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 the South Carolina Veterans Trust Board award trust money directly to individual veterans?
Under the statute reviewed in 2004, no. The AG read the trust fund law as authorizing support for veterans’ programs and organizations, not direct grants to individual veterans; it said carefully…
Did a Newberry school board member lose the seat after a temporary court order forced a move outside the district?
The AG said board members had to maintain district residence throughout their terms, but it could not decide whether this member had lost legal residence. A temporary move did not settle the issue;…
Could a county supervisor lose office for misdemeanor misconduct, or return after acquittal?
The AG said a conviction for the misconduct alleged in the hypothetical could make the office vacant despite the misdemeanor label. Acquittal on all charges would automatically end the Governor’s…
Could a law firm mail an announcement to doctors at business addresses listed by South Carolina’s medical board?
The AG said the privacy law reviewed in 2004 did not bar mailings to business addresses in the medical board directory, but it did bar using home addresses for commercial solicitation. It declined…
Could Abbeville County officials keep county funds outside the treasurer’s control or vote on them in closed session?
The AG said separate council-controlled accounts and disbursements could unlawfully diminish the treasurer’s statutory duties without specific authority. Council could delegate administrative work,…
Could a South Carolina subdivision covenant restrict where a homeowner put a satellite dish?
The AG said a subdivision covenant restricting satellite-dish placement could be enforceable in some circumstances. It had not examined a particular covenant, so it did not decide whether any…
Could a disabled driver with a placard park in a designated space at the University of South Carolina?
The AG said a vehicle displaying the required disability plate or placard could use a designated accessible space if the driver was disabled or transporting a disabled person. The placard alone did…
Could a Beaufort County deputy sheriff also serve on the Sheldon Township Fire District Commission?
The AG concluded the two posts would likely violate South Carolina’s dual office holding rule. Assuming both were covered offices, taking the second would automatically vacate the first, though the…
Did an off-duty South Carolina police officer need a uniform or marked car to answer a neighboring jurisdiction’s distress call?
For a regular law enforcement officer responding under the statute discussed, the AG found no statewide rule requiring a uniform or marked vehicle. It distinguished other categories of officers for…
Whom did a South Carolina animal shelter have to notify when a dog’s microchip named both the shelter and an adopter?
The AG said both the shelter identified on the chip and the adopted owner identified by available information should be notified. It also pointed to a misdemeanor provision for killing an…
Could a South Carolina high school soccer coach force players to quit club soccer during the school season?
The AG said no under the 2004 dual-participation statute, if club play did not interfere with scheduled school games or practices and the statutory permission statement was on file. The statute…
Could the South Carolina Conservation Bank begin receiving deed-fee transfers before a later budget-cut trigger stopped them?
The AG agreed that transfers were to begin July 1, 2004. It read the law’s ban on “further” transfers during specified budget cuts as applying only after transfers had first begun, so the trigger…
Could a Beaufort County recycling board member also become a Lady’s Island-St. Helena fire commissioner?
The AG said the fire commission was a public office, but the county recycling board was advisory and not an office for the constitutional dual-office rule, so concurrent service was allowed under…
Could a South Carolina county council control or audit a circuit solicitor’s pretrial intervention program and its fees?
The AG said county council had no authority over the circuit solicitor’s state-law pretrial intervention program. It understood program fees to be held for the solicitor’s program, with no county…
Would changing Charleston County’s constituent school boards reopen desegregation litigation after the district was declared unitary?
The AG said the legislature could change the governance law and future challengers would still need to prove discriminatory intent. It warned that a substantial change could remove the district’s…
Could Morgan Stanley sell public bonds if one of its advisers became a South Carolina House member?
The AG found no absolute state-ethics ban on the firm continuing its public-bond and advisory business if the adviser was elected. The adviser would have to follow conflict, recusal,…
Were Newberry County’s 2002 tax sales void because levy notices set an early payment deadline?
The AG predicted that a court would apply Hawkins retroactively and treat the deficient notices as making those sales void from the start. It advised voiding the sales before titles passed,…
When did South Carolina law require police to transport a hospital patient for emergency mental-health commitment?
The AG said a facially valid emergency certificate generally required law-enforcement transport, subject to statutory alternatives. The three-day custody limit could not be ignored because a bed was…
Did South Carolina’s clergy-penitent privilege cover ministers and rabbis as well as priests in child-abuse reports?
The AG said the privilege generally extended beyond Catholic priests to qualifying clergy, including ministers and rabbis. Under the 2004 reporting law, clergy still had to report child abuse except…
Could a South Carolina reserve police officer also work full time as a licensed hospital security guard?
The AG said simultaneous service as a reserve police officer and a licensed private security guard violated the state constitutional dual-office prohibition as it understood the two roles in 2004.…
Could the Spartanburg Humane Society require owners to pay for microchipping when redeeming their dogs?
The AG said the statute reviewed in 2004 allowed the Humane Society to require a microchip for a redeemed dog at the owner’s expense. It reconciled an apparent conflict between provisions by giving…
Did South Carolina homeowners need historic-preservation certification before starting renovation work to claim the state tax credit?
The AG said certification by the State Historic Preservation Officer had to precede the work eligible for the 2004 residential rehabilitation credit. Work already begun had to stop while review and…
Could the Colleton County coroner also serve as the county EMS director?
The AG saw no absolute dual-office bar because prior opinions treated the EMS director as an employee rather than a covered office, assuming similar duties here. It warned that investigating a death…
Could the press obtain police disciplinary records and the disciplined officers’ names under South Carolina FOIA?
The AG said a court would generally find police disciplinary records, including the officers’ names, open to disclosure rather than covered by a blanket privacy exemption. Particular details still…
Could an off-duty Barnwell police officer answer a distress call in the county or from central dispatch?
The AG said the city officer could respond to a qualifying distress call in adjacent Barnwell County, including a call routed through central dispatch, and an off-duty officer was not excluded. It…
Did a South Carolina bail bondsman need a court hearing to get off a bond after surrendering a defendant?
The AG said the surety had to file a motion and the court had to schedule a hearing before relief from the bond. In the specified urgent circumstances, the surety could first take the defendant to…
Could a retired officer qualify to run for South Carolina sheriff, and could a process-serving constable use a blue light?
The AG said a retired former certified officer could meet the sheriff experience requirement if otherwise qualified; service certified only in another state did not meet it. It also repeated a prior…
Could South Carolina pharmacists perform cholesterol tests under the law reviewed in 2004?
The Attorney General doubted that state pharmacy law then authorized pharmacists to administer cholesterol tests and thought a court would more likely treat the testing as the practice of medicine.…
Could a South Carolina Transport Police officer teach a technical college driving course under contract in 2004?
Yes, as to the constitutional dual office holding rule reviewed by the AG. The teaching contract was not a second public office; the opinion separately told the officer to check Department of Public…
Could a Charleston County parks commissioner also direct the county elections board in 2004?
The AG said the two roles did not create a dual office holding problem unless the elections director was deputized to take voter applications and issue registration certificates. It saw no conflict…
Could a nonprofit run a paid poker tournament with prizes in South Carolina in 2004?
The AG concluded that the proposed tournament would violate South Carolina gambling law. It viewed poker as most likely a game of chance and said nonprofit sponsorship and a full payout to players…
Did an earlier conviction or a later traffic offense block expungement under South Carolina’s 2004 rules?
The AG said an earlier general sessions conviction did not by itself bar expunging a later first magistrate-court conviction if the required conviction-free period followed. A prior motor-vehicle…
Did South Carolina’s 2004 accident statute require a driver to report damage to property beside a highway?
The AG said the cited statute applied if the damaged item was a fixture legally on or adjacent to the highway. Whether a garden, porch, or swing qualified depended on its attachment to the land and…
Could the Abbeville legislative delegation choose members of the Donalds-Due West Water Authority board in 2004?
The AG did not say the delegation already had that power. It said there were good arguments that the authority was a multi-county body and that the General Assembly could amend its enabling law to…
Could Laurens County limit planning commission seats by residence and require a vote before later zoning action?
The AG thought the county could set the proposed residence qualifications for planning commissioners. It concluded that the ordinance could not bind a future county council to hold an advisory…
Could South Carolina DNR use the Water Recreational Resources Fund to buy watercraft in 2004?
No. The AG concluded that the fund could be used to acquire, create, or improve qualifying public waters, but the statute did not authorize buying watercraft. County delegations could recommend…
Could a South Carolina county withhold a tax receipt after taxes were paid but demolition costs remained unpaid?
The AG expressed substantial doubt that a treasurer could withhold a receipt once the taxes were paid, because a demolition charge was a lien collectible like taxes but was not itself a tax. The…
Could Bluffton submit the same annexation petition again after a council motion died for lack of a second?
Yes. The AG said the petition could be presented a second time because the first motion died for lack of a second. The statute did not expressly address resubmission, and the opinion relied on…
Did a South Carolina concurrent resolution itself grant state recognition to Indian tribes named in it?
No. The AG said the resolution asked the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to recognize the named tribes and organizations, but it did not have the force of law or grant state recognition. Proposed…
Could public workers and materials build a fence between private parcels to stop vehicle intrusion?
The AG advised against using public resources for the described fence and said the project would likely violate the public-purpose rule. The fence primarily protected private land, with only an…
Did a South Carolina Migratory Waterfowl Committee appointment count as a public office after the committee joined DNR?
Yes, for an appointed member. The AG said the committee's transfer into DNR did not change that status for the constitutional dual-office rule; it distinguished members serving ex officio.
Were lay pastors, deacons and elders automatically clergy under South Carolina's child abuse reporting law?
Generally no, the AG said, but a person's denomination and actual religious role could make the answer different in a particular case. The opinion also said a person outside the mandatory clergy…
When did South Carolina's procurement code apply to a school district's construction project in 2004?
The AG's short letter gave a threshold, not a direct ruling on the proposed design-bid-build project: the code applied to districts with annual expenditures of $75 million including debt service,…
Could a South Carolina county jail refuse a prisoner sent by a municipal court because the city and county disputed jail costs?
No. The AG said county jail officials could not refuse a prisoner committed by a municipal court order unless that order was changed or superseded. City and county should resolve who pays for…
Could a South Carolina officer use a uniform traffic ticket for an offense that was not a traffic violation?
Yes, in the circumstances the AG described. The 2004 opinion said the ticket could be used for an offense committed in the officer's presence when its punishment fell within magistrate or municipal…
What could a South Carolina municipal court do when someone failed pretrial intervention and could not be reached?
The AG said the solicitor could resume the pending prosecution after a program violation. For an unreachable defendant, the court should ask the solicitor how to proceed; the opinion described a…
Could a South Carolina clerk's office process server put a flashing blue light on his vehicle?
No, on the duties described. The AG said the vehicle had to be used primarily for law enforcement, meaning a majority of the time; serving court papers with only occasional arrests did not meet that…
Was Aiken’s city attorney a public officer who could also serve on the county higher education commission?
The AG concluded in the linked 2003 opinion that Aiken’s city attorney was a public officer under the city ordinance. Because the higher education commission seat was also treated as a public…
Could a South Carolina coroner keep a state constable commission without violating dual office holding rules in 1990?
The 1990 Attorney General opinion said a state constable position was no longer considered a second office under South Carolina's amended dual office holding provisions. It separately noted that the…
Did South Carolina's 1989 lottery ban cover a paid courier buying tickets in another state for a local customer?
The Attorney General read South Carolina's 1989 lottery prohibitions as covering a paid courier arrangement in which a customer ordered an out-of-state ticket and received it back in South Carolina.…
Could a 1974 special law shorten Summerville public works commissioners’ terms?
In 1981, the Attorney General agreed that a town specific law setting four year terms for Summerville public works commissioners was unconstitutional special legislation in light of the later state…
Should an alcoholic beverage commission chairman recuse when his son represents a party?
The 1980 South Carolina AG opinion advised the commission chairman to follow judicial disqualification guidance when his son appeared as counsel before the commission. It said the remaining…
How did South Carolina’s 1979 homestead exemption treat residency, incapacity, and out of state disability findings?
The 1979 AG said the one year residency condition had to be met by the prior December 31, a person who lacked mental capacity could not voluntarily change legal residence, and a disability finding…
Did South Carolina’s 1975 Ethics Act bar public colleges from giving legislators football season tickets?
The Attorney General declined to decide whether the particular ticket offers violated the 1975 Ethics Act, calling it a factual question for the State Ethics Commission. It said the circumstances…
Could a South Carolina county reassess one quarter of its property each year for property tax?
The 1974 Attorney General opinion said reassessing one quarter of Greenwood County annually was not automatically unconstitutional if values were equalized countywide. A property owner would need to…
Did South Carolina submit constitutional amendment ratification to its governor for a veto?
In 1973, the AG answered no to whether state legislative ratification of a U.S. constitutional amendment went to the governor for approval or veto. The letter also described South Carolina’s…
Could South Carolina’s utility commission jointly adopt a North Carolina carbon plan and charge South Carolina customers for it?
The Attorney General doubted the commission had statutory authority for the proposed joint proceeding or to impose North Carolina plan costs on South Carolina ratepayers. It identified…
Who should present a juvenile probation violation in South Carolina family court: the solicitor or juvenile justice department?
For the criminal-contempt Rule to Show Cause procedure described, the Attorney General predicted the circuit solicitor was the proper party, because state law vested family-court prosecution duties…
Did South Carolina’s Right to Try Act require hospitals to allow a doctor’s off-label COVID-19 prescription?
The Attorney General predicted the Right to Try Act likely did not apply to the described off-label use. It emphasized physicians’ prescribing discretion and said hospitals generally should respect…
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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.