Could South Carolina Omega Psi Phi license plate revenue pay to build a children's summer camp?

Plain-English summary

A representative asked whether revenue from South Carolina's Omega Psi Phi Fraternity license plate could help acquire land and build a boys' summer camp operated through a separate nonprofit. The Attorney General's office said in 2008 that the statute allowed fraternity and sorority plate funds for academic scholarships or programs sending children within the specified age range to summer camp. It did not expressly address creating a camp.

The office thought a court could regard construction of a fraternity camp as serving the statute's purpose if the money directly benefited campers rather than only the organization. It expressly retained doubt about that interpretation and suggested a statutory amendment for clear authority. It also suggested using the plate revenue to pay for children's attendance at the nonprofit's camp, which it regarded as within the existing statute.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2008. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Did the AG unconditionally approve using plate funds to build a camp?

No. It said a court could find the use permissible in some circumstances, but the statute did not directly authorize camp construction and the office remained uncertain.

What uses were expressly identified in the plate statute?

The opinion quoted the provision allowing academic scholarships and programs sending children aged eight through sixteen to summer camp, or both.

How did the opinion distinguish camp attendance from camp construction?

Paying for children to attend Carolina Uplift Foundation's camp directly fit the statutory program purpose. Funding land acquisition or construction required a less certain inference about legislative intent.

Background and statutory framework

S.C. Code Ann.§ 56-3-7750(B) governed the distribution and use of fraternity and sorority plate fees. The opinion quoted Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Rollison on reading statutory words in light of legislative intent. It concluded that building a camp might further the objective of sending children to camp if the expenditure directly benefited campers, but emphasized that the statute did not specifically address establishment of a camp. The 2008 amendment mentioned in a footnote affected another subsection and did not alter this analysis.

Citations and references

• S.C. Code Ann.§ 56-3-7750(B): uses of the fraternity and sorority license plate funds.
• Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Rollison, 378 S.C. 600, 609, 663 S.E.2d 484, 488 (2008): statutory interpretation principle.

Official title

Concerning the “appropriate uses for revenue generated by South Carolina’s Omega Psi Phi Fraternity license plate”.

Requester

The Honorable Floyd Breeland, Member, House of Representatives

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/december-2-2008/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/breeland-f-os-8677-12-02-08-omega-psi-phi-fraternity-license-plate.pdf

Original opinion text

HENRY McMASTER
ATIORNEY GENERAL

December 2, 2008

The Honorable Floyd Breeland
Member, House of Representatives
105 Moultrie Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29403
Dear Representative Breeland:
We received your letter requesting an opinion on the "appropriate uses for revenue generated by South Carolina's Omega Psi Phi Fraternity license plate." You explain: The Sixth District of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. is comprised ofgraduate and undergraduate chapters located in North Carolina and South Carolina. For a number ofyears, the Sixth District has pursued the goal ofacquiring land and appurtenances suitable for operating its own boy's camp. The Sixth District has formed Carolina Uplift Foundation, Inc., which is a 501(c)(3) entity whose mission is to acquire or construct a boy's camp for the benefit of boys in North and South Carolina. Carolina Uplift Foundation, Inc. has already made significant strides to fulfill this mission. The legislation sanctioning Omega Psi Phi Fraternity license plate in North Carolina has already been amended to permit directing revenue towards the purchase of an existing facility or acquisition of land and construction of a boy's camp. On behalf of the Sixth District, I am respectfully requesting a favorable opinion from you to permit the Sixth District to utilize funds generated from the sale of Omega's South Carolina license plate in the same fashion.

Law/Analysis
As you mentioned in your request letter, section 56-3-7750 ofthe South Carolina Code (2006
& Supp. 2007) 1 allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue fraternity and sorority license 1

The Legislature amended section 56-3-7750 in 2008 via act 347. 2008 S.C. Acts 3404. However, this amended pertained solely to subsection (A) of this statute and does not impact this opm10n. R EMBERT

c. DENNIS B UILDING •

POST OFFICB Box 11 549

• COLUMBI A, SC 29211-1549 • TELEPHONE 803-734-3970 •

FACSlMU..E 803·253-6283

The Honorable Floyd Breeland
Page2
December 2, 2008
plates. Subsection (B) of this statute explains how the fees collected from the issuance of such license plates are to be used. This provision states: The fees collected pursuant to this section must be distributed to a separate fund for each of the respective fraternities or sororities. Each fund must be administered by the fraternity or sorority and may be used for academic scholarships, or to fund programs that send boys and girls who are at least eight years old and not more than sixteen years old to summer camp, or both. Funds collected for each fraternity or sorority must be deposited in an account designated by the fraternity or sorority. The distribution is thirty dollars to the department and forty dollars to the respective fund. S.C. Code Ann.§ 56-3-7750(B)(Supp. 2007). Thus, theanswertoyourquestiondependson whether funding a fraternity or sorority's own camp constitutes a program that sends boys and girls to summer camp. In interpreting the language contained in section 56-3-7750(8), we look to rules of statutory interpretation. As our Supreme Court recently stated: The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the Legislature. All rules of statutory construction are subservient to the one that the legislative intent must prevail if it can be reasonably discovered in the language used, and that language must be construed in light of the intended purpose of the statute. Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Rollison, 378 S.C. 600, 609, 663 S.E.2d 484, 488 (2008) (quotations and citations omitted). From the language in this provision, we gather that the Legislature intended for the fees generated by the issuance of fraternity and sorority license plates to be used for scholarships or to assist in sending children to summer camp. The statute does not specifically address fraternities' and sororities' ability to establish their own camps. Thus, we are unsure as to whether the Legislature contemplated that license plate funds would be used for this purpose. However, a court may view a fraternity's or sorority's establishment ofits own camp as furthering the Legislature's purpose of enabling children to go to summer camp as long as the funds are used to directly benefit the campers and are not solely for the benefit of the organization establishing the camp. Accordingly, under certain circumstances, we believe a court could find that a fraternity establishing its own camp is a permitted use oflicense plate funds under 56-3-7750. Nonetheless, some doubt as to whether a court would follow this interpretation remains. Thus, amending section 56-3-7750, as North Carolina has

The Honorable Floyd Breeland
Page 3
December 2, 2008

done, to specifically allow for the use oflicense plate funds to acquire or construct a camp is prudent under these circumstances. However, short of amending the statute we offer an additional suggestion. In reading your letter, you indicated that the fraternity in question, Omega Psi Phi, intends to provide the funds it receives to a separate nonprofit organization, which will construct and presumably operate the camp. Thus, because we are unsure as to how section 56-3-7750(B) may be interpreted with regard to your question, we suggest that Omega Psi Phi use its license plate revenues to pay for the cost of children attending Carolina Uplift Foundation's camp. This method of using license plate funds assures that the funds benefit the campers and that such expenditures are in compliance with section 56-3-7750.

Conclusion
While not completely clear from section 56-3-7750 of the South Carolina Code, we believe a court could find Omega Psi Phi Fraternity's use of license plate funds to build its own camp for children serves the intention of the Legislature. However, while we have some doubt as to whether the Legislature contemplated such an expenditure when it enacted section 56-3-7750(B). Thus, in addition to amending section 56-3-7750, we suggest that Omega Psi Phi Fraternity use the license plate revenue to send children to the camp established by Carolina Uplift Foundation, Inc. Very truly yours, Henry McMaster Attorney General

(; Adtiuk "1YI. ~

;;f- Cy~ney

M. Milling
Assistant Attorney General

REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:

1&12,&zL

Rlbert D. Cook
Deputy Attorney General