South Carolina Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in South Carolina, with full citations and the original source on every page.
Does South Carolina's six-week paid parental leave for state employees and teachers cover a stillbirth?
Probably yes. The AG concluded that a court would likely read the word 'birth' in §§ 8-11-150 and 8-11-151 to include stillbirths, but warned the statutes do not say so explicitly and recommended that…
When a federal agency like DCSA or DoD asks a South Carolina sheriff or court for someone's arrest history for a security clearance, do they have to provide it?
Yes. Under 5 U.S.C. § 9101, every state and local criminal justice agency in South Carolina (police departments, sheriffs, courts, county CJAs) must release criminal history records to a covered feder…
Can a South Carolina county council withhold an elected sheriff's salary while he is on extended leave?
Yes. South Carolina law gives no constitutional officer authority to take a leave of absence. A sheriff or other elected county officer who stops performing the duties is effectively refusing the job,…
When a South Carolina probate court commits a child under 16 to a mental institution, can the state withhold that record from the federal NICS background check system since the federal firearms ban only applies at age 16 and up?
No. § 23-31-1020 requires probate courts to forward every mental adjudication and commitment order to SLED, and SLED to forward all of them to NICS, with no age carve-out. SLED has no statutory discre…
If my child goes to a private school outside of South Carolina, can he or she play on a South Carolina public high school sports team under the state's 'Tim Tebow' athletic-access proviso?
No. Proviso 1.112 of the 2025-2026 SC budget only opens public school interscholastic athletic programs to students who attend independent schools located in South Carolina. The proviso's chapeau says…
If I'm convicted of a minor offense and then pick up a second conviction during the waiting period, can I still get the first one expunged in South Carolina?
No. Section 22-5-910 requires a clean record during the three-year (subsection A) or five-year (subsection B) waiting period. A second conviction inside that window permanently disqualifies the first …
Do the sex-education curricula in use in some South Carolina school districts (Be Proud! Be Responsible!, Making a Difference, Making Proud Choices, Reducing The Risk, Rights Respect Responsibility, Safer Choices) violate the state's Comprehensive Health Education Act or the First Amendment?
The AG would not declare any specific curriculum unlawful (that requires factual findings beyond an AG opinion's scope), but reaffirmed two binding rules. First, South Carolina's Comprehensive Health …
Does South Carolina DSS's regulation requiring foster parents to keep firearms inoperable and locked away violate the Second Amendment?
Probably yes, according to the AG. Under Heller, McDonald, and Bruen, requiring law-abiding citizens to keep firearms inoperable and stored separately from ammunition strips them of the ability to use…
If a South Carolina tax collector sells a property at a delinquent-tax auction and then receives a check in the mail postmarked before the sale, can the collector cancel the sale?
No. South Carolina's tax-sale statutes require strict compliance with statutory procedures, and the redemption framework gives delinquent taxpayers a 12-month redemption window after the sale, not a m…
When a South Carolina state agency has both general-fund appropriations and federal funds for the same program, which money has to be spent first?
Federal funds first, except for research and student aid grants. South Carolina Code Section 11-9-125 requires state agencies to draw down and expend federal and other funds before spending state gene…
If I own a pickup truck with an empty weight of 8,000 pounds and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds, do I get the 6% personal motor vehicle property tax rate or the 10.5% rate for other personal property?
The 6% rate. A pickup truck owned and operated by an individual qualifies as a 'personal motor vehicle' under Article X § 1(8)(B)(1) if it carries 10 or fewer people, has an empty weight at or below 9…
Can a South Carolina city pass its own hate crimes ordinance when the state legislature has not enacted a hate crimes law?
Probably not, if the ordinance creates a criminal penalty. The AG concluded that a Greenwood-style hate crimes ordinance is at strong risk of being struck down as preempted by Article VIII, § 14(5) of…
If the Governor wants to appoint someone who already holds a state office to the Health Planning Committee, does the dual office holding ban block it?
No. The AG concluded that members of South Carolina's Health Planning Committee are not officeholders for dual office holding purposes because the Committee plays a purely advisory role to the Departm…
When South Carolina county auditors decide whether a pickup truck qualifies for the lower 6 percent personal property tax assessment, should they use the truck's empty weight, its gross weight, or the gross vehicle weight rating set by the manufacturer?
Empty weight and gross weight, the way Section 56-3-630 says. The AG concluded that the South Carolina Department of Revenue's longstanding Advisory Bulletin #01-9, which directs auditors to use the m…
Can a South Carolina magistrate issue an administrative search warrant to allow a county code enforcement officer to inspect a home for fitness for human habitation under S.C. Code § 31-15-380, and can the code enforcement officer prosecute the resulting case in magistrate's court?
No on the warrant, yes on prosecution. S.C. Code § 31-15-380 does not authorize magistrates (or any other judges) to issue administrative search warrants. The statute does not mention warrants at all,…
Did South Carolina's 2010 and 2013 permit extension resolutions, which tolled development approval deadlines after the Great Recession, also extend a 1995 water and sewer infrastructure agreement between a private trust and a municipal utility?
Yes, a court would likely find the resolutions apply. The AG concluded that the 2010 and 2013 Joint Resolutions, which tolled vested development rights to ease the Great Recession's impact, are broad …
Can a South Carolina county add the local option sales tax (LOST) on top of the transportation tax and educational capital improvements tax it already collects, when a city inside the county is also charging the tourism development fee?
Yes, if voters approve. The AG concluded there is no statutory bar to a county imposing LOST while it already collects the transportation tax and the educational capital improvements tax, and while a …
Can the Executive Director of a joint regional sewer authority also serve on a city's planning commission, or does South Carolina's dual office holding ban prevent it?
Yes, both positions can be held simultaneously. The AG concluded that an executive director hired by a board to run day-to-day operations is an employee, not an officeholder, so the constitutional dua…
Can the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice charge counties a $50 per-day fee for keeping juveniles in custody after they have been adjudicated and committed?
No. The AG concluded that DJJ's per-diem authority under Section 63-19-360(4) is limited to pre-adjudication detention. Once a juvenile has been adjudicated and committed, the State must bear the cost…
If a hunter sends a deer dog onto private land where the hunter has no permission to hunt, can the hunter be charged with criminal trespass under South Carolina Code Section 50-1-90?
The AG declined to say yes outright. The Office acknowledged that 1960s opinions reading Section 50-1-90 narrowly may be outdated, but stopped short of declaring the dog an extension or agent of the h…
If a Family Court temporary order gives one spouse exclusive use of the home, can law enforcement issue a trespass notice against the excluded spouse, even though they still co-own the property?
Yes. The AG concluded that South Carolina's trespass-after-notice statute applies to anyone, including a property co-owner, when the person in peaceful possession asks them to leave. A pending Family …
If someone is caught driving in South Carolina without a driver's license and they have a prior conviction that would have suspended a license they never had, what should they be charged with?
Section 56-1-450, not Section 56-1-460. The AG explained that 56-1-460 only applies when a license was once issued and then canceled, suspended, or revoked. A person who has never been licensed has no…
Who enforces South Carolina's Kratom Consumer Protection Act, and can the Department of Public Health write rules under it?
The Act names the Department of Public Health once, in a definition, but does not assign anyone enforcement responsibility or rulemaking power. As written, the AG concluded no agency clearly has eithe…
Can one person serve on a South Carolina county hospital board and a county elections commission at the same time?
No. Both positions are 'offices of honor or profit' that exercise sovereign power. Under Article XVII, § 1A, holding both at once is unconstitutional dual office holding, and the law treats the first …
If someone serves on the board of the South Carolina Medical Malpractice Association, does that count as a 'public office' that would prevent them from holding any other state office?
Probably not. The AG concluded that a court would likely find the Association's board does not exercise sovereign power. The board takes no oath, receives no pay, has no regulatory authority, and does…
Can Charleston voters approve using Transportation Sales Tax funds to build the Battery Extension, a $300M project that is mostly described as flood control, even though TST funds are supposed to pay for transportation projects?
Probably yes. The Battery Extension protects three of Charleston's most-flooded streets (Lockwood, Morrison, East Bay) from tidal flooding and storm surge. The S.C. Transportation Sales Tax statute (§…
Can a Jasper County, South Carolina elected treasurer hire his own outside lawyer (separate from the county attorney) and bind the county to pay the bills?
Generally no. The county ordinance requires county council approval before any county agency hires outside counsel, and state law gives the county council, not the treasurer, the exclusive authority t…
When a South Carolina special purpose district sells services outside its statutory boundary in competition with private companies, can it shield its customer list from a FOIA request as a 'trade secret'?
Probably not. The trade secrets exemption in S.C. Code § 30-4-40(a)(1) is narrowly construed because FOIA is a remedial statute meant to favor disclosure. The Court of Appeals' Campbell decision and f…
In South Carolina, is it a crime to publish the name of an alleged sexual assault victim even if the assault was never reported to police?
Yes. South Carolina § 16-3-730 makes publishing the name of any victim of criminal sexual conduct, alleged or actual, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or three years in prison. The AG f…
Can the Spartanburg City Council relocate or demolish the downtown Bicentennial clock tower without legislative approval?
Probably not. If the 1976 Spartanburg Bicentennial clock tower qualifies as a Heritage Act monument or memorial on public property (a fact-specific call), only the South Carolina General Assembly can …
Whose interpretation of the 2023 bail-bond premium rules controls in South Carolina, the Attorney General's or the Department of Insurance's?
The Attorney General modified its earlier opinion to defer to the South Carolina Department of Insurance's reading of Section 38-53-170(e) on bond premiums. Bail bondsmen and runners should follow the…
What happens to a South Carolina commissioner whose six-month holdover period expires before a successor is appointed, and can their votes still count?
Once a South Carolina commissioner holds over past the statutory six-month limit, the seat is legally vacant and should be filled. The commissioner becomes a de facto officer; their votes still count,…
Can South Carolina's Board of Paroles and Pardons grant a pardon for a crime that has already been expunged, what counts as a quorum, and when does a social gathering of board members trigger the open-meetings law?
An expunged conviction can still be pardoned. The seven-member board needs four members for a quorum; three-member panels can decide most parole matters but probably not pardon applications. A purely …
When a South Carolina county consolidates fire protection districts, does the new district automatically own the property of the dissolved districts?
Likely yes. When a South Carolina county council consolidates special purpose fire protection districts under Article 3 of Title 6, § 6-11-620 says the new consolidated district 'assumes all propertie…
Can a South Carolina code enforcement officer prosecute ordinance violations in magistrate's court without it being the unauthorized practice of law?
Likely yes. Code enforcement officers, unlike private citizens, are public officers exercising sovereign police power. The AG concludes a court would likely allow them to prosecute ordinance violation…
Can South Carolina's Hartsville Community Center Building Commission issue general obligation bonds, and what does the constitutional ban on taxation without representation mean for appointed special purpose districts?
No, not on its own. The Hartsville Commission is an appointive body, and SC's no-taxation-without-representation clause prohibits delegating taxing authority (and therefore GO-bond authority) to it. B…
Can a South Carolina school board set its own compensation under a policy adopted by majority vote, and does failing to reaffirm the policy in a later year invalidate it?
Yes in most cases. South Carolina § 59-1-350 uses permissive language, school boards 'may' set their own compensation, per diem, mileage, and reimbursement policies absent a local law to the contrary.…
Is the Chester Fire District required to keep contracting with the City of Chester for fire protection services, or can it pick another provider or run its own department?
No. The 1972 enabling act does not require the Chester Fire District to contract exclusively or in perpetuity with the City of Chester. The District can renegotiate, contract with alternative provider…
Can a South Carolina public service water district refuse to let a developer hire a licensed water contractor of their choice and instead require the developer to pay whoever the district picks from its approved-contractor list?
Probably yes. Public service water districts have statutory authority under S.C. Code § 33-36-1360 to require contractor qualifications, and the AG concludes that to the extent the qualifications are …
Can a member of a South Carolina county board of voter registration and elections run for political office, or hold an officer position in a political party, while still serving on the board?
Filing as a candidate, by itself, does not require resignation. But if the board member is elected or appointed to an officer position in a partisan political party (whether the position is elected or…
Can a Georgia local government rename the South Carolina half of an interstate bridge, and does the SC Heritage Act protect the SC side from being renamed without legislative approval?
No. Georgia has no legal authority to rename the South Carolina portion of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Bridge. Under SC's Heritage Act, only the South Carolina General Assembly can rename a bridge or…
Who controls the Hampton County School District budget and millage rate, the Board of Trustees or the County Council, and what happens when the local act conflicts with the statewide millage cap?
The Board of Trustees adopts the budget, and the Board (not the County Council) is the 'local governing body' that levies the school tax. County Council has discretionary approval over the millage, bu…
If I'm a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a South Carolina boat title, can the DNR refuse to issue me a new title because there's still a lien on it?
No. Once the owner dies, DNR's job is ministerial: it must issue the new title to the named TOD beneficiary even if a lien is still recorded. The lien stays valid against the boat, but the agency cann…
Browse South Carolina opinions by topic
Attorney general opinions in South Carolina are written by the South Carolina Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.