Opinion ID: 1272869
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: one subject/bobtailing

Text: Giannini, Bradley and Golden next assert the Legislature's re-enactment of the statutory tort claims caps in 1994 and 1997 violate S.C. Const., Art. III § 17 by logrolling or bobtailing provisions into an appropriations act. We disagree. S.C. CONST. Art. III, § 17 requires that Every Act or resolution having the force of law shall relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. As recently noted by this Court: The purpose of Article III, § 17 is (1) to apprise the members of the General Assembly of the contents of an act by reading the title, (2) prevent legislative log-rolling and (3) inform the people of the state of the matters with which the General Assembly concerns itself.... Article III, § 17 is to be liberally construed so as to uphold an Act if practicable. Doubtful or close cases are to be resolved in favor of upholding an Act's validity. Article III, § 17 does not preclude the legislature from dealing with several branches of one general subject in a single act. It is complied with if the title of an act expresses a general subject and the body provides the means to facilitate accomplishment of the general purpose. However, Article III, section 17 requires `the topics in the body of the act [be] kindred in nature and hav[e] a legitimate and natural association with the subject of the title,' and that the title conveys `reasonable notice of the subject matter to the legislature and the public.' Sloan v. Wilkins, 362 S.C. 430, 608 S.E.2d 579 (2005) (emphasis supplied, internal citations omitted). Plaintiffs assert the reenactments violate the one-subject rule as they do not inherently relate to the raising and spending of tax monies. We recognized in Town of Hilton Head v. Morris, 324 S.C. 30, 484 S.E.2d 104, 107 (1997) that a measure enacted as part of a general appropriations act does not violate Article III, § 17, if it reasonably and inherently relates to the raising and spending of tax monies. See also Keyserling v. Beasley, 322 S.C. 83, 470 S.E.2d 100 (1996) (provisions of appropriations act which created negotiating committee to establish new regional radioactive waste disposal compact and which repealed statute adopting prior compact were related to raising and spending of revenues and, thus, complied with one-subject rule); Hercules v. South Carolina Tax Comm'n, 274 S.C. 137, 262 S.E.2d 45 (1980) (statute providing for suspension of the statute of limitations on tax assessment if a corporate taxpayer fails to give the Tax Commission notice of an IRS examination was germane to the General Appropriations Act in which it was contained and thus did not violate the constitutional requirement that every act relate to but one subject). Here, 1994 Act No. 497, lists in its title that the act is TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS 15-78-100 AND XX-XX-XXX OF THE 1976 CODE ARE RE-ENACTED AND MADE RETROACTIVE TO APRIL 5, 1988. Further, Part 2, § 107 of the Appropriations Act amends the Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act to make it inapplicable to government agencies, and reinstates the Tort Claims Caps set forth in § 15-78-120(a)(1). The 1997 Appropriations Act, 1997 Act No. 155, Part II, § 55, similarly reenacts the $500,000 cap set forth in § 15-78-120(a)(2). The statutory reenactments reasonably and inherently relate to the raising and spending of tax monies. Town of Hilton Head v. Morris . Accordingly, reenactment of the caps does not violate Article III, § 17.