SC regulations are ‘in place for a reason,’ say opponents of bill’s 2-for-1 cuts

COLUMBIA — South Carolinians in various professional fields pushed back Thursday against a proposal that seeks to clamp down on the more than 80,000 do’s and don’ts within state regulations.

People who testified at a Senate hearing included nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, audiologists, soil classifiers, utility officials, engineers, surveyors, dentists, accountants, real estate agents and insurance agents.

All told senators they support routine reviews of the rules governing how their businesses operate in the state. But one section of the bill goes too far, they said.

At issue is a two-for-one provision, which says an agency must “propose the removal of two existing regulations” for each new rule it seeks to add.

“The ones that we have now were put in place for a reason. We didn’t just randomly make things up,” said Andy Lee, owner of Lake Keowee Real Estate and a member of the state’s licensing board that oversees real estate agents.

“The fact of the matter is, any industry without a basic set of rules is chaos,” Lee added.

And if the real estate board, which is made up mostly of real estate professionals appointed by the General Assembly, can’t regulate their own industry, legislators will have to consider changes through state law every year, he said.

Gene Dinkins, who leads the state licensing board for engineers and surveyors, owns his own engineering firm and said he is all for reducing regulations but not at the expense of public safety.

“Our registration board rarely adopts new rules or regulations, and if it does, it is only because it is absolutely necessary, due to changing technologies or other physical conditions,” he said. “If our licensees make a mistake, it can have tragic consequences for many, many people.”

And Tiger Wells, a lobbyist for Duke Energy, said on the rare occasion utility regulators make a new rule, they do so “in a thoughtful way” through a process that allows power companies, utility watchdogs, environmental groups and consumer advocates all to have a say.

All professionals who testified Thursday asked senators to exempt their industry.

One of the bill’s co-sponsors, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, suggested that the two-for-one rule doesn’t automatically put two existing regulations on the chopping block for each new one. It only puts their cancellation up for consideration, he said.

The Spartanburg Republican, who is also running for governor, said he is open to amending that section of the bill. But he opposed carveouts for specific industries.

“At some point doesn’t this become so diluted it doesn’t matter?” Kimbrell said. “Pretty soon you’re going to have McDonald’s asking to be exempted for fry cookers.”

More important to Kimbrell is a section of the bill that automatically sunsets a regulation after seven years if agencies do not take steps to readopt it through a process that involves public hearings and public comment.

Existing state law already requires state agencies to review regulations every five years, but proponents say there are agencies that fail to do this. Having an automatic expiration date would force the matter.

The House passed the bill unanimously last March.

Thursday’s hearing marked the Senate Judiciary subcommittee’s fourth hearing on the bill. The panel has yet to take a vote on it.

“The House did its job. The Senate needs to set up and do theirs,” Matt Humm, the state director for Americans for Prosperity, said in a statement.

In South Carolina, the legislation is the top priority of the political advocacy group founded in 2004 by libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.