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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Did South Carolina's employee grievance process limit the DNR director's power to remove enforcement officers?
The AG concluded that the specific statute letting the Department of Natural Resources director remove enforcement officers at discretion controlled over any general state employee grievance…
Were food items sold through South Carolina vending machines exempt from sales tax as unprepared food?
The AG concluded that the unprepared-food exemption did not apply to vending-machine transactions. Under the statute discussed, tax generally fell on the vendor's purchase of the goods rather than…
Could a South Carolina council adopt a comprehensive plan without a favorable planning commission vote?
The AG said the planning commission had to recommend the plan or amendment before the governing body adopted it. The recommendation required an affirmative vote of a majority of the commission's…
Who had authority to hire and fire staff of a South Carolina county election commission?
The AG reaffirmed its earlier view that a county election commission had implied authority to hire and fire its employees. It found no change in the underlying law that would shift that authority to…
Could Allendale County charge a fire-protection fee on forest and agricultural land?
The AG said the county was authorized to impose its described fire and rescue fee on county property. It found no statute categorically preventing county fire protection because of the Forestry…
Could an employee of a South Carolina soil and water conservation district also serve as its commissioner?
The AG said a court might find the simultaneous employee and commissioner roles incompatible under the common-law master-servant rule, because commissioners supervised district employees. Only a…
Could a South Carolina public college commission discuss a general anti-nepotism policy in closed session?
The AG concluded that the commission had to discuss a proposed general anti-nepotism policy in an open meeting. The employee-specific executive-session exception did not cover a policy applicable to…
Could a Dillon County councilmember also be the county's E-911 director?
The AG said the director was a county employee rather than a second public officer, so the state dual-office ban likely did not apply. But simultaneous service would likely create a prohibited…
Could Charleston County's school district charge a nonconverted charter school rent for an existing building?
The AG read the 2005 local act to prohibit rent for both converted and nonconverted charter schools using existing district buildings. It also believed a court would uphold the act against the…
Could Fairfield County's school board shorten current officers' two-year terms by changing its policy?
The AG said the school board could revise its officer-election policy to one-year terms, even though doing so would shorten the current chair, vice-chair, and secretary terms. The change would not…
Could an unopposed South Carolina town council cancel its election and then raise its own pay?
The AG said Moncks Corner still had to hold its municipal election to preserve write-in voting. It also concluded that council and mayor pay increases most likely could not take effect until after…
Could a South Carolina deed have a photocopy of a certified death certificate attached for a surviving joint tenant?
The AG found no general bar to recording a deed with an attached document. But it read the joint-tenancy statute to require a certified copy of the death certificate for its conclusive transfer…
Did South Carolina's emergency-scene traffic rule apply to a routine police traffic stop?
The AG concluded that a simple traffic stop with only law-enforcement vehicles and no emergency scene did not fall under the emergency-scene statute discussed in the opinion.
Did a South Carolina archives-disposition law belong to the higher-education commission because of its code location?
The AG concluded that the provision's placement among higher-education statutes was a coding mistake. Its record-disposition powers belonged to the Department and Commission on Archives and History,…
Could a South Carolina school district spend waived millage-reduction funds on routine building maintenance?
The AG said a waiver did not free the funds from the statute's limits: they had to support authorized renovations, capital improvements, or repairs. Some maintenance, such as repairing a damaged…
Could South Carolina cancel a commercial driver's license based only on a federal watchlist match?
The AG found no state-law authority to revoke a commercial driver's license solely for a terrorist-watchlist match. It said the DMV could cancel a license if it determined the driver was not…
Could a South Carolina town police officer also serve as municipal court clerk?
The AG warned that a police officer's clerk duties created an apparent conflict with the court's required neutrality. Actually holding both the police and clerk offices also likely violated the…
Did expunging an arrest record require a South Carolina police department to remove a related newspaper article from its website?
The AG said the newspaper article was not among the arrest and booking records covered by the expungement statutes it reviewed, even though it appeared on the police website. The opinion…
Could a South Carolina county charge everyone booked into jail a nonrefundable processing fee?
The AG found no legal basis for Dorchester County's fifteen-dollar booking fee, including when charges were dropped or the person was acquitted. It relied on an earlier opinion that questioned fees…
Could a South Carolina transportation commissioner serve another consecutive term after the agency was reorganized?
The AG said the 2007 reorganization did not alter the statutory bar on consecutive commission terms. Because the person in the request had already completed one term, the AG considered him…
Who could legally pronounce and certify a death in South Carolina under the rules the AG reviewed?
The AG treated pronouncement as the medical certification of death and reiterated its earlier view that only a physician, coroner, or medical examiner could certify it under the regulation discussed.
Was a free random-prize promotion for South Carolina state employees an illegal lottery?
The AG concluded that the described WeSave promotion lacked the payment or other sufficient consideration needed for a lottery. It offered prizes by chance, but membership was free and a winner…
Could Colleton County take volunteer fire departments' stations and equipment by creating a county fire district?
The AG said the county's fire-district ordinance did not itself authorize taking property belonging to private volunteer departments. The county could pursue a purchase or lease, or use eminent…
Could South Carolina treat a juvenile delinquency adjudication as a felony conviction when reviewing guns and security licenses?
The AG said a juvenile adjudication was not a conviction and did not itself impose the ordinary civil disabilities of one, including the stated firearms and licensing restrictions. SLED could still…
Could Blacksburg businesses put name-and-address flags on sidewalk lamp posts in a highway right-of-way?
The AG said those flags were prohibited signs if the lamp posts stood in the highway right-of-way and the flags were visible from the main-traveled road. The business names and addresses made them…
Could a South Carolina transit agency put advertising on bus stop benches in a state road right of way?
The AG concluded that advertisements could not be placed on bus stop benches at marked stops within a state road right of way. The statutory advertising exception and DOT rules covered bus shelters,…
Could Edisto Beach ban height variances, and how was county debt divided when land changed counties?
The AG concluded Edisto Beach could not use the cited zoning provision to bar height variances; it covered use variances. For county boundary changes, debt apportionment had to be just and…
Could a Moncks Corner town administrator also serve on the Summerville Planning Commission?
The AG concluded that the described town administrator likely held a municipal job rather than a public office. Because planning commission membership was an office but the administrator job was…
Could one Williamston council member order town staff to exhume a time capsule without a council vote?
The AG concluded that a single council member lacked authority to act for the town or direct employees to exhume the capsule, assuming no law or ordinance gave that member such power. The council…
Could a South Carolina town claim Eleventh Amendment immunity from a student loan wage withholding suit?
The AG concluded that a town did not share the Eleventh Amendment protection applied to a state agency in an earlier student loan garnishment case. That state agency ruling therefore did not protect…
Did a South Carolina expungement order require the Criminal Justice Academy to destroy an officer’s certification investigation file?
The AG concluded that an investigatory file held in the Academy’s certification record did not have to be destroyed under the cited expungement statute and the 2004 order. It distinguished arrest…
Could Sumter County restrict dogs with pit bull ancestry and limit how many dangerous dogs a person owns?
The AG found legal support for breed and number restrictions under equal protection decisions from other states, but said only a court could decide the proposed Sumter ordinance’s validity. It also…
Did weighted voting under South Carolina Senate Rule 51 invalidate House Bill 3782?
The AG declined to judge Rule 51’s constitutionality. It concluded weighted voting was not used in the bill’s ultimate passage, which occurred by unanimous consent, and expected a court to presume…
Was Lexington County’s chief deputy clerk a public officer despite lacking the statutory deputy appointment formalities?
The AG concluded that the chief deputy clerk held a public office for dual office holding purposes because the position exercised clerk of court powers. Lack of court approval and an oath under the…
Could a false name on a South Carolina marriage license invalidate the marriage or trigger a penalty?
The AG said a false affidavit accompanying a marriage license application could trigger the cited misdemeanor penalty, depending on the facts. An incorrect name alone did not appear to invalidate a…
Could graffiti inside a South Carolina prison or juvenile detention hall count as publicly viewable vandalism?
The AG said the graffiti statute could apply inside those facilities because some areas could be publicly viewable despite restricted access. Applicability depended on the specific location; a…
Could Charleston County create a lesser resisting arrest offense so a magistrate could hear the case?
The AG stood by an earlier opinion that a county could not create a resisting arrest ordinance with a lower penalty or lesser form of resistance than state law. Such an ordinance would conflict with…
Could an SCDOT commissioner elected to finish a vacancy serve a later full term?
The AG concluded that service for the remainder of another commissioner’s term did not count as the one full term allowed by the statute. A commissioner serving a partial term was therefore eligible…
Could a South Carolina town incorporate near an existing city, and did an existing city’s claimed interest block it?
The AG identified a five mile incorporation limit, not the seven mile rule in the request, subject to statutory exceptions. A city’s mere claim of interest did not block a proposed town unless the…
Could Spartanburg County exempt older vehicle owners from its road maintenance fee?
The AG concluded that the proposed age class did not create a uniformity problem because all members of that class would receive the same exemption. It declined to decide whether the exemption…
Were Charleston County’s parks appointments and merged election board acts unconstitutional special laws?
The AG considered both county specific acts constitutionally suspect and expected a court would likely find them invalid under home rule precedent. Only a court could decide; the acts remained…
Did South Carolina’s Education Oversight Committee have to approve standards for Old and New Testament electives?
The AG concluded that the State Board of Education alone was responsible for the standards for those elective courses. Because the courses were not core courses, the opinion found no required…
Did South Carolina’s ban on expungement destruction fees also bar the solicitor’s processing fee?
The AG concluded that the ban on charging for destruction of records did not include the separate fee collected by a solicitor’s office for administering an expungement application. Under the Chief…
Could a South Carolina voter choose one party’s presidential primary and another party’s state primary?
The AG concluded the state prohibition on voting in two parties’ primaries for the same general election did not bar that combination. It treated the presidential and state or local primaries as…
Did South Carolina’s education board have to consider every school district debt service waiver request?
The AG said the board had to consider each request and consult the State Treasurer, but did not have to hold a formal hearing for each one. The board retained discretion to deny a waiver even when…
Could a South Carolina police chief dismiss a municipal court ticket issued by an officer in the department?
The AG concluded a police chief could act as chief prosecutor and enter a nol pros on the municipal court tickets described. It distinguished those cases from general sessions matters and the DUI…
Could one Beaufort County employee serve as both deputy sheriff and deputy treasurer?
The AG concluded that a deputy sheriff and a deputy treasurer were both public offices for dual office holding purposes. Holding both simultaneously would most probably violate the South Carolina…
Could Fairfield County schools use prior year surplus to cover a deficit without county council approval?
The AG said the district could allocate prior year surplus to its current deficit under its own budget authority and procedures; that allocation did not appear to require county council approval.…
Did five years of pre 1984 school service qualify a retiree for state paid health insurance?
The AG said a qualifying former school or state employee could participate in the state health plan at retirement under the older service exception, but had to pay the full premium. It limited the…
Did five years of pre-1984 school service give a returning employee state paid retiree insurance?
The AG concluded that a person with five qualifying years of state or school district service credited under the state retirement system before July 1, 1984 could join the state health plan upon…
Could a South Carolina voter choose the Democratic presidential primary and a Republican in the general election?
The AG found no South Carolina election provision barring that choice. The cited restriction on voting in two parties’ primaries applied to primary elections, not a later general election vote.
Was West Union’s earlier unposted council meeting exempt from notice as an emergency?
The AG did not decide whether the earlier meeting was a genuine emergency because that required factual findings. It said the emergency exception to public meeting notice was narrow and a council’s…
Could Pendleton use either the unfit dwelling law or the new abandoned home law to remove a derelict mobile home?
The AG said the two laws served different purposes and neither repealed the other. A town could proceed under whichever law’s conditions were met; the chosen law controlled the procedure and who…
Could emeritus members of The Citadel Board of Visitors vote in board committees?
The AG concluded that emeritus members could participate in committee work only in an advisory capacity. They could vote on investigation, planning, and recommendations, but could not exercise the…
Could a South Carolina homeowners association charge a transfer fee when a home changed hands?
The AG concluded that a nonprofit homeowners association could charge a member transfer fee unless its articles barred it. For other associations, the authority depended on their agreement with…
Did South Carolina property tax reform repeal school districts’ per pupil funding requirement?
The AG concluded that the school funding requirement remained in force. The reform removed a school district’s ability to exceed the general millage cap solely to meet that requirement, but did not…
Could a South Carolina county demolish unsafe private buildings and pay for debris removal?
The AG said Marion County’s described nuisance procedures appeared supportable if the property was unsafe or hazardous, the owner received notice and an appeal opportunity, and demolition served a…
Could South Carolina remove Pickens school board at large seats through a county specific bill?
The AG concluded that the county specific school board bill did not violate the state constitutional ban on county legislation because education was a legislative responsibility. It said weighted…
Were city owned golf carts or ATVs exempt from South Carolina vehicle registration rules?
The AG found no municipal ownership exemption for golf cart permits. It also said the DMV did not register ATVs as road vehicles, so a city owned ATV could not be driven on public highways under the…
Should South Carolina court clerks automatically enter every support order on the judgment roll?
The AG said separate child and spousal support orders should not be automatically indexed as judgments. Indexing was appropriate when a statute required it for unpaid support or a court specifically…
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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.