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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Would South Carolina’s proposed physical-therapy employment bills include chiropractors as physicians?
The Attorney General predicted that a court would likely read “physician” and “physician group” in the proposed bills to include chiropractors. The opinion interpreted bills pending in 2010, so its…
Could South Carolina traffic tickets tell drivers to pay eligible fines online by credit card?
The Attorney General approved proposed wording for the back of the uniform traffic ticket allowing online credit-card fine payment when no court appearance was required and the county participated.…
Did a South Carolina HOA management company break the law by refusing owners financial records?
The Attorney General did not decide whether the named management company violated any law, because that depended on facts outside an AG opinion. It said HOAs and managers remained bound by state law…
Did South Carolina’s proposed 2010 immigration enforcement bill violate federal constitutional limits?
The Attorney General predicted that a court would likely uphold proposed S.1446 on its face. The opinion read the bill as requiring a lawful initial stop and objective reasonable suspicion before…
Could York County’s Rural Fire Board poll members or seek consensus in a closed meeting?
The Attorney General said a straw poll or holding the executive session open until members agreed on a motion would violate South Carolina’s open-meetings rule. It also said the board generally…
Could South Carolina extend Sumter school trustees’ terms while consolidating school districts?
The Attorney General concluded that proposed legislation extending the terms of Sumter School Districts 2 and 17 trustees until consolidation was constitutional. It reasoned that school trustees…
Could a magistrate issue a warrant to inspect a home for violating an overnight-occupancy zoning limit?
The Attorney General referred the requester to an earlier opinion saying the listed search-warrant statute did not authorize inspection of homes to enforce that residential ordinance. It warned that…
Did a fire code inspector need a warrant solely because the inspector was also a police officer?
The Attorney General concluded that a recognized fire code official did not need a warrant solely because that official also held a law-enforcement commission when performing a regularly scheduled…
Could a family obtain 911 recordings about a deceased relative’s emergency medical call?
The Attorney General concluded that the Felschow family could request and should receive the 911 calls about the father’s emergency. The opinion said family privacy interests could be waived and…
Could South Carolina’s DMV enter an FBI data-sharing agreement for Operation Driven?
The Attorney General reviewed the proposed Operation Driven memorandum and personal-information release agreement and found no conflict with South Carolina law. It agreed that the DMV could enter…
Did South Carolina schools have to disclose employees earning more than fifty thousand dollars, including retirees on contracts?
The Attorney General concluded that school districts should release the requested salary list, including teachers and administrators in the TERI retirement program and former participants working on…
Could a state disability-services employee also sit on the Calhoun County disabilities board?
The Attorney General concluded that the senior manager could serve on the county board without violating South Carolina’s dual-office prohibition. It treated the board seat as a public office but…
Could Surfside Beach council override its town administrator on department-head decisions?
The Attorney General predicted that council retained approval authority over appointment and removal of department heads under the town ordinance. It said the administrator could reprimand a…
Could Columbia City Council direct its police chief to transfer an elected official’s accident investigation to the Highway Patrol?
The Attorney General concluded that the city council could direct the chief to transfer the identified accident investigation to the State Highway Patrol and could adopt a rule for future accidents…
Who would replace a South Carolina sheriff who resigned more than a year before the next election?
The Attorney General said the chief deputy or second-in-command would act as sheriff until the vacancy was filled, and the governor would appoint a suitable person pending a special election.…
Did cigarettes passing through a South Carolina bonded warehouse need a listing in the state tobacco directory?
The Attorney General concluded that a brand manufactured elsewhere and shipped through a South Carolina bonded warehouse to other states did not need a South Carolina Tobacco Directory listing when…
Who would maintain Sand Creek subdivision roads and culverts within Fairfield County’s easement?
The Attorney General predicted that a court would hold Fairfield County, as holder of the roadway easement, responsible for all or an equitable share of upkeep within it. The opinion left open…
Could vehicles in a South Carolina funeral procession pass a traffic signal without an officer directing them?
The Attorney General said funeral procession vehicles generally had to obey traffic-control devices unless a police officer directed otherwise. It also said participants in walks or runs had to…
Could Aiken County put improvements to a domestic-violence center on its local sales-tax ballot?
The Attorney General concluded that Aiken County could include infrastructure improvements to the Cumbee Center on its local option sales-tax ballot. It predicted a court would read the statute’s…
Was an unpaid South Carolina traffic fine itself a new criminal offense under the nonresident compact?
The Attorney General said failure to pay did not itself create a separate criminal offense under the compact provision. A different section made willful failure to appear as required by a traffic…
Could a permitted South Carolina precious-metals dealer buy jewelry at short parties in customers’ homes?
The Attorney General predicted a court would allow the described two-hour home parties when the dealer maintained a permanent home or office business location and met permit requirements. It…
After an NCIC warrant hit, which South Carolina agency should hold and transport an arrestee?
For an arrest outside the issuing county, the Attorney General agreed that the arresting agency should generally take the person to its own jail while the warrant agency arranged transport, and that…
Were proposed city business-license tax breaks for new companies constitutional in South Carolina?
The Attorney General declined to decide the constitutionality of Greenville’s existing incentive and Columbia’s proposed new-business abatements. It said the answer depended on facts and that only a…
Did South Carolina’s Jacob’s Law bar carrying ten or fewer children in a personal vehicle instead of a school bus?
The Attorney General concluded that Jacob’s Law did not bar the described use of a personal vehicle to transport ten or fewer children, even if it did not meet federal school-bus standards. The…
Could an appointed board member change draft meeting minutes before the board approved them?
Assuming the body used Robert’s Rules, the Attorney General said a member should propose official corrections when the prior minutes came before the body at a regular meeting. The body would then…
Did a driver still have to attend South Carolina’s alcohol-safety program after a DUI charge was dismissed?
The Attorney General concluded that the program requirement tied to refusing a breath test remained constitutional even when the DUI charge was dismissed and the driver pled to an unrelated offense.…
Did South Carolina’s clergy privilege cover a licensed, unordained minister, and who could waive it?
The Attorney General interpreted the privilege to cover clergy members generally, including ministers licensed by their denominations rather than ordained. Both clergy member and penitent could…
Could South Carolina’s Ports Authority agree to hold the federal government harmless for Charleston Harbor dredging work?
The Attorney General concluded that a specific state statute authorized the Ports Authority to enter the described Army Corps project agreement, including its hold-and-save clause for…
Could Georgetown council veto the mayor’s department-head choices or reinstate an employee on its own?
The Attorney General predicted that Georgetown’s council-approval ordinance conflicted with the mayor-council form of government because the mayor held appointment and dismissal authority for…
Could a South Carolina town impose council term limits by ordinance or local referendum?
The Attorney General concluded that municipal councils lacked authority to set their own members’ term limits by either ordinance or referendum. It also said the legislature could not give Edisto…
Could someone run for a South Carolina House seat and a constitutional office in the same election?
The Attorney General said a person could file and run for both offices at once. The state constitutional restriction applied to holding two offices, so winning and taking both would create a conflict.
Would a South Carolina family court judge lose authority because the oath of office was not filed?
The Attorney General said no. It treated the oath filing requirement as directory and said an omitted filing did not invalidate the judge’s official acts toward third parties.
Did service on South Carolina’s Commission on Women count as a second public office?
The Attorney General concluded that a Commission on Women seat was advisory and did not count as a public office for South Carolina’s dual office holding rule. A member could therefore also hold…
When would Columbia’s change of municipal government have taken effect after a 2010 referendum?
For a referendum passing on or after July 1, 2010, the Attorney General said Columbia’s change would take effect July 1, 2014, after the staggered terms of the existing governing body expired.
Could South Carolina forest renewal funds support marketing forest products and recruiting forest businesses?
The Attorney General concluded that the State Forester could use Forest Renewal Law funds for the described marketing and business recruitment initiative. It read the law’s economic-benefit purpose…
How were remaining South Carolina school construction bond allocations to be divided among districts?
The Attorney General read the 2010 school bond statute to call for a pro rata allocation based on each eligible district’s original request, including amounts above the initial cap. Because the…
Could owner-occupied homes be included in a South Carolina multicounty business park?
The Attorney General said residential property did not appear to fit a multicounty industrial or business park, but recommended a declaratory judgment for a final answer. It declined to decide the…
Could Santee Cooper guarantee a private biomass company’s federal loan in 2010?
The Attorney General concluded that Santee Cooper lacked statutory authority to guarantee Orangeburg County Biomass’s federal loan. It also predicted that Santee Cooper was a political subdivision,…
Could a child attend a South Carolina school district where the noncustodial parent lived?
The Attorney General said the 2006 residency opinion allowed attendance in a district where either parent lived, assuming the child lived with that parent. It expressly did not decide whether a…
Could Columbia fill a city council vacancy at its April 2010 election despite short notice?
The Attorney General said the vacancy statute permitted the April 6 election on its face, even though another election statute required notice. It warned that the short time after the March 9…
Could South Carolina counties place planned homes inside a joint industrial and business park?
The Attorney General found arguments on both sides because the multicounty park statute did not specify eligible property types. It said the ordinary meaning of industrial or business suggested…
Could Richland County require a school district to undergo development site review and pay its review fee?
The Attorney General said Richland County could require School District Two to submit to development site review because the county’s land development rules were zoning ordinances that applied to…
Were South Carolina boating accident reports open to public records requests in 2010?
The Attorney General concluded that boating accident reports filed with the Department of Natural Resources were disclosable under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act after the legislature…
Could cashing an insurance reimbursement check bind the recipient to the statement printed above its endorsement line?
The Attorney General found no general South Carolina statutory or case-law prohibition on the endorsement statement it was shown. It said whether the particular parties’ contract authorized the…
Was South Carolina’s county option to tax new buildings earlier unconstitutional in 2010?
The Attorney General said a court could find the county-by-county option unconstitutional under the statewide tax uniformity requirement. It stressed that only a court could strike the statute down,…
Did a former correctional officer qualify for South Carolina retired-officer concealed-carry credentials?
The Attorney General declined to decide the individual’s eligibility because his retirement and certification status were disputed facts. It quoted the statutory standards and said the Department of…
Did South Carolina’s 2007 act set Sumter school district boundaries for taxes, attendance, and elections?
The Attorney General concluded that Act No. 155 of 2007 defined the lines of Sumter County School Districts 2 and 17 for tax, attendance, and election purposes at the time. It qualified the…
Could Richland County enforce tree-preservation zoning during forestland development?
The Attorney General concluded that the county’s reviewed land development provisions did not regulate forestry activities as the 2009 state law used that term. It also said that even if they did,…
Could a South Carolina private security guard direct traffic on a public road miles from the assigned site?
The Attorney General said no. The guard’s statutory authority was limited to the property he was hired to protect, so it did not extend to directing traffic on a public roadway regardless of…
Was Union’s broad loitering ordinance vulnerable to a constitutional vagueness challenge?
The Attorney General predicted that a court would find Union’s loitering ordinance vulnerable to vagueness and overbreadth challenges because it did not clearly define forbidden conduct or…
Did service only as a South Carolina reserve police officer meet the certified-officer requirement for sheriff?
The Attorney General said no. Reserve-officer training and service were distinct from regular law-enforcement certification, so reserve experience alone did not satisfy the certified-officer…
Could Surfside Beach’s council assign manager-like duties to a town administrator?
The Attorney General said the council could set the administrator’s duties under its council form of government, so long as those duties did not conflict with state law.
Did a disabled veteran’s surviving spouse get a vehicle property-tax exemption by holding the special veteran plate?
The Attorney General concluded that the surviving spouse was not eligible for the disabled-veteran vehicle property-tax exemption, even with the special plate. The plate provision addressed…
Could a South Carolina fire inspector obtain an administrative fire-search warrant or sign a criminal warrant affidavit?
The Attorney General found no state statute authorizing administrative warrants for fire investigations and left any local fire-code authority unverified. It also concluded that a fire inspector…
Could South Carolina workers’ compensation parties view pending hearing rosters through a password-protected site?
The Attorney General said the Commission could give employees, employers, and their authorized representatives access to their own pending case and single-commissioner hearing rosters after…
Did South Carolina’s 2010 payday-loan database have to include loans already outstanding when it launched?
The Attorney General advised against loading existing deferred-presentment loans into the initial database without court or legislative clarification, because affected borrowers might not have…
Did Santee Cooper’s proposed biomass loan guarantee violate South Carolina’s public-credit ban?
On the facts supplied, the Attorney General said the proposed guarantee would not pledge the state’s credit or make Santee Cooper a joint owner of the biomass company. The office had not reviewed…
Could a South Carolina county fund public works in small towns but require a larger town to pay?
The Attorney General found no state-law bar to the county’s population-based public works funding policy. Counties were not obligated to fund municipal public works, but any expenditure had to serve…
Did a South Carolina charity own equipment a donor later claimed should be returned?
The Attorney General declined to decide ownership of the equipment because the donation’s terms and other facts were disputed. It said a charity had a duty to protect property actually given to it…
Could North Charleston lease City Hall office space to its city attorney for city and private legal work?
The Attorney General concluded that a court likely would not treat the proposed lease as a breach of the city’s trust in its property. The city attorney mainly handled city business, the location…
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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.