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Winter Meeting is Here The ACEC-SC/SCSPE Winter Meeting is Wednesday, March 4 at Seawell’s, 1125 Rosewood Drive, Columbia. An exceptional program has been planned with speakers on the environmental side coming from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, the US Corps of Engineers, and Tidewater Environmental Services. State Engineer, John White, PE will discuss changes state construction. Scott Hunter is doing a business track and also delivers the key note lunch address, “The Art of Being Outrageously Successful.” Registration is from 8 to 9 a.m. with the program starting at 9 o’clock. This program is a reasonably priced event to pick up quality professional development hours. You have time to register. Click here to download the brochure and registration form and FAX it to headquarters at 803 771 4272. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Begins Hearing on Tort Reform Communicate with all of these subcommittee members and tell them you, as a part of the business community, support tort reform legislation and want the General Assembly to pass it. Senator Martin opened the hearing and said the primary reason he introduced this legislation because he wanted the South Carolina law to be fair to all litigants but to move the state forward in business. This legislation is important to make South Carolina as competitive as possible with our neighboring states. The South Carolina Civil Justice Coalition, at the Senator Martin’s request, briefed the subcommittee on the bill’s content. Mr. Butch Bowers, SCCJC’s attorney made the presentation briefly explaining each section of the comprehensive bill. Mr. Bowers said one of his law partners recently asked what the tort reform looked like in South Carolina. Mr. Bowers said tort reform bills had been introduced in the Senate and the House, but why did the partner want to know. The partner said he was working with an international client who is interested in investing $500 Million and creating 700 new jobs. The client was looking at a half dozen states, including South Carolina, but a key decision maker for placing the plant was the litigation climate in the state. Mr. Bowers said this story is a real life example for the need to complete the tort reform work that resulted in significant tort reform in 2005. The SCCJC attorney said the tort reform bill’s most controversial sections, limits on punitive and non-economic damages are based upon laws in sister states as well as the limits on medical malpractice lawsuits passed in South Carolina in 2005. In the bill, these limits are simply set for the entire business community, not just the medical community. Senators Rankin and Hutto are trial attorneys and are not for tort reform. Senator Rankin even made a motion to carry over the tort reform bill indefinitely; thus attempting to stop deliberation and further action on the bill. The motion did not pass, but his attempt shows he is not for tort reform and further does not want to hear reasons for the need to change the status quo. Senator Hutto asked, “Can we find evidence that insurance rates will go down?” There is evidence that strong tort reform in other states like Mississippi and Texas has brought business insurance down quite considerably. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour announced the largest med mal insurer in his state has reduced rates by 20 percent in 2009. Texas has had similar results with over 37 percent reduction in rates in a six year period after tort reform was passed. Mr. Frank Knapp, lobbyist for the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, an organization that has sided with the trial attorneys in the original tort reform push and the workers’ compensation efforts, testified at the hearing and made several audacious statements that are incorrect from the data gathered by SCCJC. He said he did not see how this bill helps small business; tort reform is very low on the National Federation of Independent Businesses list of priorities; this bill would not reduce the number of lawsuits; and this bill does not help small business but helps insurance companies. Small businesses benefit in other states. In fact by the reduction of insurance premiums, small businesses benefit by saving on premiums they must pay. NFIB in South Carolina said passing tort reform was among its top priorities. This bill specifies specific protections for small business. The punitive damages are less for small businesses than corporations; appeal bonds are less for small businesses, the statue of repose is a small business issue impacting home builders, contractors, engineers and architects and finally, non-economic damages caps benefit small businesses more than corporations. This lobbyist was simply attempting to demean the tort reform bill. ACEC-SC 15th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament March 30 2009 SC Engineering Conference is Moving Forward More than half the seminars have been identified with speakers. The rest of the program is to be finalized within the next month. This year, engineers are going to be able to register online and to pay their registration with Visa/MasterCard credit cards. This years’ conference is planned by representatives from the three sponsoring organizations. The American Society of Civil Engineers, South Carolina, is new; it joins the American Council of Engineering Companies of South Carolina and the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers who have partnered on previous conventions. The planning committee is looking for sponsors and exhibitors to add the excitement of a tradeshow to the other activities. If you or someone you know or do business with wish to participate as a sponsor or a tradeshow exhibitor, please contact Joe Jones at joe@jma-associations.com. Mark you calendars now – June 18-21, 2009. This conference is going to be a real deal, especially in this slow economy. Statute of Repose Law Threatened by House Bill If the bill passes the statute of repose” would not apply to any action brought by the State of South Carolina or for its benefit.” In other words, every construction, survey, engineering report, engineering design, architectural design or construction project done for the state would be subject to a law suit for ever. Such a bill would be the total unraveling of the statute of repose that many have worked to cut to eight years and to project. Furthermore, think how many projects that have been completed, even back to the 1970s and earlier that would now be fair game and all of the professionals that worked on them. Under fair and equal protection, if this bill passed, then it would possibly nullify the statute of repose for private structures and all those projects completed for political subdivisions. The South Carolina Civil Justice Coalition has joined with its construction, engineering and architectural members to actively oppose this bill. Nevertheless, ACEC-SC, SCSPLS and SCSPE members should be aware of this bill and be prepared to help defeat this bill if it begins to show life. Currently, it is in the House Judiciary Committee. SCDOT Partnering Committee Co-Chair Reviews Consultant Selection Process Mr. Pratt said the department’s consultant selection process begins with getting approval from the SCDOT Commission to advertise and negotiate with a consultant for a specific project. Next the project is advertised in SCBO. After proposals are due and interested companies have filed their proposals with the department, the Selection Board, at their option, may assign a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is assigned to review the proposals and to make recommendations to the selection board, which then makes its recommendation to Mr. Tony Chapman, PE, Deputy Secretary of Engineering. If he agrees with the Selection Board’s recommendation, he approves an order of negotiation. The Department has a Chief Negotiator that coordinates the negotiation process between the consultant and the Department’s Program Manager. Once a contract is negotiated, it is taken to Mr. Chapman and Secretary Limehouse. The contract details are then presented to the SCDOT Commission to execute the contract. The TAG group is composed of engineers and other technical employees that have various expertise with the project. The group changes according to the type of project. The Selection Committee is composed of Ms. Debra Roundtree, Deputy Secretary of Finance and Administration; Mr. Douglas MacFarlane, Director of Special Projects, and Mr. Tad Brunson, PE, Administrator of the SCDOT Engineering District 1. This committee is presently constant; however it is subject to change at the discretion of the Secretary of Transportation. The American Council of Engineering of South Carolina is a member of organization of the ACEC-SC Reports is published for members firms and friends by ACEC-SC.
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"What we do is all around you."
We would like to congratulate our 2009 Engineering Excellence Awards winners and their clients. Palmetto Award WPC, Inc. Engineering Excellence Awards WPC, Inc. Honor Awards HGBD/BV March 4 March 30
ACEC-SC welcomes the following new members.
ACEC-SC would like to thank the following members for there continued support. For membership information contact Ginger Booker at ginger@jma-associations.com. The mission of ACEC-SC is to promote and protect the business interests and professional standards of engineers in the state of South Carolina; and to improve member firms' ability to profitably provide quality services to their clients. ACEC-SC is an Organization of more than 80 Engineering firms employing more than 4,000 individuals. Membership Information
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Waking up to birds chirping and beautiful days in February means one thing; spring fever is coming early this year. ACEC-SC would like to offer you cure for spring fever. |