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.
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Could a South Carolina municipality stay on a regional transit authority board after leaving its service area?
The Attorney General concluded that authority members and their board appointees had to come from municipalities and counties within the transit service area. It found no clear statutory procedure…
Could county election commission staff be county employees even though the commission hired and fired them?
The Attorney General said election commission staff could be considered county employees, with county funded positions and benefits, even though the county administrator and council lacked authority…
What liability and insurance rules did the South Carolina AG identify for the Aiken County Commission for Higher Education?
The Attorney General treated the commission as a political subdivision whose tort claims were governed by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act. It declined to determine whether the commission was an…
Did the South Carolina AG decide whether a homeowners association violated its bylaws or voting rules?
No. The Attorney General declined to resolve the association's factual disputes or act as its private counsel. It referred some concerns to the office's civil section and explained that nonprofit…
Could South Carolina's Infrastructure Bank pledge future funding for the I-526 extension before it had additional bond capacity?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Infrastructure Bank could generally pledge future financial capacity toward the I-526 extension. It treated the board's action as a motion, not a…
Could a South Carolina jailer keep North Carolina police certification without violating South Carolina's dual office rule?
The Attorney General concluded that South Carolina's constitutional ban on holding two public offices did not prevent a Class 2 jailer from retaining North Carolina law enforcement certification.…
Could an Aiken city council member observe police roll call or question city employees without going through the city manager?
The Attorney General said a council member could gather information for legislative work but could not interfere with the city manager's supervision of employees. It declined to decide whether this…
Can a civilian car in South Carolina display colored lights other than red, white, or amber?
The AG said there was no blanket ban on other colors, but a civilian vehicle could not possess or display a blue light visible from outside. Other lights remained subject to rules on color,…
Can South Carolina police ticket misuse of an accessible parking spot in an unsigned private lot?
Yes, if the spot is clearly designated for disabled drivers, the AG said. The lot need not carry a separate police-jurisdiction sign. Officers should generally use the uniform parking ticket, though…
Can one person serve on Union County's alcohol-and-drug commission and the City of Union election commission?
No. The AG treated both seats as public offices and said holding them at the same time violated South Carolina's constitutional dual-office ban. It referred any separate State Ethics Act question to…
Did South Carolina's 2013 alcohol-law amendments allow charity casino nights or gambling promotions at licensed venues?
No general gambling exception was created, the AG said. Charitable bingo still needed its separate authorization and license, while casino and poker nights likely remained prohibited. Beer-and-wine…
Can a South Carolina county keep all money collected for violations of its ordinances?
The county generally keeps the criminal fine itself, the AG said. It must still distribute any additional court assessments and surcharges as the statutes require, including amounts owed to the state.
Was the Marion County sheriff responsible for inmates in a county prison camp run by the county administrator?
On the facts provided, the AG said responsibility for those inmates rested with the county administrator, not the sheriff. The county had transferred its detention center to the sheriff but left the…
Could a South Carolina nonprofit water company give only residential customers one free month?
The AG did not decide. It said the Office of Regulatory Staff should address the question first because that office investigates public-interest utility complaints and the AG deferred to the…
Can a South Carolina real estate agent collect a commission after giving up their license during negotiations?
The AG said no for the transaction described: the agent relinquished the license before the real-estate sale contract was signed, and payment of a commission would conflict with the licensing law.…
May a South Carolina city council member also work as a licensed bail bondsman?
The AG said the cited surety ban did not include city council members, so it did not itself bar the dual role. The insurance agency could regulate the bondsman license but could not remove an…
Can an apartment manager ban a tenant’s invited guest from an entire South Carolina apartment complex?
The AG said owners and managers generally could issue trespass notices, but predicted that a tenant’s legitimate guest could pass through common areas needed to reach the tenant’s home. A guest who…
Did an imitation-drug felony count as a drug felony for South Carolina SNAP eligibility in 2013?
The AG concluded it was likely the legislature intended imitation-controlled-substance convictions to count for the SNAP drug-felony exclusion, given the federal agency’s stated flexibility for…
When could South Carolina police keep or return a firearm seized in a weapons case in 2013?
The AG said forfeiture under the two weapons offenses it examined depended on a conviction. Without one, the weapon generally should be returned to its owner or the person from whom it was seized; a…
When did the delayed College of Charleston trustee terms begin after the 2013 election?
The AG concluded that the existing seat terms began July 1, 2012 despite delayed elections in May 2013. Incumbents could serve until successors qualified, and those successors would serve the…
Could Columbia set its own fines for violations of South Carolina traffic laws?
The AG concluded Columbia could not adopt the proposed ordinance, which copied state traffic offenses and set a flat fine range. It said the different penalty range conflicted with state law, and…
Could Greenwood County charge an annual Lake Greenwood dock-permit fee in 2013?
The AG said cited federal-license and state-law authority likely allowed the county’s annual dock-permit fee. It also said a reasonable encroachment agreement was likely permissible as part of…
Could an out-of-state retiree or an optional-plan participant serve as South Carolina’s retiree investment commissioner?
The AG said a court would likely require the retiree representative to reside in South Carolina. Benefits from the State Optional Retirement Program alone did not qualify a nominee; the person also…
Could South Carolina’s charter school district require schools to enter monthly transactions in the district’s accounting software?
The AG said a charter sponsor could require accounting work beyond an annual report if it fit the charter contract and statutory limits on oversight. It declined to decide whether the specific…
Could South Carolina’s public employee benefits agency share state health plan provider rates with private employers?
The AG said the described arrangement would not itself violate the constitutional bars on joint ownership or lending state credit, and likely served a public purpose. It nevertheless advised express…
Could a South Carolina First Steps county partnership buy a building with its grant funds?
The AG said the nonprofit partnership had general authority to buy a facility for its operations and the cited new-construction restriction did not ban a purchase. Any state or federal grant…
Could a South Carolina homeowner use a power of attorney to sign an owner-builder permit application?
The AG predicted that a court would require the owner of record to appear and sign personally to claim the owner-builder exemption. A power-of-attorney representative would not substitute for the…
Could a South Carolina mayor’s festival committee meet privately about alcohol sales and town liability?
The AG said a mayor-appointed advisory committee was a public body and could not privately discuss the festival contract merely because council might negotiate it. It could receive legal advice in a…
Did a student switching from public school to homeschooling have to wait a full year to join school activities?
The AG predicted that an academically eligible public-school student would not automatically lose a year of interscholastic eligibility after beginning an approved home-school program. The opinion…
Could a county add new projects when renewing a capital-project sales tax before voter-approved projects were finished?
The AG said no in the shortfall situation presented. If the original tax did not fund the projects voters approved, a reimposed tax had to continue those specific projects and their priority order,…
Did South Carolina investigators have to allow internal affairs staff or department lawyers into officer-shooting interviews?
The AG said an uncharged officer’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel had not attached during the criminal investigation, and Garrity protection depended on job-loss coercion. It declined to decide…
Could National Park Service rangers issue South Carolina uniform traffic tickets inside federal park sites?
The AG said no under the then-current state ticket statute: federal rangers were not state or local payroll officers within the definition used for uniform traffic tickets. Their limited state-law…
Could a South Carolina adult face charges for knowingly allowing minors to drink, and could a county adopt a social-host ordinance?
The AG said existing contributing-to-delinquency and alcohol-transfer laws could reach described social-host conduct, depending on the facts and prosecutor’s judgment. It predicted that a county…
Could a South Carolina university-trustee screening committee use the four-percent property-tax assessment to judge residency?
The AG said the legislative screening committee had broad discretion in assessing trustee candidates’ residency, subject to judicial review. It also said spouses could have different legal…
Could a South Carolina county council force the elected coroner to put a county seal on a donated vehicle?
The AG said the county council had limited authority to direct an elected coroner’s office and appeared unable to dictate the seal as requested. The donated vehicle was still public, however, and…
Did a trustee candidate lose South Carolina district residency because his spouse claimed a primary home elsewhere?
The AG said the spouse’s separate primary residence did not, on the stated facts, defeat the candidate’s eligibility to represent his congressional district. The candidate still had to be a…
Could South Carolina’s revenue department add a handling fee to electronically record tax liens?
The AG said the department could not impose an additional electronic-submission or handling fee under the statutes then in force. The existing tax-enforcement cost provision controlled, and…
Could the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District independently commission reserve police officers?
The AG said no. The district could employ officers commissioned as state constables, but its enabling statute did not give it independent power to commission full-time or reserve police officers;…
Who could hire, fire, or reinstate employees under Union County’s council-supervisor government?
The AG said the elected supervisor controlled hiring for funded positions and was outside council’s personnel policies. Council could create and fund positions and remove certain…
Could a South Carolina DPS special constable carry a gun onto school property while working for a school district?
The Attorney General concluded that a DPS special constable did not qualify for the law enforcement officer exceptions to the school weapons prohibitions. The opinion also identified separate…
Could a South Carolina mayor suspend or remove the city administrator, clerk, attorney, or municipal judges without council approval?
The AG concluded that the city council held the removal power for these offices, with the mayor participating as a council member. It also said the mayor probably could not suspend them alone, while…
Could a South Carolina county auditor prosecute vehicle registration and tax violations in magistrate court without being a lawyer?
The AG believed that a nonlawyer county auditor's proposed prosecution of those cases in magistrate court would likely constitute unauthorized practice of law. Only the South Carolina Supreme Court…
Who should investigate a South Carolina traffic crash involving both a sheriff’s vehicle and a Highway Patrol vehicle?
For the qualifying collision described, the AG suggested that the sheriff’s office and Highway Patrol ask SLED to investigate. The opinion viewed SLED as suited to avoid an agency investigating its…
Can an AG opinion determine which South Carolina county contains a home when two counties claim the property tax?
No. The AG declined to decide the home’s location because it was a factual question. The opinion described possible ways to seek a county boundary determination and contest the resulting property…
Would a South Carolina homeowner who moved to the state in May 2011 qualify for the 2012 age-based homestead tax exemption?
The AG thought a court would likely deny the 2012 homestead exemption. Although the homeowner was already 65, the opinion read the one-year South Carolina residency requirement as needing to be met…
What counted as an invasive surgical procedure for South Carolina’s 2013 coroner death-notification law?
The AG read “invasive surgical procedure” in its ordinary, contemporary medical sense, drawing on definitions involving entry into the body by puncture, incision, or an instrument. It declined to…
Could a South Carolina city council member also serve on the Small Business Regulatory Review Committee?
Yes, in the AG’s view. A city council seat was a public office, but membership on the advisory Review Committee was not an office for the constitutional dual-office prohibition.
Could a South Carolina police department spend drug forfeiture money on general police equipment?
The AG said the listed equipment could be bought with drug forfeiture funds if used primarily for the department’s drug enforcement activities, subject to the law and earlier opinions. It declined…
Must a South Carolina city disclose finalist job applications when one employee, rather than the council, makes the hire?
Yes. The AG concluded that materials for a final pool of at least three applicants had to be disclosed even if an individual public employee made the hiring decision. The opinion also said the…
Could a South Carolina magistrate use contempt authority when a defendant violated a no-contact bond condition outside court?
The AG concluded that magistrates possessed contempt authority to enforce court orders, including bond-release conditions, despite the narrower wording of the magistrate contempt statute. Whether…
Did a South Carolina police department have to repay fire academy costs when it hired another city’s public safety officer?
The AG said the hiring department did not owe reimbursement under the cited statute for costs unrelated to mandatory law enforcement training and certification. Necessary travel expenses for…
Could a South Carolina county create a voluntary agricultural district program by ordinance without a specific enabling act?
The AG concluded that home-rule powers supported a local ordinance establishing a voluntary agricultural district program without a separate enabling statute. It cautioned that a local ordinance…
Could the Richland-Lexington Airport Commission use unused 1985 bond authority to refinance its 2001 revenue bonds?
Probably, according to the AG. The office considered the 1985 act ambiguous but thought a court would more likely allow the airport district to use remaining general obligation bond authority to…
Could a South Carolina probate court record a marriage without an issued license or certificate?
No, under the facts presented. The AG read the missing-certificate recording provision as applying where a marriage license and certificate had previously been issued, or to marriages before…
Did South Carolina’s archaeological-resource law protect artifacts on private land without a state historic-site designation?
The AG believed the statute could apply to protected archaeological resources on another person’s land without a separate historic-site designation. It declined to decide whether a particular…
Could the South Carolina housing authority sign a Fannie Mae agreement making it financially responsible for Fannie Mae’s losses?
The AG concluded that the proposed agreement was unenforceable against the housing authority because it assumed liabilities beyond those allowed by sovereign immunity and the Tort Claims Act.…
Did a South Carolina process server trespass by serving court papers at a property marked “No Trespassing”?
The AG predicted that a court would likely find no trespass while a process server acted within the scope of serving court papers, even in the posted-property or leave-demand scenarios. It cautioned…
After a South Carolina magistrate found no probable cause, could a defendant stay jailed until General Sessions dismissed the charge?
No, if no other pending charge required incarceration. The AG said the defendant had to be released from custody after the no-probable-cause finding, but the bond’s other conditions continued until…
Did a VA Veterans Identification Card count as federal military photo ID for voting under South Carolina’s 2011 Voter ID Act?
The AG believed a court would likely treat a current, valid Veterans Identification Card issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs as qualifying federal military photo ID. The opinion relied on…
Could a South Carolina sheriff enforce federal gun laws or stop federal agents from enforcing them in the county?
The AG said South Carolina state and local officers had no general authority to enforce federal gun laws, and they could not interfere with federal officers lawfully enforcing federal law. It also…
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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.