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 town move its election date if the change shortened council members’ terms?
The AG said a municipality could change its election date by ordinance under section 5-15-50, even if that incidentally shortened incumbent council members’ terms. The opinion described the change…
Did an out-of-state sexually violent predator designation trigger South Carolina’s more frequent registration rule?
The AG read the 2006 statute to apply the more frequent verification rule to a person designated a sexually violent predator by a court in another state who moved to South Carolina. SLED itself had…
Did Briarcliffe Acres need a public vote before building the proposed sewer collection system?
A referendum was required if Briarcliffe Acres itself acquired the proposed sewer system. The AG could not determine from conflicting accounts whether the town or a private citizen group was…
Could a Mount Pleasant council member remain on the Patriots Point Development Authority board?
No. The AG reaffirmed an earlier opinion that both the Mount Pleasant Town Council seat and the Patriots Point Development Authority board seat were public offices. Simultaneous service violated the…
Could a South Carolina county raise neighbors’ property assessments after one homeowner appealed?
The AG found no property-tax appeal provision allowing an assessor to reassess neighboring homes just because one owner challenged an assessment. Generally, reassessment had to follow countywide…
Could the South Carolina legislature impose development impact fees only in Dorchester County?
The AG said the General Assembly could not pass a county-specific law imposing development impact fees in Dorchester County because the state constitution prohibited that special legislation. The…
Did moving an exempt dry-cleaning shop to a new site require payments to South Carolina’s cleanup fund?
Yes. The AG concluded that an existing nonhalogenated dry-cleaning facility’s exemption was tied to the facility at its original location. When that business moved to a different site, payments to…
Did a school violate South Carolina law by asking a driver to leave a football game because of a political sign?
The AG did not decide whether the school violated the statute. It found the sign to be protected political speech and rejected the statute’s rented-property clause for the school parking lot, but…
Could a Union City Council member also serve on the county fair board or work in emergency preparedness?
The AG concluded that the county fair board seat and city council seat were both public offices and could not be held simultaneously. It treated the assistant emergency preparedness director…
Could Gray Court hire a private security firm to perform town law enforcement?
The AG said Gray Court could not contract with a private security company to exercise the town’s law-enforcement powers. It identified approved off-duty work by county sheriff’s deputies as a…
Could a Union County emergency services employee serve on Union City Council without a supervisor conflict?
The AG found no master-servant conflict between Union City Council service and the described county assistant emergency services director job. It did not resolve possible State Ethics Reform Act…
What did “dependability of service” mean when South Carolina assigned electric service areas?
The AG read “dependability” in section 58-27-640 as the reliability of electric service, including a supplier’s ability to provide continuous service to existing customers. It said the Public…
Could a South Carolina pathology lab bill a patient for a specialist consultation performed by another lab?
The AG said a primary laboratory that performed anatomic pathology and referred a sample to a specialist laboratory could pay the specialist and bill the patient or insurer for both sets of…
Could a South Carolina county use home detention for people serving short local jail sentences?
The AG said counties and municipalities could establish home detention by ordinance for eligible people awaiting trial or serving sentences outside Department of Corrections custody. A court had to…
Which county’s venue rule controlled a South Carolina magistrate civil case when a statute and court rule differed?
The AG said the applicable venue statute would probably control over a conflicting magistrate court rule, because court procedure rules were subject to statutory law. It did not resolve the venue of…
Could a deputy county auditor receive the auditor’s state salary supplement after the auditor died?
The AG concluded that the appointed deputy auditor carrying out the vacant auditor’s duties was entitled to the auditor’s compensation, including the state salary supplement. The entitlement…
Did South Carolina school-bus safety rules apply to Medicaid rides that sometimes took children to school?
The AG said Jacob’s Law generally did not apply to Medicaid transportation to medical providers. When a provider carried a student to or from school, the law could apply if the vehicle met the…
Could a South Carolina technical education board member also serve on Myrtle Beach’s convention center hotel board in 2006?
The Attorney General concluded that the two positions could be held together. The state technical education board seat was an office, but the convention center nonprofit board seat was not, on the…
Did a second-degree lynching conviction require violence and service of 85 percent of a three-year sentence under South Carolina law in 2006?
The Attorney General said second-degree lynching involved an act of violence. Because the offense was classified as a no-parole felony, a person sentenced to Corrections custody had to serve at…
Could a South Carolina town police officer make a traffic case outside the town limits in 2006?
Usually, a municipal officer’s jurisdiction was limited to the town, but the opinion identified statutory exceptions for boundary roads, pursuit, requested assistance, and agreed extensions of…
Could South Carolina’s Agriculture Commission collect peanut assessments under the state marketing order in 2006?
Yes. The Attorney General said the Agricultural Commodities Marketing Act and the peanut marketing order gave the Commission authority to collect peanut assessments. The opinion did not decide…
Did Walterboro and Colleton County officials violate South Carolina’s dual office rule by serving on the airport commission in 2006?
No. The Attorney General said the listed city and county officials served on the airport commission by virtue of their existing offices, or ex officio, so that service did not violate the…
Could Richland County pay magistrates with the same degree different salaries under its 1998 plan?
The Attorney General knew of no ban on different pay for magistrates with the same educational background if the county met the state minimum. It found the requester’s 55 percent rate consistent…
Did South Carolina’s 2006 sex offender acts apply to conduct before July 1, 2006?
The Attorney General concluded the acts were prospective. Their penalty increases could not apply to earlier conduct under the ex post facto rules, and their savings clauses preserved older law for…
Could a Tega Cay councilmember also serve on the Lake Wylie Marine Commission in 2006?
No. The Attorney General said both positions counted as public offices under South Carolina’s dual office holding rule because the marine commission exercised sovereign powers, including regulation…
Was South Carolina’s Commission for Minority Affairs a regulatory agency under the 2006 ethics conflict rule?
The Attorney General said no: its duties, including state recognition of Native American entities, did not regulate how a business operated. The specific regulatory-agency ban therefore did not bar…
Who could set a South Carolina magistrate court’s office hours under the 2006 chief judge order?
The Attorney General said the Chief Judge for Administrative Purposes had authority to designate each magistrate court office’s hours. Whether a particular McCormick County schedule matched the…
Could a South Carolina rural community water district add sewer service under its 2006 statutes?
The Attorney General said no. The chapter governing rural community water districts authorized waterworks but gave no express or implied sewer power, and the separate sewer provision for certain…
Did a nonprofit cemetery have to pay South Carolina perpetual care cemetery licensing fees in 2006?
The Attorney General said the Cemetery Act exempted nonprofit cemeteries, including its licensing fees. Federal tax-exempt status could help a court assess whether a cemetery qualified as nonprofit,…
Could Folly Beach amend a building height ordinance enacted by voter referendum in 2006?
The Attorney General believed it could. No constitutional or statutory provision identified in the opinion barred a council from amending a referendum-enacted ordinance, and the state Supreme Court…
Could a Guardian ad Litem program director review child abuse records held by a volunteer guardian in 2006?
The Attorney General believed the program and its director could access the records, despite their confidentiality, but found the question of mandatory disclosure to directors and supervisors…
Did an out-of-state company vehicle kept or used in South Carolina need state registration and property tax in 2006?
The Attorney General said registration and property tax were separate questions. A nonresident vehicle could require registration based on its use in South Carolina, while business property tax…
Could Chesterfield County’s sheriff contract to police towns and receive additional pay in 2006?
The Attorney General said a sheriff could contract to provide law enforcement services to municipalities within the county. The town’s payment would go to the county general fund, and county council…
Could South Carolina candidates jointly solicit campaign contributions in 2006?
The Attorney General said they could jointly fundraise if campaign contribution limits and disclosure rules were followed. It found no Ethics Act ban on continuing joint solicitation and said the…
Could Florence County use its road maintenance fee for bridges and drainage in 2006?
The Attorney General said the county had authority to charge a road maintenance fee and believed a court would likely uphold the ordinance’s use of money for roads, bridges, and related drainage.…
Could a governor-commissioned South Carolina DNR officer also serve on a school board in 2006?
Yes. The Attorney General treated the commissioned DNR enforcement officer as a constable, an express exception to the state constitution’s dual office holding prohibition, so the officer could also…
Who owed South Carolina personal property tax on equipment under a $1 purchase-option lease in 2006?
The Attorney General believed a court would likely treat the lessee, Patricia Holding, as the tax owner because it treated the equipment as owned and depreciated it. The lease’s separate clause…
Could a school board quorum agree on a budget by phone before its public meeting in 2006?
The Attorney General said that, if the reported facts were true, a quorum’s private phone discussions and prearranged budget decision likely violated South Carolina FOIA. The office could not…
What fee could a sheriff collect when a judgment creditor bought property with a credit bid in 2006?
The Attorney General said the sheriff could charge the judicial-sale service fee even though no money changed hands. The sheriff could not also charge the commission for money collected, because no…
Could South Carolina juvenile agencies delay a mandatory age-17 transfer or use suspended commitment orders in 2006?
The Attorney General said agencies could not delay a required transfer of an unreleased juvenile committed for the specified serious offenses beyond the seventeenth birthday. It separately said a…
Were vehicle underglow and briefly flashing brake lights allowed under South Carolina law in 2006?
The Attorney General knew of no specific ban on undercarriage neon lights if their installation and colors complied with the vehicle lighting rules. It said flashing lights, including the described…
Could a South Carolina DMV employee run for town council in 2006?
The Attorney General found no state statute barring a state employee from seeking elected office and said this DMV administrative employee’s council service would not violate dual office rules. The…
Could a South Carolina private security patrol car display blue lights in 2006?
The Attorney General said a security guard could display blue lights only under the SLED regulation’s conditions for security patrol cars, including the private-road requirements and concealing or…
Did South Carolina sheriffs have to follow the Chief Justice’s 2006 order on sex offender registration fee indigency?
Yes. The Attorney General said sheriffs had to comply with the Chief Justice’s order designating a sheriff or designee to make the ministerial indigency determination, despite an appropriations…
Could Optimist Club directors also serve a second charity and transfer club donations to it in 2006?
The Attorney General said serving on both boards was not automatically a conflict, but a transaction between the charities could be a conflict-of-interest transaction subject to statutory…
Could a South Carolina State Board of Education member also sit on a county council in 2006?
No. The Attorney General said both the state education board seat and Anderson County Council seat were public offices for the constitutional dual office holding rule, so the same person could not…
Could a Horry County higher education commissioner serve on Conway’s zoning appeals board in 2006?
No. The Attorney General said both positions were offices under the constitutional dual office prohibition. It also believed the zoning board statute separately barred the combination, assuming the…
Did District 56 have to educate children at Thornwell Home, and could a separate charter school form in 2006?
The Attorney General said the State Board of Education had to establish a school for a qualifying home on application, with the local district directing it and educating its children. The district…
Was the Stingrays’ paid Chuck-A-Puck million-dollar promotion likely an illegal lottery in 2006?
The Attorney General said it probably was. Fans would pay for a chance to win a prize, and the opinion judged chance to dominate the puck toss and final goal shot despite the participants’ skill.
Did an under-21 driver’s 2002 breath-test refusal cause an unlawful second suspension under South Carolina law?
The Attorney General found no second suspension in the record reviewed. The driver’s one-year suspension arose under the under-21 implied-consent provision, while the separate statute’s bar on…
Could a candidate defeated in a South Carolina primary still win a county council seat through write-in votes in 2006?
Yes, if otherwise qualified and receiving the most votes. The Attorney General said the defeated candidate could be elected by write-in votes, but could not appear on the general-election ballot or…
Could a South Carolina county and a city inside it hold separate alcohol-permit referendums at the same 2006 general election?
The Attorney General said both could call referendums and ask separate ballot questions. If only the county vote passed, temporary permits would be available only in unincorporated county areas; if…
Could a South Carolina veterinarian delegate administration of a rabies vaccine to an unlicensed person under the law considered in 2006?
The Attorney General concluded that only a licensed veterinarian could administer the rabies vaccination under the provision it considered. It deferred to the health department’s reasonable reading…
Could Charleston enact a loitering ordinance to address street-corner drug activity under the constitutional law considered in 2006?
The Attorney General said a ban on loitering alone likely would fail constitutional review. A narrower ordinance tied to harmful purpose and specific conduct might survive, but the office could not…
Could Bluffton police enforce traffic laws on U.S. 278 where the highway touched town boundaries in 2006?
The Attorney General read the boundary-road statute to require some portion of the highway itself to be within town limits before it extended jurisdiction to the adjoining right of way. On the…
Could a South Carolina Baptist education director also serve as a Rock Hill school trustee in 2006?
Yes. The Attorney General regarded the school trustee seat as an office, but the Baptist Congress director role as a private religious position that did not exercise state sovereign power, so…
Did South Carolina’s 2006 cable franchising law unlawfully take franchise authority from cities?
The Attorney General concluded that the Legislature could shift cable franchising to a state certificate and that the law appeared to preserve constitutionally required municipal consent for use of…
Could a Greenville Technical College vice president also serve in the South Carolina Senate in 2006?
The Attorney General believed the Senate would treat the vice presidency as employment rather than a second public office, allowing simultaneous service under the dual office rule. The Senate had…
Could a Fairfield County council member direct the recreation district, and when could council remove commissioners for cause?
The Attorney General said a court might find an employment conflict because council substantially funded and supervised the district, although that was uncertain. Removal required cause, notice, and…
Could a county grand jury request driving records for DUI defendants it had already indicted in 2006?
The Attorney General said a county grand jury ordinarily would not be authorized to seek those records simply to build pending cases after indictment. A legitimate inquiry into additional charges or…
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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.