A. By the provisions of Title 4, Chapter 29, of Title 4 (the Industrial Revenue Bond Act), Chapter 3, of Title 48 (the Pollution Control Facilities Revenue Bond Act), Article 11 of Chapter 7 of Title 44 (the Hospital Revenue Bond Act), all of the 1976 Code, and certain other provisions of South Carolina law, various political subdivisions and agencies of the State of South Carolina are authorized or enabled to issue their debt for the benefit of certain private entities in order to encourage and promote certain undertakings and activities which promote the public health, welfare, and economy of the State. There is pending in the Congress of the United States legislation which, if enacted in its present form, would impose a maximum dollar limit on the amount of the debt, referred to as "private activity bonds", which could be issued by a state in a given year. The legislation purports to be effective, retroactively, to all the indebtedness issued subsequent to December 31, 1983. The legislation also provides that the inclusion of the indebtedness issued in any state within the limitation imposed must be determined in a manner as provided by the legislature of the state. The pendency of the legislation absent a mechanism for determining the inclusion of debt within the proposed limit has created uncertainty and difficulty in the issuance of debt to which the limitation, if imposed, might apply. In order to remove this uncertainty the General Assembly proposes to delegate to the State Budget and Control Board and the Joint Bond Review Committee, if a maximum limit upon the debt is imposed, the authority to designate which indebtedness is included within any limits on "private activity bonds", which may be imposed by federal law or regulations and to promulgate rules and regulations as the Board with the approval of the committee may consider necessary for the purposes.

B. The State Budget and Control Board and the Joint Bond Review Committee shall develop a plan pursuant to which the Board shall determine which issue of indebtedness, or portions of indebtedness, issued by the State of South Carolina or any agency or political subdivision of the State must be included within any limitation on "private activity bonds" or any similar indebtedness, proposed or imposed by any federal legislation or regulations. The determination may be made without regard to the date of any agreements between the issuers and beneficiaries of any indebtedness, and no priority need be given any issue, issuer, or beneficiary based on any date.

C. The State Budget and Control Board, after review by the Joint Bond Review Committee, shall promulgate regulations as it considers necessary or useful in connection with the authority granted in this section.

HISTORY: 1984 Act No. 512, Part II, Section 39.