currently, the chief internal auditor of DOT must be a
Certified Public Accountant. However, the bill expands the experience to
include a Certified Internal Auditor or a Certified Fraud Examiner and
specifies that the scope of internal audit services shall cover the entire
department. This responsibility can be accomplished under the normal course of
business for the office. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to the Office of
the State Auditor.

The House of Representatives and the
Senate.
This bill provides additional responsibilities of the JBRC, which
consists of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. These
legislative bodies anticipate that any expenses due to the additional
responsibilities can be managed with existing appropriations. Therefore, there
is no fiscal impact to the House or the Senate.

Office of the Attorney General.
This
bill requires the Attorney General to perform activities that will be conducted
in the course of normal agency business. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact
to the Office of the Attorney General.

Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.
This
bill requires RFA to calculate the inflation adjustment for the EV charging
station fee, which can be accomplished with existing staff and resources.
Therefore, there is no fiscal impact to RFA.

Secretary of State's Office.
This
bill requires DOT to file a copy of documents related to public-private
partnerships with the Secretary of State's Office. The Secretary of State's
Office must also prepare and send certified copies of the documents to
interested parties. In order to manage the provisions of the bill, the
Secretary of State's Office will need 1.0 FTE (Administrative Assistant), which
will increase recurring expenditures by approximately $69,000 including salary
and fringe. Additionally, Other Funds expenditures are expected to increase by
a range of $102,000 to $252,000 in FY 2026-27 for technology required for the
development, storage, indexing, certifying, and securing of documents related
to public-private partnership contracts. Further, the Secretary of State's
Office notes that additional office space will be needed to accommodate the new
FTE and equipment since the Office is currently at full capacity. However, the
cost for the new space is unknown at this time. The bill specifies that the
Secretary of State's Office may charge a fee for each certification of filed
public-private partnership documents. While the revenue from this fee may
offset some of the Office's costs, the Office expects that expenditures will
exceed revenue. The Office will request both an increase in Other Funds
authorization and a General Fund appropriation increase to cover the remaining
expenses.

State Ethics Commission.
This bill
specifies that members or staff of a county transportation committee are
subject to the provisions of the State Ethics Act. The State Ethics Commission
will manage duties related to additional people being subject to the State
Ethics Act with existing appropriations. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact
to the State Ethics Commission.

State Revenue

Turnpike Facility Revenues

This bill permits the funds derived from
toll roads to be used to pay the operation and maintenance costs of a toll
project. As it is unknown how many roads DOT will designate as toll roads and
how soon turnpike facilities would begin generating revenue, the revenue
increase in Other Funds of DOT related to turnpike facilities is undetermined.
DOT indicates that the department will use some of the revenue to offset the
administration of turnpike facilities but anticipates that the revenue increase
will exceed expenditures.

Alternative Fuel Fees

The bill increases the biennial alternative
fuel vehicle fees for motor vehicles that are powered exclusively by
electricity, hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor fuel and for motor vehicles
who are powered by a combination of these and motor fuel subject to motor fuel
user fees. The current biennial fees of $120 and $60, respectively, will be
increased to $400 and $200, respectively, on July 1, 2027. Additionally, the
owner of any motor vehicle not powered exclusively by motor fuel must pay an
increased fee based on the gross weight of the registered vehicle. A motor
vehicle with a declared gross weight of at least 11,001 pounds must have the
fee increased by 10 percent. Further, for each gross vehicle weight range the
motor vehicle exceeds the gross vehicle weight range set forth in Section
56-3-660
(B)(9), the applicable alternative fuel fee must be increased by
another 10 percent. Commercial motor vehicles powered by alternative fuels that
participate in the International Registration Plan or International Fuel Tax
Agreement are exempt from the fees. The bill specifies that the alternative
fuel fees collected will be credited to the SHF. Currently, alternative fuel
fees are credited to the IMTF.

DMV reports that as of January 2026, there
are 30,916 registered vehicles that are powered exclusively by electricity,
hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor fuel and 125,917 registered vehicles
that are powered by a combination of these and motor fuel subject to motor fuel
user fees. By multiplying the number of registered vehicles by the respective
increases in alternative fuel fees, RFA estimates that the increase in
alternative fuel vehicle fees will increase Other Funds revenue of DOT by
$26,285,000 biennially. This amount includes $8,657,000 in increased fee
revenue from fully alternative fuel vehicles and $17,628,000 in increased fee
revenue from hybrid alternative fuel vehicles. It is important to note that DMV
registrations are collected biennially, and the timing of revenue streams will
depend on when the vehicles in these categories are due for registration
renewal.

In addition, vehicles powered in part or
wholly by sources other than motor fuel weighing over 11,000 pounds are subject
to additional increases based on gross vehicle weight. DMV reports that 43
registered vehicles are powered fully by sources other than motor fuel, and 52
registered vehicles are powered by a combination of motor fuel and sources
other than motor fuel in the state. Based on their gross vehicle weights, RFA
estimates that revenue for the SHF will increase by either $58,000 biennially
or $1,420,000 biennially, depending on if the ten percent increase for each
weight range is compounded or not.

In total, Other Funds revenue of DOT will
increase by between $26,343,000 biennially and $27,705,000 biennially,
depending on how the increases in the fee for vehicles over 11,000 pounds are
implemented.

Electric Vehicle Charging User Fees

This bill imposes a user fee of 4.5 cents
per kilowatt-hour (KWh) on electricity consumed when using publicly accessible
EV charging stations. The entity that purchases the electricity from the
electrical utility provider must remit the fee in accordance with the South
Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act. Every four years, RFA must adjust the user fee
in accordance with the average change in the CPI-U as published by the BLS of
the United States Department of Labor from the most previous review to October
first. RFA must report the new fee to DOR no later than October fifteenth of
the appropriate year, and DOR must collect the revised fee amount beginning
January first of the next calendar year. User fee collections must be credited
to the State Highway Fund.

Based on estimates of EV electric
consumption and EV registrations in S.C. from 2018 through 2024 from the U.S.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, EV sales data in the state for 2024 from
the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and EV sales expectations by
BloombergNEF for 2025 through 2030, RFA estimates that EVs registered in the
state will utilize approximately 90,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity
beginning in FY 2026-27.

The International Energy Agency reports
that approximately 83 percent of EV charging is done at a private home charging
station, and therefore, RFA estimates that approximately 17 percent of charging
is done outside of the home.

Furthermore, based on Alternative Fuel
Station data for S.C. from the U.S. Department of Energy, which reports EV
charging stations that are publicly available and those owned by businesses or
government entities, RFA estimates that, other than home charging stations,
approximately 89 percent of EV chargers are publicly available. In order to
estimate S.C. resident EV energy consumption from chargers that are publicly
available, 90,000 MWh is multiplied by 17.0 percent. The product is then
multiplied by 89 percent, which yields approximately 14,000 MWh. Further, based
on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on the estimated
consumption of electricity by EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEV), RFA estimates
that on average, PHEVs use 40 percent of the electricity that EVs use.
Therefore, by multiplying 14,000 MWh by 40 percent, RFA estimates that S.C.
resident PHEV electricity consumption from chargers that are publicly available
will use approximately 5,490 MWh. In total, RFA estimates that approximately
19,000 MWh of electricity will be used by S.C. residents for EVs and PHEVs
charging at publicly accessible charging stations. MWh were converted to KWh,
which yields approximately 19,081,000 KWh of electricity consumption by S.C.
residents for EV and PHEV charging at publicly available charging stations in
FY 2026-27.

Furthermore, based on data reported in S.C.
Parks, Recreation and Tourism's (PRT) Total Domestic Travel to South Carolina
and In-State Leisure Travel to South Carolina reports, RFA estimates that
approximately 10,640,000 domestic out-of-state visiting parties drive vehicles
while visiting the state. Based on EV and PHEV registrations in the U.S. from
2018 through 2024, EV sales data in the U.S. for 2024, and EV sales
expectations from 2025 through 2030, RFA estimates that approximately 2.7
percent of registered vehicles in the U.S. will be EVs or PHEVs in FY 2026-27.
Therefore, by multiplying 2.7 percent by 10,640,000, RFA estimates that
approximately 285,000 out-of-state visiting parties will drive an EV or PHEV
during their stay. PRT's Total Domestic Travel to South Carolina report
indicates that on average visitors stay in the state for 3.3 nights, and
therefore, RFA anticipates that each visiting party would be required to fully
charge their EV on average at least twice during their stay. Based on the average
KWh used by PHEVs and small, medium, and large EVs, RFA estimates that on
average, out-of-state visitors that drive EVs would consume approximately 124.5
KWh in S.C. per trip.Thus, RFA estimates that out-of-state visitors would
consume approximately 35,500,000 KWh at publicly available EV charging stations
in FY 2026-27.

Adding 19,081,000 KWh used by in-state
residents and 35,500,000 KWh used by out-of-state visitors yields approximately
54,581,000 KWh used at publicly available chargers in FY 2026-27. Multiplying
the estimated total KWh used by $0.045 equates to approximately $2,456,000 in
EV charging user fee revenue in FY 2026-27. Therefore, this bill will increase
the State Highway Fund by approximately $2,456,000 beginning in FY 2026-27 due
to the new EV charging station user fees.

System Realignment Fund

To fund the transfer of nonessential roads
to local governments, the bill creates the System Realignment Fund within DOT. The
fund may receive monies from an appropriation or authorization of the General
Assembly, and the Secretary of Transportation may transfer monies from the SHF.
As this is a new fund and funds are at the discretion of the General Assembly
and the Secretary of Transportation, the impact on Other Funds revenue of DOT
is undetermined.

Secretary of State Certification Fee

This bill specifies that the Secretary of
State's Office may charge a fee for each certification of filed public-private
partnership documents. While the revenue from this fee may offset some of the
Office's costs, the Office expects that expenditures will outweigh revenue.

Court Fines and Fees

This bill
may result in a change in the fines and fees collected in court. Court fines
and fees are distributed to the General Fund, Other Funds, and local funds.
Therefore, RFA anticipates this bill may result in a change to the General Fund
and Other Funds revenue due to the change in fines and fees collections in
court.

Local Expenditure

This bill specifies that counties to which
DOT has transferred all roads identified as nonessential are not required to
expend 25 percent of its "C" Funds. In addition, the bill specifies that any
costs incurred by DOT caused by an unreasonable delay in the review and
approval of plans for a permanent improvement, construction, reconstruction, or
alteration of a highway or highway facility within a municipality is the
responsibility of the municipality.

RFA contacted all forty-six counties and
MASC regarding the potential fiscal impact of the bill. Lancaster County expects
that the expenses related to the maintenance of transferred roads will outweigh
the amount of "C" Funds that the County can now expend on these roads. Similarly,
MASC expressed concerns that municipalities may experience shortfalls in funds
due to 1) the potential gap in available "C" Funds and actual costs associated
with the maintenance of transferred roads and 2) increased legal costs
associated with lawsuits arising from municipal road maintenance and ownership
obligations. MASC indicates that the measures that would increase expenditures
and decrease revenue may be greater than the increase in revenues from the
permissive millage increases, which is discussed in the Local Revenue section
of this fiscal impact statement. This would result in an undetermined net
increase in expenditures for municipalities.

Frank A. Rainwater, Executive Director

Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office

_______

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
57-1-410
, RELATING TO THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE GOVERNOR SHALL APPOINT THE SECRETARY
INSTEAD OF THE COMMISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; BY AMENDING
SECTION
1-30-10
, RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENTS OF STATE GOVERNMENT AND THEIR
GOVERNING BODIES, SO AS TO DELETE THE PROVISION THAT PROVIDES THAT PART OF THE
GOVERNING BODY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION IS A SEVEN-MEMBER
COMMISSION; BY AMENDING SECTION
1-30-10
5, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY OF
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION IS THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION; BY
AMENDING SECTION
11-43-140
, RELATING TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE BANK, SO AS TO REMOVE THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION AS A DIRECTOR, AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION IS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD; BY AMENDING SECTIONS
57-1-10
,
57-1-40
,
57-1-370
, and
57-1-430
, ALL RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, AND ITS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, SO AS TO
ELIMINATE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES,
TO ALLOW THE GOVERNOR TO APPOINT THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION AND REQUIRE
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SUBMIT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AN ITEMIZED
PROJECT LIST TO BE FUNDED FOR THE FISCAL YEAR IN WHICH THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
WOULD ENACT ITS ANNUAL GENERAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-3-50
,
RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGHWAY DISTRICTS, SO AS TO SUBSTITUTE THE
TERM "DEPARTMENT" FOR THE TERM "COMMISSION"; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-1-90
,
RELATING TO MOTORCYCLES, SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-3-210
, RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CONTRACTING WITH PUBLIC
TRANSIT SYSTEMS, SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-3-700
, RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SERVING AS AN AGENT FOR
COUNTIES, SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-5-50
,
RELATING TO THE TRANSFER OF CERTAIN ROADS, SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE;
BY AMENDING SECTION
57-5-90
, RELATING TO BELT LINES AND SPURS, SO AS TO MAKE A
CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-5-340
, RELATING TO THE DISPOSITION OF
REAL ESTATE, SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTIONS
57-13-10
,
57-13-20
,
57-13-40
, AND
57-13-50
, ALL RELATING TO BRIDGES, SO AS TO MAKE A
CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-25-120
, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS, SO
AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; BY AMENDING SECTIONS
57-25-140
,
57-25-150
,
57-25-170
,
57-25-200
, AND
57-25-210
, ALL RELATING TO SIGNS ALONG THE HIGHWAYS,
SO AS TO MAKE A CONFORMING CHANGE; by amending sections
57-1-310
and
57-1-330
,
both relating to the composition of the commission of the department of
transportation, so as to remove at-large members; by amending ARTICLE 9,
CHAPTER 5, TITLE 57, RELATING TO TURNPIKE PROJECTS, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE CERTAIN
DESIGNATIONS OF TURNPIKE FACILITIES, TO PROVIDE THAT TURNPIKE BONDS ARE SPECIAL
LIMITED OBLIGATIONS OF THE STATE AS SPECIFIED IN THE BOND RESOLUTION, AND TO
MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES; BY ADDING SECTION
57-1-25
SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE
COORDINATING COUNCIL FOR TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY AND TO SET FORTH ITS
DUTIES AND MEMBERSHIP; BY ADDING SECTION
57-5-105
SO AS TO REQUIRE THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN NONESSENTIAL
ROADS, TO ESTABLISH THE SYSTEM REALIGNMENT FUND TO AID IN THE TRANSFER, AND TO
PROVIDE ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES TO COUNTIES IN WHICH ALL SUCH NONESSENTIAL ROADS
HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-1-360
, RELATING TO THE CHIEF
INTERNAL AUDITOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE A
CERTIFIED INTERNAL AUDITOR AND A CERTIFIED FRAUD EXAMINER TO HOLD THE POSITION;
BY AMENDING SECTION
57-3-20
, RELATING TO THE DIVISION DEPUTY DIRECTORS OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, SO AS TO DESIGNATE SUCH OFFICIALS AS DEPUTY
SECRETARIES AND TO ESTABLISH THE DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR PLANNING; BY AMENDING
SECTION
11-35-710
, RELATING TO CERTAIN TRANSPORTATION EXEMPTIONS TO THE
PROCUREMENT CODE, SO AS TO FURTHER DEFINE THE EXEMPTIONs; BY ADDING SECTIONS
57-5-1710
AND
57-5-1720
SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR PHASED DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTORS
AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGER/GENERAL CONTRACTORS; BY ADDING SECTION
57-3-790
SO AS
TO SPECIFY THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH THE STATE WAIVES ITS IMMUNITY UNDER THE ELEVENTH
AMENDMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION; BY AMENDING SECTIONs
57-5-820
AND
57-5-830
, BOTH RELATING TO MUNICIPALITIES AND ROADWORK, SO AS TO SPECIFY
PROCEDURES WHEN A MUNICIPALITY OBJECTS TO CERTAIN ROADWORK; BY AMENDING SECTION
57-3-615
, RELATING TO HIGHWAY TOLLS, SO AS TO SPECIFY THE CONDITIONS UNDER
WHICH A TOLL MAY BE IMPOSED ON A STATE HIGHWAY; BY ADDING SECTIONS
57-3-240
AND
57-3-250
SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO ENTER INTO
RECIPROCAL AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER JURISDICTIONS AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS,
AND TO SPECIFY CONDITIONS OF SUCH AGREEMENTS; BY AMENDING SECTION
12-28-2740
,
RELATING TO "C" FUNDS, SO AS TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF SUCH FUNDS, TO SPECIFY
THE MEMBERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEES, TO
PROVIDE FOR BONDING OF "C" FUNDS, TO DELETE PROVISIONS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR A
CRIME REGARDING UNDUE INFLUENCE ON CERTAIN OFFICIALS; BY AMENDING SECTION
12-28-2920
,
RELATING TO TOLLS, so as TO SPECIFY WHEN TOLL REVENUES MAY BE EXPENDED; BY
AMENDING SECTION
56-3-645
, RELATING TO A ROAD USE FEE, SO AS TO INCREASE THE
AMOUNT OF THE ALTERNATE FUEL FEE AND CREDIT THE REVENUE TO THE STATE HIGHWAY
FUND; BY ADDING SECTION
12-28-360
SO AS TO IMPOSE A TAX ON ELECTRICITY CONSUMED
WHEN USING CERTAIN PUBLIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS; and BY AMENDING SECTION
57-11-210
, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR PURPOSES OF STATE HIGHWAY BONDS, SO AS
TO DEFINE "ALTERNATIVE FUEL FEES".

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
57-1-410
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-410
. The
commission
Governor

shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Secretary of
Transportation who shall serve at the pleasure of the
commission
Governor
. A person appointed to this position shall
possess practical and successful business and executive ability and be
knowledgeable in the field of transportation. The Secretary of Transportation
shall receive such compensation as may be established under the provisions of
Section
8-11-160
and for which funds have been authorized in the general
appropriations act.

S
ECTION 2.
S
ection
1-30-10
(B)(1)(iv) of the S.C. Code is amended
to read:

(
iv) in the case of the Department of
Transportation, a
seven member commission constituted in a
manner provided by law, and a
Secretary of Transportation appointed by
and serving at the pleasure of the Governor.

S
ECTION 3.
S
ection
1-30-10
5 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
1-30-10
5.
(
A)
Effective on July 1, 1993, the following agencies,
boards, and commissions, including all of the allied, advisory, affiliated, or
related entities as well as the employees, funds, property, and all contractual
rights and obligations associated with any such agency, except for those
subdivisions specifically included under another department, are hereby
transferred to and incorporated in and shall be administered as part of the
Department of Transportation to be initially divided into divisions for Mass Transit,
Construction and Maintenance, Engineering and Planning, and Finance and
Administration; however, the State Highway Commission as constituted on June
30, 1993, under the provisions of Title 56, shall be the governing authority
for the department until February 15, 1994, or as soon as its successors are
elected or appointed and qualified, whichever is later.

D
epartment of
Highways and Public Transportation, except the Motor Vehicle Division, which
was established as the Department of Motor Vehicles by Section
56-1-5
, and the
State Highway Patrol, formerly provided for at Section
56-1-10
, et seq.

(
B) Notwithstanding another provision
of law, effective July 1, 2027, the governing authority of the Department of
Transportation is the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to Section
57-1-410
.

S
ECTION 4.
S
ection
11-43-140
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
11-43-140
. The board of directors is the governing board of the bank. The board
consists of seven voting directors as follows: the
Chairman
Secretary
of the Department of Transportation
Commission
, ex officio; one director appointed by the
Governor who shall serve as chairman; one director appointed by the Governor;
one director appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; one
member of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker, ex officio;
one director appointed by the President of the Senate; and one member of the
Senate appointed by the President of the Senate, ex officio. Directors
appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the
Senate shall serve terms coterminous with those of their appointing authority.
The terms for the legislative members are coterminous with their terms of
office. The vice chairman must be elected by the board. Any person appointed to
fill a vacancy must be appointed in the same manner as the original appointee
for the remainder of the unexpired term.

S
ECTION 5.
S
ection
57-1-10
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-10
.
F
or the purposes of this title, the
following words, phrases, and terms are defined as follows:

(
1)
"Commission" means the administrative and governing authority of the Department
of Transportation
.

(
2) "Coordinating Council" means the
Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility
.

(2)
(
3)
"Department" means the Department of Transportation
(DOT).

(3)
(
4)
"Secretary of Transportation" means the Chief
Administrative Officer of the Department of Transportation.

S
ECTION 6.
S
ection
57-1-40
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-40
.
(
A) It is unlawful for
a member of the commission or
an
official,
an engineer, agent, or other employee, acting for or on behalf
of the department
or commission
, to accept or agree
to accept, receive or agree to receive, or ask or solicit, either directly or
indirectly, with the intent to have his decision or action on any question,
matter, cause, or proceeding which at the time may be pending or which by law may
be brought before him in his official capacity or in his place of trust or
profit influenced, any:

(
1)
money;

(
2)
contract, promise, undertaking, obligation, gratuity, or security for the
payment of money or for the delivery or conveyance of anything of value;

(
3)
political appointment or influence, present, or reward;

(
4)
employment; or

(
5)
other thing of value.

A
person violating
the provisions of subsection (A) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction,
must be imprisoned not more than five years and is disqualified forever from
holding any office of trust or profit under the Constitution or laws of this
State.

(
B) It
is unlawful for a person to give or offer to give, promise, or cause or procure
to be promised, offered, or given, either directly or indirectly, to
a member of the commission or
an
official,
an engineer, agent, or other employee acting for or on behalf
of the
commission or
department with the intent to
have his decision or action on any question, matter, cause, or proceeding which
at the time may be pending or which by law may be brought before him in his
official capacity or in his place of trust or profit influenced, any:

(
1)
money;

(
2)
contract, promise, undertaking, obligation, gratuity, or security for the
payment of money or for the delivery or conveyance of anything of value;

(
3)
political appointment or influence, present, or reward;

(
4)
employment; or

(
5)
other thing of value.

A
person violating
the provisions of subsection (B) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction,
must be imprisoned not more than five years and is disqualified forever from
holding any office of trust or profit under the Constitution or laws of this
State.

(
C)
The members and employees of the commission and employees
Any official or employee
of the department are subject to
the provisions of Chapter 13, Title 8, the State Ethics Act, and the provisions
of Chapter 78, Title 15, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act.

S
ECTION 7.
S
ection
57-1-370
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-370
.
(
A) The
commission
department
must
develop the long-range Statewide Transportation Plan, with a minimum
twenty-year forecast period at the time of adoption, that provides for the
development and implementation of the multimodal transportation system for the
State. The plan must be developed in a manner consistent with all federal laws
or regulations and in consultation with all interested parties, particularly
the metropolitan planning organizations and the nonmetropolitan planning
organization area local officials. The plan may be revised from time to time as
permitted by and in the manner required by federal laws or regulations.

(
B)
Concerning the development, content, and implementation of the Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program, the
commission
department
must:

(
1)
develop a process for consulting with nonmetropolitan local officials, with
responsibility for transportation, that provides an opportunity for their
participation in the development of the long-range Statewide Transportation
Plan and the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program;

(
2)
approve the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and ensure that it is
developed pursuant to federal laws and regulations and approve an updated
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program from time to time as permitted by
and in the manner required by federal laws or regulations;

(
3)
develop and revise the transportation plan for inclusion in the Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program, for each nonmetropolitan planning area in
consultation with local officials with responsibility for transportation;

(
4)
work in consultation with each metropolitan planning organization to develop
and revise a transportation improvement program for each metropolitan planning
area;

(
5)
select from the approved Statewide Transportation Improvement Program the
transportation projects undertaken in nonmetropolitan areas in consultation
with the affected nonmetropolitan local officials with responsibility for
transportation;

(
6)
select projects to be undertaken, in consultation with each metropolitan
planning organization, from the metropolitan planning organization's approved
transportation improvement plan in metropolitan areas not designated as a
transportation management area;

(
7)
consult with each metropolitan planning organization, in metropolitan areas
designated as transportation management areas, concerning the projects selected
to be undertaken from the approved transportation improvement program and in
accordance with the priorities approved by the transportation improvement
program; and

(
8)
when selecting projects to be undertaken from nontransportation management area
metropolitan planning organizations' transportation improvement programs, or
selecting the nonmetropolitan area projects to be undertaken that are included
in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, and when consulting with
metropolitan planning organizations designated as transportation management
areas, the commission shall establish a priority list of projects to the extent
permitted by federal laws or regulations, taking into consideration at least
the following criteria:

(
a)
financial viability including a life cycle analysis of estimated maintenance
and repair costs over the expected life of the project;

(
b)
public safety;

(
c)
potential for economic development;

(
d)
traffic volume and congestion;

(
e)
truck traffic;

(
f)
the pavement quality index;

(
g)
environmental impact;

(
h)
alternative transportation solutions; and

(
i)
consistency with local land use plans.

(
C)
(
1) To the extent that state funds are
available to address the needs of the state highway system, the commission must
develop a comprehensive plan specifying objectives and performance measures for
the preservation and improvement of the existing system. The projects included
in this plan must be supported solely by state funds including the Non-Federal
Aid Highway Fund or other state revenue source. When developing the plan
required by this subsection, the commission must consider, but is not limited to,
considering the criteria in subsection (B)(8).

(2)
(
C)
When state funding is programmed for a project
selected from the plan to be undertaken
, the department
may use federal law, regulations, or guidelines relevant to the type of project
being undertaken to be eligible for federal matching funds.

(
D) The commission must approve the
department's annual budget.

(E)
(
D)
The commission shall have any other rights, duties,
obligations, or responsibilities as specifically provided by law.

(
E) The department shall conduct a
public hearing when required by federal regulations to allow the department to
share information regarding the project with the local community and to allow
the local community to address its concerns with department officials. The
hearing must include the opportunity for members of the public to address a
hearing officer in a format in which comments can be heard by the general
public.

(
F) The department shall promulgate, by
regulation, procedures not inconsistent with federal laws for applying the
criteria contained in subsection (B)(8) for prioritizing projects.

S
ECTION 8.
S
ection
57-1-430
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) The secretary is charged with the
affirmative duty to
establish and
carry out the
policies of the
commission
department
,
to administer the day-to-day affairs of the department, to direct the
implementation of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and the
Statewide Mass Transit Plan, and to ensure the timely completion of all
projects undertaken by the department, and routine operation and maintenance
requests, and emergency repairs.
He
The secretary
must represent the department in its
dealings with other state agencies, local governments, special districts, and
the federal government. The secretary must prepare an annual budget for the
department
that must be approved by the commission before
becoming effective
.

S
ECTION 9.
S
ection
57-3-50
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-50
. The
commission
department

may establish such highway districts as in its opinion
shall
be
are
necessary for the proper and efficient
performance of its duties. The
commission
department
, every ten years, must review the number of
highway districts and the territory embraced within the districts and make
such
changes
as
that
may be necessary for the proper and efficient
operation of the districts.

S
ECTION 10.
S
ection
57-1-90
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(
A) In formulating transportation
policy, promulgating regulations, allocating funds, and planning, designing,
constructing, equipping, operating and maintaining transportation facilities,
no action of the
South Carolina Transportation Commission
secretary
, or the South Carolina Department of
Transportation shall have the effect of discriminating against motorcycles,
motorcycle operators, or motorcycle passengers. No regulation or action of the
commission
secretary
, or
department shall have the effect of enacting a prohibition or imposing a
requirement that applies only to motorcycles or motorcyclists, and the
principal purpose of which is to restrict or inhibit access or motorcycles and
motorcyclists to any highway, bridge, tunnel, or other transportation facility.

S
ECTION 11.
S
ection
57-3-210
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) The department is authorized to
utilize public transit funds to contract directly with private operators of
public transit systems to provide service to the general public, provided that
the private operators have established a plan of service that has been approved
by the local governmental entity that has jurisdiction over the area to be
served, the department,
the commission,
and the
federal government.

S
ECTION 12.
S
ection
57-3-700
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-700
. With the approval of the
commission
Secretary of Transportation
, the county officials may
designate the department, acting through its agents and employees, as agents of
the county in securing necessary
rights-of-way
rights of way
and other lands.

S
ECTION 13.
S
ection
57-5-50
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-50
. The
commission
Secretary
of Transportation
may transfer any route or section of route from the
state highway secondary system to the state highway primary system, or vice
versa, when, in
its
the
secretary's
judgment, such transfer is advisable to better serve the
traveling public.

S
ECTION 14.
S
ection
57-5-90
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-90
. The
commission
department

may establish such belt lines or spurs as it deems proper and construct and
maintain such belt lines and spurs from funds otherwise provided by law for the
construction and maintenance of the state highway system, but the total length
of such belt lines and spurs to be established or constructed in any county
shall not exceed two miles in any one fiscal year; provided, that should the
commission
department
fail to
establish belt lines or spurs during a fiscal year the allocation to the
counties shall be continued from year to year and the mileage shall be
cumulative. Provided, further, that any mileage that accumulated prior to June
30, 1972, under this section shall remain to the credit of the county to which
it accumulated.

S
ECTION 15.
S
ection
57-5-340
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-340
. The department shall continuously inventory all of its real
property. When, in the judgment of the department any real estate acquired as
provided in this chapter is no longer necessary for the proper operation of the
department or highway systems, the department shall vigorously attempt to sell
the property by advertising for competitive bids in local newspapers or by
direct negotiations, but in every case of the sale or transfer of any real
estate by the
commission or the
department, the
sale or transfer shall be made public by publishing notice of it
in the minutes of the next succeeding meeting of the commission
on the website maintained by the department
. The
commission and the
department shall convey by deed,
signed by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and the Deputy
Director of the Division of Finance and Administration, any real estate
disposed of under this section. Any funds derived from the sale of surplus
property by authority of this section shall be credited to the funding category
from which funds were drawn to finance the department's acquisition of the
property.

However, any funds derived from the sale
of
right-of-way
right of way
,
which the department has purchased, in excess of the department's cost shall be
distributed among the counties as
C
"C"
funds pursuant to Section
12-28-2740
.

S
ECTION 16.
S
ections
57-13-10
through
57-13-20
of the S.C. Code are
amended to read:

S
ection
57-13-10
. The
commission
Secretary
of Transportation
may cooperate and negotiate with the proper
authorities of adjoining states in the construction, purchase, acquisition and
maintenance of bridges constructed or to be constructed across streams which
constitute boundaries between this State and such adjoining states and may
expend for such purposes not exceeding one half of the total cost of such
bridges and approaches thereto and bear a proportionate part of the maintenance
thereof, such expenditures to be made from the funds available for the
construction and maintenance of highways and bridges in the state highway
system.

S
ection
57-13-20
. Any county may, with the approval of the
Commission
department
, provide the funds necessary for participation
in the construction, purchase or acquisition of any such bridge as is described
in Section
57-13-10
and shall be entitled to reimbursement therefor under the
provisions of Article 1
,

of
Chapter
11
of this Title
.

S
ECTION 17.
S
ections
57-13-40
through
57-13-50
of the S.C. Code are
amended to read:

S
ection
57-13-40
. The
commission
department

may permit any person, county or municipality, or any combination thereof, to
construct toll bridges and appertaining structures suitable for highway traffic
on any roads of the state highway system. But before any such permit is issued
an agreement satisfactory to the Department of Transportation must be executed
by the person receiving such permit fixing conditions under which the bridge is
to be constructed, the character and design of the structure, the rate of toll
to be charged traffic using it and the terms according to which it can be
acquired by the State or counties concerned.

S
ection
57-13-50
.
No
A
permit
shall
may not
be issued by the

Commission
department

under the authority of Section
57-13-40
except after advertisement of all the
terms and conditions affecting such permit in at least five daily newspapers of
this State and after the county legislative delegation of every county directly
adjacent to the bridge has been given formal notice, describing such terms and
conditions, and has approved such terms and conditions.

S
ECTION 18.
S
ection
57-25-120
(4)(d) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
d) land on the opposite side of a
nonfreeway primary highway which is designated scenic by the
commission
department
.

S
ECTION 19.
S
ection
57-25-140
(D)(4) and (J) of the S.C. Code is
amended to read:

(
4) scenic areas designated by the
commission
department
or other
state agency having and exercising that authority.

(
J)
Signs permitted under
items (1), (2), (3), and (4) of
subsection
(A)
(1), (2), (3), and (4)
must
comply with the regulations promulgated by the
commission
department
in accordance with uniform national standards.

S
ECTION 20.
S
ection
57-25-150
(A) and (D) of the S.C. Code is
amended to read:

(
A) The
commission
department
shall issue permits for the erection and
maintenance of outdoor advertising signs coming within the exceptions contained
in
items (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (A) of
Section
57-25-140
(A)(1), (2), and (3)
, consistent with the
safety and welfare of the traveling public necessary to carry out the policy of
the State declared in this article and consistent with the national standards
promulgated by the Secretary of Transportation or other appropriate federal
official pursuant to
Title 23, United States Code
U.S.C. Title 23
.

T
he
commission
department
also
shall promulgate regulations governing the issuance of the permits and
standards for size, spacing, and lighting of the signs and their messages.

(
D)
The
commission
department

shall promulgate regulations governing the issuance of permits which must
include mandatory maintenance to ensure that all signs are always in a good
state of repair. Signs not in a good state of repair are illegal.

S
ECTION 21.
S
ection
57-25-170
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-25-170
. The
commission
department

may provide within the
right-of-way
right of way
for areas at appropriate distances from
interchanges on the interstate system and controlled access roads on the
federal-aid primary system on which signs, displays, and devices giving
specific information in the interest of the traveling public may be erected and
maintained under standards and regulations authorized to be adopted and
promulgated by the
commission
department
.
The standards and regulations may provide for cooperative agreements between
the Department of Transportation and private interests for the use and display
of names for FOOD, LODGING, and GAS information signs on the highway
right-of-way
right of way
.

S
ECTION 22.
S
ection
57-25-200
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) Within the requirements of this
article the
commission
Secretary
of Transportation
may enter into agreements with other governmental
authorities relating to the control of outdoor advertising in areas adjacent to
the interstate and primary highway systems, including the establishment of
information centers and safety rest areas and take action in the name of the
State to comply with the terms of the agreements.

S
ECTION 23.
S
ection
57-25-210
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-25-210
. The
commission
department

is not required to expend funds for the removal of outdoor advertising under
this article until federal funds are made available to the State for the
purpose of carrying out the provisions of this article and the
commission has entered into an agreement with the Secretary of
Transportation as authorized by Section
57-25-200
department

and as provided by the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.

S
ECTION 24.
S
ection
57-1-310
(A) and (B) of the S.C. Code is amended
to read:

(
A) The congressional districts of this
State are constituted and created Department of Transportation Districts of the
State, designated by numbers corresponding to the numbers of the respective
congressional districts. The Commission of the Department of Transportation
shall be composed of
:

(
1)

one member from each transportation district, all appointed by the Governor,
subject to the provisions of Section
57-1-325
; and

(
2)
two members from the State at large, both appointed by the Governor, upon the
advice and consent of the General Assembly. Each house must hold a separate
confirmation vote
.

I
n making
appointments to the commission, the Governor shall take into account race,
gender, and other demographic factors, such as residence in rural or urban
areas, so as to represent, to the greatest extent possible, all segments of the
population of the State; however, consideration of these factors in making an
appointment in no way creates a cause of action or basis for an employee
grievance for a person appointed or for a person who fails to be appointed. The
members of the commission shall represent the transportation needs of the State
as a whole and may not subordinate the needs of the State to those of any
particular area of the State.

(
B)
The at-large appointments made by the Governor must be
transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives for confirmation
Reserved
.

S
ECTION 25.
S
ection
57-1-330
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-1-330
.
(
A) All commission
members are appointed to a term of office of four years which expires on
February fifteenth of the appropriate year. However, a commission member may
not serve more than two consecutive terms, and may not serve more than twelve
years, regardless of when the term was served. Commissioners shall continue to
serve until their successors are appointed and confirmed, provided that a
commissioner only may serve in a hold-over capacity for a period not to exceed
six months. Any vacancy occurring in the office of commissioner shall be filled
by appointment in the manner provided in this article for the unexpired term
only.
Except for the at-large member, a
A
person is not eligible to serve as a commission member
who is not a resident of that district at the time of his appointment. Failure
by such commission member to maintain residency in the district for which he is
appointed shall result in the forfeiture of his office.

(
B)
An at-large commission member may be appointed from any county
in the State unless another commission member is serving from that county.
Failure by an at-large commission member to maintain residence in the State
shall result in a forfeiture of his office.
Commission members may be
removed from office at the discretion of the Governor.

S
ECTION 26. Notwithstanding
the general effective date of this act, at-large members of the Commission of
the Department of Transportation serving on the effective date of this act,
shall continue to serve until their terms expire. If a vacancy occurs, another
at-large member must be appointed to fill the unexpired term in the manner
provided by law.

S
ECTION 27.
A
rticle 9, Chapter 5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended to read:

A
rticle 9

T
urnpike Projects

S
ection
57-5-1310
. This article is intended to provide an additional and an alternative
method for the provision of and financing of highways and appurtenant
facilities to the end that such highways may be undertaken in such manner as
may best be calculated to expedite relief of hazardous and congested traffic
conditions on the highways in the State and provide acceptable avenues for
commerce and intercommunications by vehicular traffic among the several
sections of the State. In effecting this enactment, the General Assembly
intends that the indebtedness herein authorized fall within the category
permitted by paragraph 9
,
of

Section 13
,
of
Article
X of the Constitution of South Carolina.

S
ection
57-5-1320
.
U
nless the context indicates another
meaning or intent:

(
1)
"Department" means the Department of Transportation
;
.

(
2)
"Turnpike facility" means any express highway or limited access highway
constructed
, or any specified lanes
or portion thereof, designated and ratified or approved as such
under
the provisions of this article
by the department
,
whether or not financed with turnpike bonds, including any bridge, tunnel,
overpass, underpass, interchange, entrance plaza, approach, toll house, service
station and administration and storage and other buildings and facilities which
the department considers necessary or desirable. A turnpike facility
constitutes a portion or extension of any existing or proposed highway in the
state highway system
;
.

(
3)
"Bonds or turnpike bonds" means revenue bonds of the State authorized under the
provisions of this article and Paragraph (9), Section 13, Article X of the
South Carolina Constitution
;
.

(
4)
"Authority" means the State Fiscal Accountability Authority
;
.

(
5)
"Turnpike facility revenues" means all revenues resulting from tolls or other
charges derived from the operation of a turnpike facility, including revenues
derived from concession leases or other concessionaire operated facilities
and, to the extent designated by the bond resolution, such
nontax revenues or other legally available funds as are or may be made
available to the department from whatever source for the purpose of operating,
financing, enforcing, and maintaining, or any combination thereof, turnpike
facilities
;
.

(
6)
"Bond resolution" means the resolution
or resolutions

of the
state board
authority

making provision for the issuance of turnpike revenue bonds
, as may be supplemented or amended from time to time
;
.

(
7)
"General obligation bonds" means state highway bonds issued pursuant to
Paragraph (6)(a), Section 13, Article X of the South Carolina Constitution.

(
8) "State" means State of South
Carolina.

S
ection
57-5-1330
.
1.
(
1)
The department may
designate, establish, plan, improve, construct, maintain, operate, and regulate
turnpike facilities as a part of the state highway system or any federal aid
system whenever the department determines the traffic conditions, present or future,
justify the facilities, except that the department may not designate as a
turnpike facility any highway, road, bridge, or other transportation facility
funded in whole or in part by a
then imposed
local
option sales and use tax
as provided in
imposed pursuant to
Chapter 37 of Title 4
unless by agreement with the applicable county government
.
The department may utilize
turnpike facility revenues and

funds available for the maintenance of the state highway system for the
maintenance
and operation
of any turnpike facility
financed pursuant to this article
.
The
authority to designate turnpike facilities pursuant to this section is subject
to the provisions of Section
57-3-615
, and such designation shall not be
effective until ratified or approved by the authority.

2.
(
2)

In every highway construction
project, except federal and state secondary projects, rehabilitation and
widening of federal and state primary and secondary road and bridge projects
and highway safety projects, the Department shall consider making all or part
of the highway construction a turnpike facility and financing it by the use of
turnpike bonds. It shall make an entry in the construction project file
indicating whether or not it determines making all or part of the project a
turnpike facility.
If the
Department
department
determines it is feasible to make all or part
of
the
any
construction
project a turnpike facility, it may engage in the preliminary estimates and
studies incident to the determination of the feasibility or practicability of
constructing any toll road as it from time to time considers necessary and the
cost of the preliminary estimates and studies must be paid from the general
highway fund and must be reimbursed from funds provided under this authority
only if the studies and estimates lead to the construction of a toll road.

3.
(
3)
The
Department
department
may acquire such lands and property including
rights of access as may be needed for turnpike facilities by gift, devise,
purchase, or condemnation by easement or in fee simple in the same manner as
now or hereafter authorized by law for acquiring property or property rights in
connection with other state highways.

4.
(
4)
In designating, establishing, planning, abandoning,
improving, constructing, maintaining and regulating turnpike facilities the
Department
department
may
exercise such authorizations as are granted to the
Department
department
by the provisions of other statute law
applicable to the state highway system, except as they may be inconsistent with
the provisions included herein.

5.
(
5)
(
a)
The
Department
department
may
contract with any person, partnership, association or corporation desiring the
use of any part of the turnpike facility, including the
right-of-way
right of way
adjoining the paved portion, for placing
thereon telephone, telegraph, electric light or power lines, gas stations,
garages, stores, hotels and restaurants or for any other purpose, except tracks
for railroad or railway use and to fix the terms, conditions, rents and rates
of charges for such use provided that a sufficient number of the aforementioned
facilities shall be authorized to be established in each service area along any
such turnpike project to permit reasonable competition by private business in
the public interest. Revenues from these contracts would be included in turnpike
facility revenues.

(
b) The department may contract with
any political subdivision desiring to assist the department, whether
financially, in kind, or otherwise, in any of the designating, establishing,
planning, abandoning, financing, improving, constructing, maintaining, and regulating
turnpike facilities as may be set forth in a short-term or long-term
intergovernmental agreement between the department and such political
subdivision. Revenues from these contracts may be pledged for the term thereof
and may be included in turnpike facility revenues should the contract so
provide. The right to receive any payments under such an intergovernmental
agreement may be maintained by the department, or assigned to the trustee for
the turnpike revenue bonds, as may be provided or authorized in the bond
resolution. The authority to enter into such an intergovernmental agreement is
concurrent, and supplementary, to those general powers granted political
subdivisions and the department by law, without limitation.

S
ection
57-5-1335
. The
Department of Transportation
department
, before constructing a bridge or replacing an
existing bridge which
qualifies
is or is anticipated to be designated
as a turnpike
facility
as defined in Section
57-5-1320
,
shall
conduct the feasibility study
required by
pursuant to
Section
57-5-1330
and shall forward copies of
the study to the Chairman of the Transportation and Finance Committees of the
Senate and the Education and Public Works and Ways and Means Committees of the
House of Representatives within fifteen days of the completion of the study.

S
ection
57-5-1340
.
I
n addition to the powers listed above,
the
South Carolina Department of Transportation
department
may:

1.
(
1)

Request
request
the issuance of turnpike bonds for the purpose of
paying all or any part of the cost of any one or more turnpike projects;

2.
(
2)

Fix
fix

and revise from time to time and charge and collect
a
program of
tolls for transit over each
designated
turnpike
facility
constructed by it
and
each program may provide for dynamic tolling, scheduled tolling, variable
tolling, uniform tolling, or some combination thereof, and may take into
account the weight and class of certain vehicles, real-time and planned usage,
and any other factors deemed appropriate by the department
;

3.
(
3)

Combine
combine
, for the purposes of financing
the
any turnpike
facilities,
any two or more turnpike facilities
, subject to
ratification and approval by the authority in a bond resolution
;

4.
(
4)

Control
control
access to turnpike facilities;

5.
(
5)

To
to

the extent permitted by a bond resolution, expend turnpike facility
or facilities
revenues in advertising the
turnpike
facilities and services of the turnpike facility
or facilities to the traveling public;

6.
(
6)

Receive
receive
and accept from any federal agency grants for or
in the aid of the construction of any turnpike facility;

7.
(
7)

Establish
establish
a separate division to administer turnpike
facilities and a separate turnpike facility account
.
;

8.
(
8)

Do
do

all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly
granted in this article.

S
ection
57-5-1350
.
W
henever it becomes necessary that monies
be raised for a turnpike facility, the commission may make request to the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
for the issuance of turnpike bonds. The request
may be in the form of
a
resolution adopted at any
regular or special meeting of the commission. The request shall set forth on
the face thereof or by schedule attached thereto:

1.
(
1)
the turnpike facility proposed to be constructed
or designated
;

2.
(
2)
the amount required for feasibility studies, planning,
design,
right-of-way
right of
way
acquisition, and construction of the turnpike facility;

3.
(
3)
a tentative time schedule setting forth the period of
time for which the sum
request must
requested is expected to
be expended;

4.
(
4)
a debt service table showing the estimated annual
principal and interest requirements for the requested turnpike bonds;

5.
(
5)
any feasibility study obtained by the commission
relating to the proposed turnpike facility;

6.
(
6)
the commission's recommendations relating to any
covenant to be made in the bond resolution of the
State
Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority

respecting competition between the proposed turnpike facility and possible
future highways whose construction would have an adverse effect upon the
turnpike
facility
revenues which would otherwise be
derived by the proposed turnpike facility.

S
ection
57-5-1360
. Following the receipt of a request pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
,
the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
shall review the request and, to the extent
that it approves the request, it may effect, by
bond

resolution duly adopted, the issuance of turnpike bonds, or pending their
issuance, may effect the issuance of bond anticipation notes pursuant to Title
11, Chapter 17.
A resolution approving any proposed
turnpike bonds may not be adopted unless before approval the state board
conducts, after not less than ten days' published notice, a public hearing in
the City of Columbia.

S
ection
57-5-1370
. Turnpike bonds may be issued from time to time under the conditions
prescribed by this article.

S
ection
57-5-1380
.
(
A)
For the payment of the principal of and interest on
all turnpike bonds, there is irrevocably pledged
all
turnpike revenues derived from the
turnpike facility
financed by the bonds
revenues

to the extent and in the manner prescribed by the bond resolution. Any interest
earned on turnpike facility account balances must be credited to the turnpike
facility account
as prescribed in the bond resolution
.

(
B) The turnpike bonds authorized by
this article are special limited obligations of the State. The principal and
interest are payable solely from the turnpike facility revenues. The turnpike
bonds issued do not constitute an indebtedness of the State, authority, or
department within the meaning of any state constitutional provision or
statutory limitation, except indebtedness payable solely from a revenue
producing source or from a special source that does not include revenues from
any tax within the meaning of item (9), Section 13, Article X of the South
Carolina Constitution. The full faith, credit, and taxing powers of the State,
authority, or department are not pledged to the payment of the turnpike bonds
and this fact must be plainly stated on the face of each turnpike bond. The
authority and the department each lack taxing power.

S
ection
57-5-1390
. Turnpike bonds shall bear interest, payable on occasions prescribed
by the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
, at a rate not exceeding the maximum prescribed
by
Section
11-9-350
the bond
resolution
. Each issue of turnpike bonds shall mature on the occasion
prescribed by the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
, not exceeding forty years from the date the
bonds
bear
are issued
.
Turnpike bonds may, in the discretion of the
State Fiscal
Accountability Authority
authority
, be made
subject to redemption at par and accrued interest, plus such redemption premium
as it approves and on occasions and under conditions it prescribes. Turnpike
bonds are not redeemable before maturity unless they contain a statement to
that effect.

S
ection
57-5-1400
. Turnpike bonds must be sold at private or public sale under
conditions prescribed by the
State Fiscal Accountability
Authority
bond resolution
. For the purpose of
bringing about successful sales of the bonds, the
State
Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
may
do
, or cause to be done,
all things ordinarily and
customarily done in connection with the sale of state or municipal bonds. All
expenses incident to the sales of the
turnpike

bonds must be paid from the proceeds of the sale of the
turnpike

bonds
or turnpike facility revenues
.

S
ection
57-5-1410
. All turnpike bonds must be executed in the name of and on behalf of
the State
of South Carolina
and must be signed by
the Governor and the State Treasurer. The Great Seal of the State must be
affixed to, impressed, or reproduced upon each of them and they must be
attested by the Secretary of State. If approved by the
State
Fiscal Accountability Authority, any one or two of the
authority, the
officers may, in lieu of manually signing,
employ the use of the facsimile of their signatures in executing any turnpike
bonds.

S
ection
57-5-1420
. The proceeds derived from the sale of turnpike bonds must be applied
only to the purposes
for which bonds are issued
authorized by this article and provided in the bond resolution
.

S
ection
57-5-1430
. Turnpike bonds must each be in the denomination of one thousand
or five thousand
dollars or some multiple thereof
or such larger denominations as may be authorized by the
authority in the bond resolution
.

S
ection
57-5-1440
.
T
urnpike bonds issued pursuant to this article may be in the form
of negotiable coupon bonds, payable to bearer, with the privilege to the holder
of having them registered in his name on the books of the State Treasurer as to
principal only, or as to both principal and interest, and the principal or both
principal and interest, as the case may be, thus made payable to the registered
holder, subject to conditions the State Fiscal Accountability Authority
prescribes. Turnpike bonds so registered as to principal in the name of the
holder may thereafter be registered as payable to bearer and made payable
accordingly.

T
urnpike bonds may
also
be issued as fully registered bonds with both
principal and interest made payable only to the registered holder. The fully
registered bonds are subject to transfer under conditions the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority prescribes. The fully
registered bonds may, if the proceedings authorizing their issuance so provide,
be convertible into negotiable coupon bonds with the attributes set forth in
the first paragraph of this section
authority
prescribes
.

S
ection
57-5-1450
.
(
A) The
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
, by
bond
resolution
duly adopted, may make provision for the issuance of turnpike bonds. In the
bond
resolution, the
State Fiscal
Accountability Authority
authority
may
prescribe:

(
1)
the amount, denomination, and numbering of turnpike bonds to be issued;

(
2)
the
date as of which they must be issued
method or manner of dating the turnpike bonds
;

(
3)
the
estimated
maturity schedule for the retirement
of the turnpike bonds
and pro-forma table of anticipated
and interest payments for such turnpike bonds
;

(
4)
the form or forms of the
turnpike
bonds of the
particular issue;

(
5)
the redemption provisions
or manner of determining the
same
, if any, applicable to the bonds;

(
6)
the maximum rate or rates of interest the
turnpike
bonds
shall bear;

(
7)
the specific purposes for which the
turnpike
bonds
must be issued;

(
8)
the purposes for which the proceeds of the
turnpike
bonds
must be expended, in the discretion of the
State Fiscal
Accountability Authority
authority
, a portion
of the proceeds may be used as capitalized interest during the period of
construction and initial operation and for the creation of appropriate debt
service reserves
and such other funds and accounts as the
authority deems necessary or expedient for the turnpike bonds and the proper
operation and functioning of the turnpike facilities
;

(
9) the method and conditions by which
turnpike revenues from the turnpike facility so financed must be collected and
utilized;

(10)
(
9)
the extent to which and the conditions under which
additional parity
turnpike
bonds may be issued;

(11)
(
10)
any covenant considered necessary protecting the
turnpike facility so financed from possible future competition from other
highways or comparable facilities;

(12)
(
11)
the
authorized
method
or methods
by which the
turnpike
bonds
must be sold and such other matters as may be considered necessary in order to
effect the sale, issuance, and delivery of the
turnpike
bonds
.
;

(
12) the conditions under which
refunding turnpike bonds may be issued.

(
B) Except as otherwise provided in
this article, all expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this
article are payable solely from funds provided under the authority of this
article or from any funds provided by the federal government or from other
special sources and no liability or obligation may be incurred by the
department beyond the extent to which money has been provided under the
provisions of this article.

(C)
(
B)
The
bond
resolution shall
set forth further a finding on the part of the
State
Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority

that the estimate of turnpike facility revenues made by the
commission
department
and
approved by the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
authority
indicates that collection from turnpike
facility
revenues for applicable fiscal years is
expected to be
not
no
less than that required for annual debt service
requirements of the requested turnpike bonds.
In making
such finding, the department and the authority may rely in whole or in part on
the work product of third-party professionals engaged to provide financial,
feasibility or practicability studies related to the turnpike facilities or the
financing thereof through turnpike bonds.

(
C) The authority, by bond resolution
duly adopted, may ratify and approve, in whole or in part, or modify in any
way, the designation of turnpike facilities proposed pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
.

(
D) The authority, by bond resolution
duly adopted, may ratify and approve, in whole or in part, the combining of any
turnpike facilities then existing or proposed pursuant to Section
57-5-1350
;
provided, however, that before ratifying and approving such combination, from
time to time the authority shall make a finding that it is in the best interest
of the State after taking into account factors including, but not limited to,
geographic connection, regional transportation planning, operational
efficiencies, revenue stability, bonding capacity, and such other factors as it
finds relevant.

S
ection
57-5-1460
. If following presentation of a certified copy of the bond resolution
it appears to the satisfaction of the Governor and the State Treasurer that the
estimated collection from the
sources of revenue
turnpike facility revenues
in applicable future fiscal
years are
not
no
less
than that required for annual debt service requirements for the requested
turnpike bonds, the Governor and State Treasurer may effect the delivery of
bonds in accordance with the bond resolution.

S
ection
57-5-1470
. All turnpike bonds issued under this article, and the interest
thereon, are exempt from all state, county, municipal, school district, and
other taxes or assessment, direct or indirect, general or special, imposed by
the State of South Carolina, whether imposed for the purpose of general revenue
or otherwise, except inheritance, estate, or transfer taxes. Each turnpike
facility constitutes a portion of the state highway system and as such is not
subject to ad valorem or other forms of taxation by the State or any of its
political subdivisions.

S
ection
57-5-1480
. It is lawful for all executors, administrators, guardians, and other
fiduciaries and all sinking fund commissions, including the
State Fiscal Accountability Authority
Retirement System Investment Commission
and Public
Employee Benefit Authority in their capacities as cotrustees of the funds of
the South Carolina Retirement System and
the authority
as
manager and administrator of other state sinking funds, to invest any monies in
their hands in turnpike bonds.

S
ection
57-5-1490
. Any person who uses any turnpike
project
facility
and fails or refuses to pay
the
any
toll
provided therefor
then due

shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished
by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more
than thirty days, and in addition thereto the
Department
department
shall have a lien upon the vehicle driven by
such person for the amount of such toll and may take and retain possession
thereof.

S
ection
57-5-1495
.
(
A) As used in this
section:

(
1)
"Electronic toll collection system" means a system of collecting tolls or
charges which is capable of charging an account holder
or
person
the appropriate toll or charge by
transmission
of information from an
electronic
device on a motor
vehicle to the toll lane, which information is used to charge the account the
appropriate toll or charge
means
.

(
2)
"Lessor" means any person, corporation, firm, partnership, agency, association,
or organization renting or leasing vehicles to a lessee under a rental
agreement, lease, or otherwise wherein the said lessee has the exclusive use of
the vehicle for any period of time.

(
3)
"Lessee" means any person, corporation, firm, partnership, agency, association,
or organization that rents, leases, or contracts for the use of one or more
vehicles and has exclusive use of the vehicles for any period of time.

(
4)
"Owner" means a person or an entity who, at the time of a toll violation and
with respect to the vehicle involved in the violation, is the registrant or
co-registrant of the vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles of this
State or another state, territory, district, province, nation, or jurisdiction.

(
5)
"Photo-monitoring system" means a vehicle sensor installed to work in
conjunction with a toll collection facility which automatically produces one or
more photographs, one or more microphotographs, a videotape, or other recorded
images of a vehicle at the time it is used or operated in violation of toll
collection regulations.

(
6)
"Toll violation" means the passage of a vehicle through a toll collection point
without payment of the required toll.

(
7)
"Vehicle" means a device in, upon, or by which a person or property is or may
be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices used exclusively upon
stationary rails or tracks.

(
B)
Notwithstanding another provision of law, when a vehicle is driven through a
turnpike facility without payment of the required toll, the owner and operator
of the vehicle is jointly and severally liable to the
Department
of Transportation
department
to pay the
required toll, administrative fees, and civil penalty as provided in this
section. The department or its authorized agent may enforce collection of the
required toll as provided for in this section.

(
C)
A certificate, sworn to or affirmed by an agent of the department, or a
facsimile of it, that a toll violation has occurred, based upon inspection of
photographs, microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded images produced by
a photo-monitoring system, is prima facie evidence of the violation and is
admissible in any proceeding charging a toll violation pursuant to this
section. A photograph, microphotograph, videotape,
or
other
recorded image
, or other electronic means,

evidencing a violation must be available for inspection by the party charged
and is admissible into evidence in a proceeding to adjudicate liability for a
violation.

(
D)
The department or its authorized agent may assess and collect administrative
fees of:

(
1)
not more than ten dollars for the first toll violation within a period of one
year;

(
2)
not more than twenty-five dollars for each subsequent toll violation within a
period of one year.

(
E)
Upon failure to pay the required toll and administrative fees to the department
within thirty days of the notice, the owner or operator may be cited for
failure to pay a toll pursuant to this subsection and, upon an adjudication of
liability, is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed fifty dollars for each
violation as contained in subsection (F). Upon an adjudication of liability, a
judgment must be entered against the owner or operator, and the court must mail
a copy of the judgment to the owner or operator. Upon failure to satisfy the
judgment within thirty days, the court shall notify the Department of Motor
Vehicles and the authorized agent, and the department shall suspend the
registration of the vehicle that was operated when the toll was not paid and
deny the vehicle's registration or reregistration pursuant to Section
56-3-1335
. The suspension shall remain in effect until the judgment is
satisfied and evidence of its satisfaction has been presented to the Department
of Motor Vehicles and the authorized agent. An owner or operator who has been
convicted of a violation of Section
57-5-1490
is not liable for the penalty
imposed by this subsection.

(
F)
If a magistrate or municipal judge determines that the person or entity charged
with liability under this section is liable, the magistrate or municipal judge
shall collect the unpaid tolls and administrative fee and forward them to the
department or its authorized agent. The magistrate or municipal judge also may
impose a civil penalty of up to fifty dollars for each violation, plus court
costs and attorney's fees. The civil penalty must be distributed in the same
manner as other fines and penalties collected by the magistrate.
Notwithstanding another provision of law:

(
1)
adjudication of liability pursuant to this section must be made by the
magistrate's court of the county in which the toll facility is located or the
municipal court of the city in which the toll facility is located; and

(
2)
an imposition of liability pursuant to this section must be based upon a
preponderance of evidence submitted and is not a conviction as an operator
pursuant to Section
57-5-1490
.

(
G)
The department or its authorized agent shall send:

(
1)
a "First Notice to Pay Toll" to the owner or operator of a vehicle which, on
one occasion in any twelve-month period, is identified as having been involved
in a toll violation. The first notice must require payment to the department of
the required toll, plus an administrative fee as provided for in subsection
(D), within thirty days of the mailing of the notice;

(
2)
a "Second Notice to Pay Toll" to the owner or operator of a vehicle which is
identified as having been involved in a second toll violation in a twelve-month
period, or who has failed to respond to a "First Notice to Pay Toll" within the
required time period. The second notice must require payment to the department
of the required tolls, plus an administrative fee as provided for in subsection
(D) for each violation within thirty days of the mailing of the notice;

(
3)
a "Failure to Pay a Toll" citation to the owner or operator of a vehicle which
is identified as having been involved in a third toll violation in a
twelve-month period, or who has failed to respond to the second notice within
the required time period. The citation requires payment to the department of
the unpaid tolls, plus an administrative fee of not more than twenty-five
dollars for each violation, within thirty days, or the recipient's appearance
in magistrate's court of the county in which the violation occurred or the
municipal court of the city in which the violation has occurred to contest the
citation. A "Failure to Pay a Toll" citation constitutes the summons and
complaint for an action to recover the toll and all applicable fees allowed
pursuant to this section; and

(
4)
notwithstanding another provision of law, the notices and citation required by
subsection (G) by first-class mail to the owner or operator of the vehicle
identified as being involved in the toll violation. If a vehicle is registered
in two or more names, the notices or citation must be mailed to the first name
listed on the registration records. Notwithstanding another provision of law,
personal delivery of the notices and citation is not required. A manual or
automatic record of the mailing of the notices or citation prepared in the
ordinary course of business is prima facie evidence of the mailing of the
notices or citation;

(
5)
the notices and citation required by this subsection must contain the following
information:

(
a)
the name and address of the person or entity alleged to be liable for a failure
to pay a toll pursuant to this section;

(
b)
the registration number of the vehicle involved in the toll violation;

(
c)
the location where the toll violation took place;

(
d)
the date and time of the toll violation;

(
e)
the identification number of the photo-monitoring system which recorded the
violation or other document locator number;

(
f)
information advising of the manner and time in which liability may be
contested;

(
g)
warning advising that failure to contest liability in the manner and time
provided in this section is an admission of liability; and

(
h)
information advising that failure to pay a toll may result in the suspension of
vehicle registration.

(
H)
If a vehicle owner receives a notice or citation pursuant to this section for a
period during which the vehicle involved in the toll violation was:

(
1)
reported to a law enforcement division as having been stolen, a valid defense
to an allegation of liability for a failure to pay a toll is that the vehicle
had been reported to a law enforcement division as stolen before the time the
violation occurred and had not been recovered by the time of the violation. If
an owner receives a notice or citation pursuant to this section for a violation
which occurred during a time period in which the vehicle was stolen, but which
had not been reported to a law enforcement division as having been stolen, a
valid defense to an allegation of liability for a toll violation pursuant to
this section is that the vehicle was reported as stolen within two hours after
the discovery of the theft by the owner. For purposes of asserting the defense
provided by this subitem, a certified copy of the police report on the stolen
vehicle, sent by first-class mail to the department, its agent, or the
magistrate's court or the municipal court having jurisdiction of the citation
within thirty days after receipt of the notices or citation, is sufficient;

(
2)
leased to another person or entity, the lessor is not liable for the violation
if the lessor sends to the department or to the court having jurisdiction over
the citation a copy of the rental, lease, or another contract document covering
the vehicle on the date of the violation, with the name and address of the
lessee clearly legible, within thirty days after receiving the notices or
citation. Failure to send the information within the thirty-day period renders
the lessor liable for the unpaid tolls and any administrative fees or penalties
assessed pursuant to this section. If the lessor complies with the provisions
of this subitem, the lessee of the vehicle on the date of the violation is
subject to liability for the failure to pay the toll if the department or its
agent mails a notice of liability to the lessee within thirty days after
receipt of a copy of the rental, lease, or other contract document.

(
I)
If a person or entity receives a notice or citation pursuant to this section,
it is a valid defense to liability that the person or entity that receives the
notice was not the owner of the vehicle at the time of the toll violation.

(
J)
If an owner who pays the required tolls, fees, or penalties, or all of them
pursuant to this section was not the operator of the vehicle at the time of the
violation, the owner may maintain an action for indemnification against the
operator.

(
K)
An owner of a vehicle is not liable for a penalty imposed pursuant to this
section if the operator of the vehicle has been convicted of a violation of
Section
57-5-1490
for the same incident.

(
L)
On turnpike facilities where electronic toll collection systems are utilized:

(
1)
a person who wants to make payment of tolls electronically must apply to the
department or its authorized agent to become an account holder. The department
or its authorized agent, in its discretion, may deny the application of a
person. A person whose application is accepted must execute an account holder's
agreement. The terms of the account holder's agreement must be established by
the department;

(
2)
the department shall ensure that adequate and timely notice is given to all
electronic toll collection system account holders to inform them when their
accounts are delinquent. The owner of a vehicle who is an account holder under
the electronic toll collection system is not liable for a failure to pay a toll
pursuant to the provisions of this section unless the department or its
authorized agent has first sent a notice of delinquency to the account holder
and the account holder was delinquent at the time of the violation;

(
3)
the department shall not sell, distribute, or make available the names and
addresses of electronic toll collection system account holders, without the
account holder's consent, to any entity that uses the information for
commercial purposes. However, this restriction does not preclude the exchange
of this information between entities with jurisdiction over or operating a toll
highway bridge or tunnel;

(
4)
information or data collected by the department or its authorized agent for the
purpose of establishing and monitoring electronic toll collection accounts is
not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act;

(
5)
notwithstanding another provision of law, all information, data, photographs,
microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded images prepared pursuant to this
section must be for the exclusive use of the department or its authorized agent
in the discharge of its duties under this section and must not be open to the
public, subject to the disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, nor
used in a court in an action or a proceeding pending unless the action or
proceeding relates to the imposition of or indemnification for liability
pursuant to this section.

(
M)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, school buses transporting school
children for a school event, shall be exempt from the payment of any tolls.

S
ECTION 28.
A
rticle 1, Chapter 1, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
57-1-25
.
(
A) There is established the
Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility that is responsible for
developing coordinated transportation plans and policy for the State of South
Carolina. The coordinating council is responsible for approving the long-range
State Transportation Plan required by Section
57-1-370
. Also, the coordinating
council shall review and comment on plans developed by the member agencies, as
set forth in subsection (B), for the furtherance of coordinated transportation
planning in the State.

(
B) The
coordinating council shall consist of:

(
1)
the Secretary of Transportation, who shall serve as chairman;

(
2)
the Director of Public Safety;

(
3)
the Executive Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles;

(
4)
the Secretary of Commerce;

(
5)
the Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Staff;

(
6)
the Director of the Department of Natural Resources;

(
7)
the Director of the Department of Environmental Services;

(
8)
the Executive Director of the State Ports Authority, or his designee;

(
9)
the Chairman of the Aeronautics Commission, or his designee;

(
10)
the Chairman of State Transportation Infrastructure Bank board of directors, or
his designee; and

(
11)
one municipal representative and one county representative, both appointed by
the Governor.

(
C) The
department's Deputy Secretary for Planning shall serve as staff to the
coordinating council.

(
D) The
coordinating council shall recommend for the Governor's certification the
boundaries of metropolitan planning organizations within urban areas in
cooperation with the local governments in the metropolitan planning
organization as provided by United States Department of Transportation.

(
E) The
coordinating council shall establish rural transportation planning districts
outside of the boundaries of metropolitan planning organizations. In developing
the boundaries, the coordinating council must consider existing population
centers, commuting patterns, and anticipated future growth patterns. The
coordinating council shall establish the representation from local
jurisdictions on each rural transportation planning district. The rural
transportation planning district shall establish transportation plans for the
assigned territory including plans for the provision of rural mass transit.

(
F) The
coordinating council shall approve the host organizations for each metropolitan
planning organization and rural transportation planning district. In approving
the host organization, the coordinating council must ensure that the host
organization is able to operate independently and ethically.

S
ECTION 29.
A
rticle 1, Chapter 5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
57-5-105
.
(
A) The department shall
conduct a study of the state highway system to determine which, if any, roads
are not essential to the operation of the system. The department shall publish
the list of nonessential roads, and may transfer ownership and maintenance
responsibilities to counties, municipalities, and other entities. The list must
be approved by the Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility.

(
B)
There is hereby created within the department the System Realignment Fund to
fund the transfer of nonessential roads identified pursuant to subsection (A)
to local governments and entities. The fund may receive monies from an
appropriation or authorization of the General Assembly and the Secretary of
Transportation may transfer monies from the State Highway Fund.

(
C) In
a county where the department has transferred all roads identified as
nonessential pursuant to subsection (A):

(
1)
the applicable County Transportation Committee is not required to expend
twenty-five percent of its "C" funds on the state highway system as otherwise
required by Section
12-28-2740
(C);

(
2)
the applicable county may impose a sales tax of two percent in accordance with
the requirements of Section
4-37-30
(A); and

(
3)
the local governments wholly within the applicable county may impose additional
millage to meet the funding requirements of maintaining the roads. The initial
additional millage authorized by this section is not subject to the provisions
of Section
6-1-320
.

(
D)
Road transferred pursuant to this section must be maintained by the local
government or entity, meet or exceed the state highway maintenance standards,
and remain in a good state of repair.

S
ECTION 30.
S
ection
57-3-20
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-20
.
T
he responsibilities and duties of the
following division deputy
directors
secretaries
must include, but not be limited to, the
following:

(
1)
division deputy director for finance and administration
Deputy Secretary for Finance and Administration
:

(
a)
financial planning and management;

(
b)
accounting systems necessary to comply with all federal and/or state laws
and/or regulations as well as all policies established by the Comptroller
General;
and

(
c)
administrative functions, including recording proceedings of the commission and
developing policy and procedures to ensure compliance with these policies and
procedures;
and

(
d) financial management of funding from
federal, state, and local transit, rail, and other intermodal transportation;

(
2)
division deputy director for construction, engineering, and
planning
Deputy Secretary for Engineering
:

(
a)

develop statewide strategic highway plans
operations and management of the department's highway districts
;

and

(
b)
direct highway engineering activities, including
preconstruction,

construction,
design,
construction
oversight, and maintenance of state highways;
and

(
c) establish project and program
priority lists;

(
3)
division deputy director for intermodal and freight programs
Deputy Secretary for Intermodal and Freight Programs
:

(
a)
develop a statewide public transit system;

(
b)
coordinate the preservation and revitalization of existing rail corridors;

(
c)
develop and coordinate a statewide passenger and freight rail system, including
the development of a comprehensive state rail plan for passenger and freight
railroads and rail infrastructure services;

(
d)

plan, develop, and
coordinate
and
implement
a comprehensive intermodal transportation program for the
movement of passengers and freight through integrated highway, railroad, port,
airport, and other transit systems;
and

(
e) financial management of funding from
federal, state, and local transit, rail, and other intermodal sources; and

(f)
(
e)
manage the Office of Railroads and the Office of
Public Transit
;

(
4) Deputy Secretary for Planning:

(
a) develop statewide strategic
transportation plans;

(
b) coordinate statewide plans with
federally and state-funded regional and local transportation planning
organizations; and

(
c) serve as the staff for the
department to the Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility.

S
ECTION 31.
S
ection
57-1-360
(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
B)
(
1) The chief internal auditor must be
a Certified Public Accountant
, a Certified Internal
Auditor, or a Certified Fraud Examiner,
and possess any other experience
the State Auditor may require. The chief internal auditor must establish,
implement, and maintain the exclusive internal audit function of all
departmental activities. The State Auditor shall set the salary for the chief
internal auditor as allowed by statute or applicable law.

(
2)
The audits performed by the chief internal auditor must comply with recognized
governmental auditing standards.
The scope of internal
audit services shall cover the entire department, including all of the
department's activities, assets, and personnel. The scope of internal audit
activities also encompasses, but is not limited to, objective examinations of
evidence to provide independent assurance on the adequacy, effectiveness, and
efficiency of governance, risk management, control processes, and compliance
for the department.
The department and any entity contracting with the
department must fully cooperate with the chief internal auditor in the
discharge of his duties and responsibilities and must timely produce all books,
papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other records considered necessary in
connection with an internal audit. All final audit reports must be submitted to
the
commission and
secretary,

the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the Chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Education and
Public Works Committee, and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ways
and Means Committee before being made public. All final audit reports shall be
published on the department's and the State Auditor's websites.

(
3)
The State Auditor is vested with the exclusive management and control of the
chief internal auditor.

S
ECTION 32.
S
ection
11-35-710
(A)(1) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
1)
the
transportation planning, financing,
construction,
maintenance,
operation,
and repair of bridges,
highways,
and
roads
, and other
improvements on state rights of way
; vehicle and road equipment
maintenance and repair;
purchase and management of
information technology including, but not limited to, Intelligent
Transportation Systems and signals utilized by the Department of
Transportation;
and other emergency-type parts or equipment utilized by
the Department of Transportation or the Department of Public Safety
. This exemption does not apply to welcome centers operated or
staffed by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. The Department of
Transportation is authorized upon an affirmative vote of the State Fiscal
Accountability Authority to utilize procurement methods authorized under
Article 9 of this chapter under its exemption
;

S
ECTION 33.
A
rticle 11, Chapter 5, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
57-5-1710
.
(
A) As used in this
section, "phased design-build" means a project delivery method that uses a
stepped, or progressive qualifications-based selection process, followed by a
progression to a contract price.

(
B)
(
1) The department must select the
phased design-build contractor exclusively on qualifications and technical
approach, without consideration of schedule or costs, which must deliver the
project in multiple phases.

(
2)
The phased design-build contractor is initially under contract for
preconstruction activities including, but not limited to, project validation,
designing and developing plans, performing constructability reviews, and
developing construction schedules and pricing.

(
3)
The department and the phased design-build contractor shall work to establish a
guaranteed maximum construction cost. The guaranteed maximum construction cost
is the total dollar amount within which the phased design-build contractor
shall complete the final design and construction of the project including the
contractor's direct costs, overhead, and profit, plus any authorized
contingency. Upon agreement of the guaranteed maximum construction cost, the
department and the phased design-build contractor may execute a second contract
or an amendment to the initial contract for completion of the final designs and
construction of the project consistent with the provisions of subsection (C).

(
4)
In the event the department and phased design-build contractor cannot reach
agreement on a guaranteed maximum construction cost, the department shall take
ownership and assume liability of the design work product. Nothing shall
prohibit the department from pursuing the project under any other legally
allowed method.

(
C)
The department only may award a contract under this section if the department:

(
1)
determines that it is in the public's interest to use the phased design-build
project delivery method; and

(
2)
prequalifies the prime contractor and lead designer firm that will be awarded
the contract.

(
D)
The department may award a contract using phased design-build procedures if:

(
1)
Prior to initiating a phased design-build procurement under this section, the
department submits a report to the Joint Bond Review Committee on the nature
and scope of the project and the reasons the phased design-build procurement
project delivery method will best serve the public interest. The department
shall not initiate a procurement until the Joint Bond Review Committee has
provided its review and comment.

(
2)
Upon completion of a project awarded pursuant to this section, the department
submits a postcompletion report to the Joint Bond Review Committee detailing
the project results, including any cost and time efficiencies achieved using
the phased design-build project delivery method. This report must include a
cost analysis comparing the use of phased design-build for awarding contracts
with the award of contracts under the existing procedure.

(
E)
The department may promulgate regulations to implement the phased design-build
method.

S
ection
57-5-1720
.
(
A) The department may
award highway construction contracts using a construction manager/general
contractor (CM/GC) procedure. Under a CM/GC contract, the department shall
perform preconstruction services via department personnel or via contract. A
CM/GC contractor is responsible for providing advisory preconstruction services
of the department's design including, but not limited to, constructability
review, scheduling, pricing, and phasing. The CM/GC contractor must be able to
perform construction should the department and the contractor agree to a
guaranteed maximum price.

(
B)
Should a guaranteed maximum price agreement be reached, construction services
shall commence under a subsequent contract instrument. The contract instrument
may be in the form of a CM/GC contract, a franchise agreement, or any other
form of contract approved by the department. Before execution of a construction
contract, the department shall retain an independent third party to develop a
cost estimate to verify the guaranteed maximum price submitted by the
contractor.

(
C)
Selection criteria shall include the contractor's cost for preconstruction
services associated with the project, contractor qualifications, experience,
past performance, best value, or any combination of these criteria, or any
other combination of selection criteria considered appropriate by the
department.

(
D)
The department may promulgate regulations to implement the CM/GC project
delivery method.

S
ECTION 34.
A
rticle 7, Chapter 3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-790
.
T
he State waives its immunity under the
Eleventh Amendment of the United States Constitution and consents to suit in a
federal court for lawsuits arising out of the department's compliance,
discharge, or enforcement of responsibilities assumed pursuant to 23 U.S.C.
Sections 326 and 327. The waiver of immunity under this section is valid only
if:

(
1)
the Secretary of Transportation executes a memorandum of understanding with the
United States Department of Transportation accepting the jurisdiction of the
federal courts as required by 23 U.S.C. Sections 326(c) and 327(c);

(
2)
before execution of the memorandum of understanding pursuant to item (1), the
South Carolina Attorney General has issued an opinion letter to the Secretary
of Transportation and the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration
that the memorandum of understanding and the waiver of immunity are valid and
binding upon the State;

(
3)
the act or omission that is the subject of the lawsuit arises out of or relates
to compliance, discharge, or enforcement of responsibilities assumed by the
department pursuant to 23 U.S.C. Section 326 and 327; and

(
4)
the memorandum of understanding is in effect when the act or omission that is
the subject of the federal lawsuit occurred.

S
ECTION 35.
S
ections
57-5-820
through
57-5-830
of the S.C. Code are
amended to read:

S
ection
57-5-820
.
(
A)
As used in this section and Section
57-5-830
:

(
1)
"Structurally deficient"
means not adequate to handle the vehicle weights authorized on roads leading to
them.

(
2)
"Functionally obsolete"
means narrow clearances or sharp roadway approach angles that make passage
difficult or hazardous, or with too few lanes for existing traffic needs.

(
B)
All work to be
performed by the Department on state highways within a municipality must be
with the consent and approval of the proper municipal authorities, except that
work performed or to be performed on a bridge and its approaches, certified by
the Department as functionally obsolete or structurally deficient, to remove,
replace, or improve such bridge and its approaches shall not require prior
consent and approval of a municipal authority if the bridge crosses the
intracoastal waterway.
A decision by a municipality to not
consent and approve the work must be communicated in writing to the department
no less than one hundred eighty days before the right of way acquisition for
the project to assure that the municipality does not unreasonably delay
projects. Failure to provide consent and approval is deemed to be acceptance of
the work. Municipalities shall not conditionally approve the work to be
performed by the department. A decision to disapprove the work shall result in
the cancellation of the project, unless the project is determined to be in the
best interest of the State by the Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility.

S
ection
57-5-830
. In every case of a proposed permanent improvement, construction,
reconstruction, or alteration by the
Department
department
of any highway or highway facility within a
municipality, the municipality may review and approve the plans before the work
is started
but in no event shall such review and approval
of the plans delay the project schedule as communicated by the department to
the municipality
; except that a municipality may not have the right to
review and approve plans to remove, replace, or improve a bridge and its
approaches within its limits where such bridge and its approaches have been
certified by the
Department
department

to be functionally obsolete or structurally deficient and if the bridge crosses
the intracoastal waterway.
Any costs incurred by the department
caused by the unreasonable delay in the review and approval of the plans must
be borne by the municipality.

S
ECTION 36.
S
ection
57-3-615
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
57-3-615
.
I
f a toll is administered on a project by the Department of
Transportation, the toll must be used to pay for the construction, maintenance
costs, and other expenses for only that project. A toll project that is in
excess of one hundred fifty million dollars may only be initiated as provided
in Chapter 37 of Title 4.

N
o toll may be
imposed on passage of any vehicle on federal interstate highways
or any highway
in this State
which
were in existence as of January 1, 1997,
unless
the

such
imposition is
allowed
by, or not contrary to, federal law and:

(
1) the imposition is
otherwise
affirmatively approved
specifically
authorized
by the General Assembly
in separate
legislation enacted solely for that purpose
; or

(
2) such toll is imposed as a result of
the use of or right to use lanes and facilities: (a)(1) designated as turnpike
facilities under Article 9, Chapter 5, Title 57; or (b) in connection with an
agreement pursuant to Section
57-3-20
0 or Section
57-3-20
5 provided that the
imposition of tolls is reviewed by the Joint Bond Review Commission and
approved by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority before the solicitation
of proposals therefor; and (b) such managed or choice lanes and facilities project
increases the capacity of such highway
.

S
ECTION 37.
A
rticle 2, Chapter 3, Title 57 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
57-3-240
.
T
he Department of Transportation may
enter into reciprocal agreements with other jurisdictions including the federal
government and any state, or agencies or departments thereof, to enforce toll
violations. Such an agreement shall provide that, when another jurisdiction
certifies that the registered owner of a vehicle registered in this State has
failed to pay a toll, processing fee, or civil penalty due to that
jurisdiction, the unpaid toll, processing fee, or civil penalty may be enforced
by placing a renewal block as if the owner of the motor vehicle has an
outstanding judgment for failure to pay a toll under Section
56-3-1335
, upon
notification by the Department of Transportation to the Department of Motor
Vehicles. Such agreement only shall be enforceable to the extent that:

(
1)
The other jurisdiction has its own reciprocal procedure for toll violation
enforcement and does, in fact, reciprocate in enforcing toll violations within
this State by withholding the registration renewal of registered owners of
motor vehicles from such jurisdiction, and the other jurisdiction provides due
process and appeal protections to avoid the likelihood that a false, mistaken,
or unjustified claim will be pursued against the owner of a vehicle registered
in this State.

(
2)
Drivers and vehicles licensed or registered in this State, while operating on
the highways and bridges of the other jurisdiction, shall receive the benefits,
privileges, and exemptions of a similar kind with regard to toll enforcement as
are extended to the drivers and vehicles licensed or registered in the other
jurisdiction while they are operating on the highways and bridges of this
State.

(
3)
The owner of a vehicle registered in this State may present evidence to the
other toll agency or jurisdiction by mail or other means to invoke rights of
due process without having to appear personally in the jurisdiction where the
violation allegedly occurred.

(
4)
The reciprocal violation enforcement arrangement between the department and the
other toll agency provides that each party shall charge the other for costs
associated with registration holds in their respective jurisdictions.

S
ection
57-3-250
.
(
A) In addition to all
other statutory contracting authorizations granted to the department and
notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, for the purpose of planning,
designing, financing, constructing, operating or maintaining, or any
combination thereof, highways, roads, streets, bridges, public transit, and
work, improvements or facilities incidental or related thereto under the
jurisdiction of the department, or any combination thereof, the department is
authorized either directly, or through a new office of public-private
partnerships, to enter into public-private partnership arrangements between or
among the department and any public or private entities. The provisions of this
section may be used in concert with any other provisions of state law to
accomplish one or more projects.

(
B)
Public-private partnership arrangements may take the form of design-build
agreements, design-build-operate agreements, design-build-operate-maintain
agreements, design-build-finance-operate-maintain agreements, franchise
agreements, predevelopment agreements, tolling services agreements, direct
agreements, guarantees, concession agreements, lease agreements, availability
payments agreements, performance-based payments agreement, or any other form of
contract approved by the department, or other similar arrangements or
agreements pursuant to which the design, right of way acquisition, relocation
of structures or utilities, construction, financing, management, maintenance,
and operation, or any combination thereof, of a public highway, road, street,
buildings and facilities owned by the department, broadband technology, bridge,
public transit project and work, improvements or facilities incidental or
related thereto is accomplished by the department or on behalf of the
department by any public or private entities or methods. Such agreements may be
short-term or long-term agreements, not to exceed ninety-nine years. Contracts
may authorize the establishment, adjustment, indexation, and enforcement of
fares, tolls, or other user fees, including time-of-day or dynamic pricing,
consistent with policies adopted by the department, which may allow enforcement
through photo-monitoring. Contracts may specify a revenue application
waterfall, reserves, rate covenants, and collection and enforcement measures.
Agreements may be structured on a revenue-risk, availability-payment, or hybrid
basis, including shadow tolls or usage-based performance components.

(
C)
Subject to Section
57-3-615
, any contracts entered into pursuant to this
section may authorize funding to be established, set, modified, adjusted, and
retained by the private entity, may include fares, tolls, or other user fees
for use of the project that is the subject of the arrangement and the
department may provide enforcement and collection services for the benefit of a
public-private partnership arrangement. Such funding may be distributed by
contract among the participants in the project as may be provided for by
contract. Multiyear payment obligations may be appropriation-backed
availability payments or milestone payments and may include standard
nonappropriation clauses and termination for nonappropriation remedies with
predefined compensation formulas.

(
D)
The department may take any action to obtain federal, state, or local
assistance for a qualifying project that serves the public purpose and the
public-private partnership arrangements authorized by this section and may
enter into any contracts required to receive such assistance. The department
may determine that it serves the public purpose and the public-private
partnership arrangements authorized by this section for all or any portion of
the costs of a project to be paid, directly or indirectly, from the proceeds of
a grant or loan made by federal, state, or local government or any agency or
instrumentality thereof. Such assistance includes, but is not limited to,
assistance under the transportation infrastructure finance and innovation act,
railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing, private activity bonds, and
other federal credit or tax-exempt financing programs. The department may
cooperate with private partners to obtain allocations or approvals necessary
for the issuance of private activity bonds and similar instruments, and may
establish or incorporate, or assist in the establishment and incorporation of,
a not-for-profit corporation or entity for purpose of borrowing funds through a
governmental conduit bond issuer for the benefit of a project procured by the
department.

(
E)
Any contract entered into pursuant to this section shall require the private
partner or each of its prime contractors to provide performance and payment
security to the extent deemed necessary by the department or required by the
financing parties. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the penal sum or
amount of such security may be less than the price of the contract involved,
such as the value of the construction elements of the contract, based upon the
department's determination on a project-by-project basis of what sum may be
required to adequately protect the department, the State, and the contracting
and subcontracting parties.

(
F)
Notwithstanding any provision of law, proposals under this section, with
respect to public highway, road, bridge, building, facility, or public transit
projects or work incidental or related thereto that the department determines
can be more efficiently accomplished by any of the means enumerated in this
section, may be evaluated and awarded by the department based on qualifications
of participants or best value, or both, as evaluated by procedures of the
department and taking into consideration the best interest of the State of
South Carolina. Projects authorized under a predevelopment agreement may be
authorized without specifying or finalizing the full or final scope of work to
be performed under the procurement or predevelopment agreement. The department
may utilize a two-step request for qualifications or request for proposals
process with shortlisting; conduct competitive dialogue or confidential
meetings with proposers; solicit and accept alternative technical concepts; and
make best-value tradeoffs without mandated formulaic weights.

(
G) To
the extent not authorized by law other than this section, the determination of
the type of contract to utilize under subsection (B) for a given project must
be reviewed by the Joint Bond Review Committee before solicitation thereof. The
agreement may include an agreement to make payments to a development entity on
a multiyear basis, provided either; (i) that payment and performance
obligations for succeeding fiscal periods are subject to the availability and
appropriation of funds for such periods, or (ii) that specific, limited
revenues are identified and reviewed by the Joint Bond Review Committee before
the solicitation of the procurement and such revenues are payable solely from a
revenue-producing project or from a special source, which source does not
involve revenues from any tax. The department may set up separate accounts,
which may be with a commercial trustee, to account for any such funds and
provide for the deposit and disbursement of monies therein under the
public-private partnership arrangement. The department shall issue a report to
the Joint Bond Review Committee within thirty days of execution of the
public-private partnership arrangement and shall keep the Joint Bond Review
Committee updated on an annual basis within one hundred twenty days of the end
of each fiscal year as to the status of all public-private partnership
arrangements outstanding.

(
H) In
every instance where the department shall propose to enter into a
public-private partnership arrangement under this section, it shall, before the
execution and delivery of the contract documents for such public-private
partnership arrangement, file a copy of such documents with the Secretary of
State. The Secretary of State must file and index such filing in a special book
to be kept by such officer for such purpose. The Secretary of State is
authorized to prepare and deliver certified copies of the documents as filed
and to deliver them to interested parties. For each such certification a
reasonable fee may be charged. No action may be commenced on account of the
validity of a public-private partnership arrangement after the expiration of
twenty days from the date of the filing and indexing of the proposed contract
documents for the public-private partnership arrangement with the Secretary of
State. The period within which such actions may be commenced shall not begin to
run until such records have been filed as prescribed in this section.

S
ECTION 38.
S
ection
12-28-2740
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
12-28-2740
.
(
A) The proceeds
from two and sixty-six
three and
ninety-nine
one-hundredths cents a gallon of the user fee on gasoline
only as levied and provided for in this chapter must be deposited with the
State Treasurer and expended for purposes set forth in this section. The monies
must be apportioned among the counties of the State in the following manner:

(
1)
one-third distributed in the ratio which the land area of the county bears to
the total land area of the State;

(
2)
one-third distributed in the ratio which the population of the county bears to
the total population of the State as shown by the latest official decennial
census;

(
3)
one-third distributed in the ratio which the mileage of all rural roads in the
county bears to the total rural road mileage in the State as shown by the
latest official records of the Department of Transportation. The Department of
Revenue shall collect the information required pursuant to Section
12-28-1390

regarding the number of gallons sold in each county for use in making
allocations of donor funds as provided in subsection (H). The Department of
Revenue shall submit the percentage of the total represented by each county to
the Department of Transportation and to each county transportation committee
annually by May first of the following calendar year. Upon request of a county
transportation committee, the Department of Transportation shall continue to
administer the funds allocated to the county.

A
ll interest earnings
on the County Transportation Fund in the State Treasury must be added to the
distribution to counties under this section in proportion to each county's
portion of the entire County Transportation Fund. Except for those funds being
used in connection with highway projects administered by the Department of
Transportation on behalf of counties administering their own "C" funds, these
distributions of earnings and the calculation required to determine the
appropriate amount shall not include those counties administering their own "C"
funds.

(
B)
(
1)
The funds expended must be approved by and used in
furtherance of a countywide transportation plan adopted by a county
transportation committee.

(
2)
The county transportation
committee must be appointed by the county legislative delegation and must be
made up of fair representation from municipalities and unincorporated areas of
the county
, but all members must be a resident of the
county. The legislative delegation shall notify the Department of
Transportation of appointments to the county transportation committee within
thirty days of the appointment. The Department of Transportation shall publish
a register on its website of members of each respective county transportation
committee
.

(
3) The countywide transportation
plan shall list the criteria by which projects must be selected by the county
transportation committee. The criteria shall include, but are not limited to,
the condition of state and local highway roads and bridges, safety, efficient
traffic operations, and economic development. The plan must be updated at least
every four years. Expenses related to preparing a plan may be incurred from "C"
funds. This subsection does not prohibit the county legislative delegation from
making project recommendations to the county transportation committee.

(
4)
County transportation
committees may join in approving a regional transportation plan, and the funds
must be used in furtherance of the regional transportation plan.
The regional transportation plan must be updated every four
years. Expenses related to preparing a plan may be incurred from "C" funds.
This
subsection does not prohibit the county legislative delegation from making
project recommendations to the county transportation committee.

(
5)
A county transportation
committee may expend from the funds allocated under this section an amount not
to exceed
two
ten
thousand
dollars for reasonable administrative expenses directly related to the
activities of the committee. Administrative expenses may include costs
associated with copying, mailings, public notices, correspondence, and
recordkeeping but do not include the payment of per diem or salaries for
members of the committee.

(
6) A county transportation committee
shall comply with notice requirements pursuant to Section
30-4-80
. The agenda
must include the proposed actions of the county transportation committee and
include the requested amount of "C" funds to be allocated.

(
7) A county transportation committee
shall comply with the minutes requirements set forth in Section
30-4-90
. The
minutes shall include the final amount of "C" funds allocated to each
recipient.

(
8) A county transportation committee
must meet at least twice annually.

(
C)
At least twenty-five percent of a county's apportionment of "C" funds, based on
a biennial averaging of expenditures, must be expended on the state highway
system for construction, improvements, and maintenance.
The
Secretary of Transportation, or his designee, must approve the proposed
expenditure based on the anticipated improvement to the existing condition and
operations of the state highway system.
The Department of Transportation
shall administer all funds expended on the state highway system unless the
department has given explicit authority to a county or municipal government or
other agent acting on behalf of the county transportation committee to design,
engineer, construct, and inspect projects using their own personnel. The county
transportation committee, at its discretion, may expend up to seventy-five
percent of "C" construction funds for activities including other local paving
or improving county roads, for street and traffic signs, and for other road and
bridge projects.

(
D)
The funds allocated to the county also may be used to issue county bonds or
state highway bonds as provided in subsection (J), pay directly for appropriate
highway projects, including engineering, contracting, and project supervision,
and match federal funds available for appropriate projects. Beginning July 1,
2002, for any new "C" fund allocations received on or after this date, the
balance of uncommitted funds carried forward from one year into the next may
not exceed three hundred percent of the county's total apportionment for the
most recent year. Expenditures must be documented on a per-project basis upon
the completion of each project in reports to the respective county
transportation committees. This documentation must be provided by the agency or
local government actually expending the funds and it shall include a
description of the completed project and a general accounting of all
expenditures made in connection with the project summaries of these reports
then must be forwarded by each county transportation committee to the
department using guidelines established by the department and the department
shall compile these reports into an annual statewide report to be submitted to
the General Assembly by the second Tuesday of January of each year. The
documentation and reporting requirements of this subsection apply only to
counties administering their own "C" funds. For purposes of this section,
"uncommitted funds" means funds held in the county's "C" fund account that have
not been designated for specific projects.

(
E)
All unexpended "C" funds allocated to a county remain in the account allocated
to the county for the succeeding fiscal year and must be expended as provided
in this section.

(
F)
The countywide and regional transportation plans provided for in this section
must be reviewed and approved by the Department of Transportation
and the Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility
.
Before the expenditure of funds by a county transportation committee, the
committee shall adopt specifications for local road projects. In counties
electing to expend their allocation directly pursuant to subsection (A),
specifications of roads built with "C" funds are to be established by the
countywide or regional transportation committee. In counties in which the
county transportation committee elects to have "C" funds administered by the
Department of Transportation, primary and secondary roads built using "C" funds
must meet Department of Transportation specifications.

(
G)
This section must not be construed as affecting the plans and implementation of
plans for a Statewide Surface Transportation System as developed by the
Department of Transportation.

(
H)
(
1) For purposes of this subsection,
"donor county" means a county that contributes to the "C" fund an amount in
excess of what it receives under the allocation formula as stated in subsection
(A). In addition to the allocation to the counties pursuant to subsection (A),
the Department of Transportation annually shall transfer to the donor counties
an amount equal to seventeen million dollars in the ratio of the individual
donor county's contribution in excess of "C" fund revenue allocated to the
county under subsection (A) to the total excess contributions of all donor
counties.

(
2)
A county is eligible for an additional allocation from the Department of
Transportation if the county contributed to the "C" fund an amount in excess of
what it receives under the allocation formula as stated in subsection (A) plus
what it receives under item (1). The Department of Transportation annually
shall transfer to the eligible counties an amount up to three and one-half
million dollars in the ratio of the individual eligible county's contribution
to the "C" fund in excess of the eligible county's total allocations under
subsection (A) and item (1) to the total excess contributions of all eligible
counties remaining after all allocations under subsection (A) and item (1) have
been made. Under no circumstances can an allocation under this item result in
an eligible county receiving total allocations in excess of what the county
contributed to the "C" fund.

(
I)
(
1) In expending funds pursuant to
this section, counties that administer their own "C" funds shall use a
procurement system that requires competitive sealed bids, no bid preferences
not required by state or federal law, and public advertisement of all projects.
All bids for contracts in excess of one hundred thousand dollars must be
accompanied by certified bid bonds, and all work awarded under the contracts
must be covered by performance and payment bonds for one hundred percent of the
contract value. Bid summaries must be published in a newspaper of general
distribution following each award.

(
2)
The requirement of a bond for bid security or a bond for payment and
performance may not include the requirement that the surety bond be furnished
by a particular surety company or through a particular agent or broker.

(
J)
State highway bonds may be issued for the completion of projects for which "C"
funds may be expended for projects as determined by the county transportation
committee.
The applicable source for payment of principal
and interest on the bonds is the share of "C" fund revenues available for use
by the county transportation committee.
The application for the bonds
must be filed by the county transportation committee with the
Commission of the
Department of Transportation and the
State Treasurer
, which shall forward the application to
the State Fiscal Accountability Authority
.
The
Department of Transportation shall review the request and ensure it includes
the information and schedules required by Section
57-11-220
and that the estimated
principal and interest on the proposed bonds may be met from such county's "C"
funds. If the Secretary of Transportation, finds that such request, as
submitted or as supplemented by the department, includes the required
information, demonstrates that available "C" funds will satisfy estimated
principal and interest on the proposed bonds, and does not unreasonably impact
the published plans of the Department of Transportation, the Secretary of
Transportation shall submit such request for state highway bonds to the State
Fiscal Accountability Authority.
The State Fiscal Accountability
Authority shall consider the application in the same manner that it considers
state highway bonds, mutatis mutandis.
The county
transportation committee shall allocate and apply from its share of "C" fund
revenues available for use by the county transportation committee the amount of
principal and interest on the state highway bonds. The department shall provide
notice of the debt service requirements of such state highway bonds upon the
issuance thereof to the county transportation committee.

(
K)
Members of the committee are insulated from all personal liability arising out
of matters related directly to and within the scope of the performance of
official duties and functions conferred upon the committee pursuant to this
section.

(
L)
In Berkeley County, appointments made pursuant to this section are governed by
the provisions of Act 159 of 1995.

(
M)
In Dorchester County, appointments made pursuant to this section are governed
by the provisions of Act 512 of 1996. In addition to the members and
appointment procedures of the Dorchester County Transportation Committee as
provided by this section and subsection, two additional members of the county
transportation committee must be appointed from that portion of the Town of
Summerville in Dorchester County and that portion of the City of North
Charleston in Dorchester County. These members must be residents of the
designated municipalities and of the county, and notwithstanding another
provision of this subsection, must be appointed by the governing body of the
respective municipality.

(
N)
In Georgetown County, appointments made pursuant to this section are governed
by the provisions of Act 515 of 1996 and Section 2, Act 141 of 2001.

(
O)
Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, the legislative delegation of
a county may by delegation resolution abolish the county transportation
committee and devolve its powers and duties on the governing body of the
county. This devolution may be reversed and the county transportation committee
reestablished by a subsequent delegation resolution. The exercise of county
transportation committee powers and duties by a county governing body is not
deemed to constitute dual office holding.

(
P)
The Department of Transportation shall perform reviews to ensure compliance
with subsections
(B)(3) and (4),
(C), (D), (F), and
(I). A county failing to comply with these subsections must have all subsequent
"C" fund allocations withheld until the requirements of those subsections are
met. If a county fails to comply with those subsections within twenty-four months,
the county forfeits fifty percent of its allocations for the following year and
the forfeited amount must be divided among the other counties as provided in
subsection (A).

(
Q)
A county subject to a proposed withholding or forfeiture of "C" fund
allocations pursuant to this section must be notified in writing of the
department's decision. The county, within sixty days of receipt of notice of
the decision, may request a review of the decision by a panel consisting of the
state highway engineer or his designee, the chairman of the affected county's
transportation committee or his designee, and a third person named by mutual
agreement between the state highway engineer and the county transportation
committee chairman. The panel shall meet and render a decision within ninety
days of the request by the county transportation committee. The decision of the
panel may be appealed by requesting a contested case hearing before the Administrative
Law Court pursuant to Section
1-23-600
and the rules of procedure for the
Administrative Law Court. The request for a hearing must be made within thirty
days of receipt of the panel's decision.

(
R)
The legislative delegation of the county, by resolution, may rename the county
transportation committee established by this section as the (insert name of
county) Legislative Delegation transportation committee. Upon the adoption of
such a resolution, all references in this section and any other provisions of
law to the county transportation committee, for purposes of that county, are
deemed references to that county's legislative delegation transportation
committee.

(
S) Notwithstanding the provisions of
subsection (A), on July 1, 2018, and each July first thereafter until after
July 1, 2021, the amount of proceeds of the user fee on gasoline only as levied
for in this chapter that must be deposited with the State Treasurer and
expended for the purposes of this section must be increased by .3325 cents a
gallon, until such time as the total amount equals three and ninety-nine
one-hundredths cents a gallon. Any increase in proceeds resulting from the
provisions of this subsection must be used exclusively for repairs,
maintenance, and improvements to the state highway system.

(
S) It is unlawful for a member of a
county transportation committee, an engineer, agent, or other employee, acting
for or on behalf of a committee, to accept or agree to accept, receive or agree
to receive, or ask or solicit, either directly or indirectly, with the intent
to have his decision or action on any question, matter, cause, or proceeding
which at the time may be pending or which by law may be brought before him in
his official capacity or in his place of trust or profit influenced, any:

(
1) money;

(
2) contract, promise, undertaking,
obligation, gratuity, or security for the payment of money or for the delivery
or conveyance of anything of value;

(
3) political appointment or
influence, present, or reward;

(
4) employment; or

(
5) other thing of value.

A

person violating the provisions of subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction, must be imprisoned not more than five years and is disqualified
forever from holding any office of trust or profit under the Constitution or
laws of this State.

(
T) Any official or employee of a
county transportation committee is subject to the provisions of Chapter 13,
Title 8, the State Ethics Act.

S
ECTION 39.
S
ection
12-28-2920
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
12-28-2920
.
T
he department shall review projects
for the possibility of constructing toll roads to defray the cost of these
projects pursuant to the authority granted the department in
Section
57-5-1330
Article 9, Chapter
5, Title 57 and Section
57-3-20
5
. No project may be funded
in whole or in part
by means of imposing a toll on the
users of the project unless
in conjunction with federal
funds authorized for use on toll roads
it is determined to be
substantially feasible by the department
taking into
account all funding sources
. The funds derived from tolls must be:

(
1)
credited to the State Highway Fund
;
or

(
2)
retained and applied by
the entity or entities developing the toll road pursuant to an agreement
authorized under Section
57-3-20
0
or Section
57-3-20
5

for the purpose of funding the cost of construction, financing, operation, and
maintenance of the toll project;
or

(2)
(
3)
used to service bonded indebtedness for highway
transportation purposes incurred pursuant to Paragraph 9, Section 13, Article X
of the South Carolina Constitution
; or

(
4) used to pay the operation and
maintenance costs of the toll project
.

Upon repayment of the cost
of construction and financing, toll charges shall cease.

S
ECTION 40.
S
ection
56-3-645
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
56-3-645
.
(
A) In addition to the
registration fees imposed by this chapter, the owner of motor vehicles that are
powered:

(
1)
exclusively by electricity, hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor fuel, as
defined in Section
12-28-110
(39), that are not subject to motor fuel user fees
imposed by Chapter 28, Title 12 shall pay a biennial
road
use
alternative fuel
fee of
one
four
hundred
twenty
dollars; and

(
2)
by a combination of motor fuel subject to motor fuel user fees imposed by
Chapter 28, Title 12 and electricity, hydrogen, or any fuel other than motor
fuel that is not subject to motor fuel user fees imposed by Chapter 28, Title
12 shall pay a biennial
road use
alternative fuel
fee of
sixty
two hundred
dollars.

(
B)
(
1) Notwithstanding the fee schedule
set forth in subsection (A), the owner of any motor vehicle set forth in this
subsection must pay an increased fee based on the gross vehicle weight of the
registered vehicle.

(
2) If a motor vehicle subject to the
fee set forth in subsection (A) has a declared gross weight pursuant to Section
56-3-660
, of at least 11,001 pounds the applicable alternative fuel fee must be
increased by ten percent. Further, for each gross vehicle weight range the
motor vehicle exceeds the gross vehicle weight range pursuant to Section
56-3-660
(B)(9), the applicable alternative fuel fee must be increased by
another ten percent.

(
3) Commercial motor vehicles powered
by alternative fuels that participate in the international registration plan or
international fuel tax agreement are exempt from the fee imposed pursuant to this
subsection.

(
C) Beginning October 1, 2030, and
every four years thereafter, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office shall adjust
the amount of fees charged pursuant to subsection (A) based on the average
change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Customers as published by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor from the most
previous review. The adjustment may be either upward or downward in accordance
with the Consumer Price Index. The office must report the new fee to the
Department of Motor Vehicles no later than October fifteenth of the appropriate
year. The Department of Motor Vehicles must apply the revised fee amount to
vehicles subject to the fee beginning with those required for registration in
January of the next calendar year and conspicuously post the new fee on its
official agency website.

(B)
(
D)
All of the fees collected pursuant to this section
must be credited to the
Infrastructure Maintenance Trust
State Highway
Fund.

(C)
(
E)
The Department of Motor Vehicles shall collect this
fee at the same time as the vehicle subject to the fee is
titled
or
registered.
If any motor vehicle subject to the
fee set forth in subsection (A) registers for a time other than biennially, the
Department of Motor Vehicles must prorate the applicable fee to align with the
applicable registration period.

S
ECTION 41.
A
rticle 3, Chapter 28, Title 12 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:

S
ection
12-28-360
.
(
A) In addition to the
taxes pursuant to Sections
12-36-910
and
12-36-1110
, a user fee of
four-and-one-half-cents per kilowatt-hour is imposed on electricity consumed
when using publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations pursuant to
Section
58-27-1060
. The payment of the taxes and user fee is borne by the
entity purchasing the electricity from the electrical utility provider. The
entity purchasing the electricity must remit the fee in accordance with the
South Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act.

(
B)
Beginning October 1, 2030, and every four years thereafter, the Revenue and
Fiscal Affairs Office must adjust the user-fee charged pursuant to subsection
(A) according to the average change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Customers as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States
Department of Labor from the most previous review to October first. The
adjustment may be either upward or downward in accordance with the Consumer
Price Index. The office must report the new fee to the Department of Revenue no
later than October fifteenth of the appropriate year. The Department of Revenue
must collect the revised fee amount beginning January first of the next
calendar year.

(
C)
When using a publicly accessible charging station, monies collected pursuant to
Sections
12-36-910
and
12-36-1110
and the user fee imposed in this section must
be credited to the State Highway Fund established in Section
57-11-20
.

S
ECTION 42.
S
ection
57-11-210
of the S.C. Code is amended by
adding:

(
11) "Alternative fuel fees" means
those charges imposed pursuant to Sections
56-3-645
and
12-28-320
.

S
ECTION 43. The General Assembly finds that the
sections presented in this act constitute one subject as required by Article
III, Section 17 of the South Carolina Constitution, in particular finding that
each change and each topic relates directly to or in conjunction with other
sections to the subject of improving the state's transportation system, as
clearly enumerated in the title. The General Assembly further finds that
a common purpose or relationship exists among the sections, representing a
potential plurality but not disunity of topics, notwithstanding that reasonable
minds might differ in identifying more than one topic contained in the act.

S
ECTION 44. If any section, subsection,
paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for
any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not
affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act,
the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and
each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause,
phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other
sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases,
or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise
ineffective.

S
ECTION 45. This act takes effect July 1, 2027.

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