Sc H.3777

[+Tigerz]

They have been in session since Jan 10 ... anyone hearing anything?

 

For those of you outside SC, there has been an effort by the SC legislature to regulate geocaching. The bill makes it "unlawful for a person to engage in the activity of geocaching or letterboxing in a cemetery or in an historic or archeological site or property publicly identified by an historical marker without the express written consent of the owner or entity which oversees that cemetery site or property." Originally, it essentially required written permission to place or hunt for just about any cache.

 

The bill passed the SC House during the 2005 session and was last seen in the SC Senate Judiciary Committee.

[+jon & miki]

H3777 hasn't come up on the schedule yet. There are a few things taking precedence in both the House and Senate, including major initiatives on taxes and education.

 

The bill is not going away though; proponents of the bill have continued their campaign for a restrictive law with agencies such as the Veterans Administration (see the Waymarking topic for more information).

 

I hope veterans from South Carolina and neighboring states will weigh in.

 

Jon

[+medic208]

The bill is not going away though; proponents of the bill have continued their campaign for a restrictive law with agencies such as the Veterans Administration (see the Waymarking topic for more information).

Heres the link... Dept of Veteran Affairs

[Mvillian]

The thing about this bill that really puzzles me is, Why would someone try to make new laws to "protect" cemeterys and other sites when it seems no one does anything about the blatant dumping and vandalism that occurs regularly in cemeterys in my area! Especially near HERE I hope that ever who has the final say on this bill understands that geocachers are not the problem and maybe really do something good and get the real criminals!!

Edited January 20, 2006 by Mvillian

[+jamrasc]

The thing about this bill that really puzzles me is, Why would someone try to make new laws to "protect" cemeterys and other sites when it seems no one does anything about the blatant dumping and vandalism that occurs regularly in cemeterys in my area! Especially near HERE I hope that ever who has the final say on this bill understands that geocachers are not the problem and maybe really do something good and get the real criminals!!

I don't understand it either. There are so many cemeteries around that people don't even know they are there. I have come across several within the last year while out hiking that are in the woods and I know that they have been forgotten. Lots of them are overgrown and the stones are falling apart and being vandilized.

[CoyoteRed]

The thing about this bill that really puzzles me is...

It would help to understand the sole reason behind the bill is political resume padding. It doesn't have anything to do with actually doing good deeds or making South Carolina a better place. Therefore, the logic behind the wording in the bill is irrelevant.

[SonOfDixie]

I am very new to geocaching. I just ordered my GPSr today. I am excited about the possibilities, and still am after reading this discussion.

 

Now, I am concerned about this bill, but all hope is not lost.

 

I have been part of several campaignes in the last couple of years to have pending legislation changed or dropped. It has been very effective, even with seemingly few people.

 

What it takes is letter writing and phone calls coordinated to be received over a short window of time to maximize the impact.

 

If someone, who is more recognized in the geocaching community of SC than I am and who has the respect of fellow geocachers, is willing to dedicate some time to coordinating the effort, I am happy to discuss what I have been involved in in the past with them to see if they think it is applicable to the current situation.

 

We need to act fast. I checked on the status of H. 3777 and there has been no action taken yet this year, but that doesn't mean it cannot happen quickly as soon as someone in the senate ready to move on it. We need to act before then.

 

In truth, there are only a few tweaks that need to be made to the bill (some definitions changed and some definitions added) and it could be passed with no harm to our activities. It mostly codifies what we should be doing anyway (that is asking permission before we hide a cache). But it can also be dropped if we act together and coordinate our coorespondence.

 

If anyone is interested, please let me know.

 

Here is a link to the web page that is tracking the bill http://www.scstatehouse.net/cgi-bin/query....&keyval=1163777

 

Talbert

[+emb021]

They have been in session since Jan 10 ... anyone hearing anything?

 

For those of you outside SC, there has been an effort by the SC legislature to regulate geocaching. The bill makes it "unlawful for a person to engage in the activity of geocaching or letterboxing in a cemetery or in an historic or archeological site or property publicly identified by an historical marker without the express written consent of the owner or entity which oversees that cemetery site or property." Originally, it essentially required written permission to place or hunt for just about any cache.

Huh?

 

So you have to have written permission to just HUNT for a GC?

 

I can understand the desire for written permission to PLACE one. Its a good idea in parks, etc. But to hunt as well sounds a little excessive. (how to you find the owners to get such written permission, etc, how long will this take. PLUS, some might feel that since they need to give written permission to people to just look for the GC, that its really not worth their time to allow a GC here in the first place).

[CoyoteRed]

I think the authors of the bill intentionally used the term "to locate." This can be construed to mean not only "to place," but also "to find." This is only one of the problems with the verbage of the bill. (Not to mention the whole concept.)

[+terri and billy]

I am not from SC though for a while I was in SC for training at Ft Jackson. This is an idea and I have no idea if it is doable. Locally, when our local BMX organization was asking the county for some county land to build a track, we were told that there was not enough interest to justify it. It didn't matter that we had pages of petitions or facts and figures. However, when we heard when an open meeting would be held, calls and emails were placed to have any BMXer, parent or other interested party come to the meeting. When over 200 people showed up for support of a track, it was amazing how quickly our commissioners changed their tone! Of course, it helped that it was an election year. Does your legislature have open sessions on bills? Can you get a good number of cachers to show up? Sometimes the visual has more effect than actual facts. Creips may be trying to get reelected but I'm sure others are too and would not like to offend a large number of voters (cachers).

 

Terri

[+jon & miki]

I am not from SC though for a while I was in SC for training at Ft Jackson. This is an idea and I have no idea if it is doable. Locally, when our local BMX organization was asking the county for some county land to build a track, we were told that there was not enough interest to justify it. It didn't matter that we had pages of petitions or facts and figures. However, when we heard when an open meeting would be held, calls and emails were placed to have any BMXer, parent or other interested party come to the meeting. When over 200 people showed up for support of a track, it was amazing how quickly our commissioners changed their tone! Of course, it helped that it was an election year. Does your legislature have open sessions on bills? Can you get a good number of cachers to show up? Sometimes the visual has more effect than actual facts. Creips may be trying to get reelected but I'm sure others are too and would not like to offend a large number of voters (cachers).

 

Terri

You're quite right about the public hearings being one effective method for communicating with our legislators. The bill would have sailed straight through the House and the Senate last year if geocachers had not stood up in opposition at the public hearings.

 

We don't know when (or even if) there will be more public hearings on H3777, but we will be bringing as many geocachers to the hearing as possible. As you know, it can be difficult since folks need advance notice to take time off work to attend hearings and we sometimes only know a few days ahead when the hearing is scheduled.

[CoyoteRed]

Yes, this does work. When we had mobilized for the Senate subcommitee meeting we wore green name tags that said that we were geocachers. The comitee members could tell there were plenty of geocachers there none of whom supported the bill.

 

Heck, I think it was slightly intimidating to a couple of folks.

[+andersonranchero]

Here is a message I got from Kevin Bryant (my state Senator and geocacher) on Janauary 26th concerning this.

 

"I doubt if the sub committee will meet on the bill any time soon."

 

Not much but from the sound of it this is not a high priority on the Senates list.

 

Just a little info for you.