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 county council give each member sole discretion to spend district funds?
The AG said that letting individual Florence County council members decide how appropriated district funds were spent was likely an unlawful delegation of legislative power. The road and…
Could a South Carolina officer charge misdemeanor domestic violence on a uniform traffic ticket after arriving just after the incident?
Yes, if the officer had probable cause that the misdemeanor was freshly committed. The AG said the ticket could serve as the charging document and give a magistrate or municipal court jurisdiction,…
Could a Fairfax town council member also sit on the Allendale County Development Board?
The AG said that combination did not violate South Carolina's dual-office rule. It treated town council as a public office but inferred that the county development board, like similar boards, was…
Could a Hartsville city council member also serve on the Darlington County Historical Commission?
No. The AG said both seats counted as public offices under South Carolina's dual-office rule. Accepting the historical commission seat would automatically vacate the earlier council office, although…
Could a South Carolina county cut the clerk of court salary just before appointing someone to finish the term?
No. The AG said a county council could not evade the ban on reducing a clerk's salary during the term by voting for the cut before appointing an interim clerk. The appointee inherited the unexpired…
Could one South Carolina lay guardian ad litem serve in both private custody cases and the state volunteer program?
The AG found no statute expressly forbidding the two roles. It left individual volunteer service to the Governor's program and appointments in private cases to family-court discretion, including any…
Did attorney review make a nonlawyer real estate document-preparation business lawful in South Carolina?
The AG did not decide the applicant's case because the work performed and the lawyers' review were unclear. It cited decisions holding some deed and closing work unauthorized even with attorney…
Could South Carolina's Governor place the volunteer guardian ad litem program under the Foster Care Review Board?
The AG said the Governor's office had administrative discretion to arrange the two programs because both were placed there by statute. The arrangement could not compromise either program's duties or…
Did supervision by South Carolina's Foster Care Review Board inherently compromise volunteer guardians ad litem?
The AG gave no absolute answer. It said each program had to keep its statutory functions and objectivity, and supervision could not impair guardians' duties; a court would resolve a specific conflict.
Could South Carolina suspend an educator's certificate for test-security misconduct without a criminal conviction?
Yes. The AG said the State Board's general power to discipline for just cause remained available for test-security breaches even without a conviction. The later test-security statute added a…
Did a South Carolina clerk charge a separate recording fee for a mortgage assignment filed with the same transaction's mortgage?
No. The AG said no additional assignment fee was due when the assignment was filed at the same time as the single mortgage for the same transaction, reaffirming a 1980 opinion despite the clerk…
Could a pardoned South Carolina bail bondsman with a felony conviction continue writing bonds?
The AG said a pardon was unlikely to leave a felony conviction as a bar to bail-bondsman work. Because the Department of Insurance had not revoked this person's license, the AG said he appeared able…
Did South Carolina's local hospitality tax apply to sliced ham, birthday cakes, and other individual grocery foods?
The AG said these items ordinarily were components of a meal, not taxable 'prepared meals' under the 2003 Local Hospitality Tax Act. Whether another item qualified depended on its facts, and the…
Could South Carolina police cite a careless-driving ordinance violation on a municipal ordinance summons?
No. The AG said a municipal ordinance regulating motor vehicles on public roads, including careless operation, had to be cited with a uniform traffic ticket rather than a municipal ordinance summons.
Could a South Carolina town ordinance require a municipal judge to impose a fixed fine?
No. The AG said a town ordinance could not fix a particular fine in a way that removed the municipal judge's sentencing discretion within the limits set by state law.
Could a South Carolina town clerk of court also work as utility clerk for another town?
Yes, on the described facts. The AG treated the Perry clerk of court as a public officer but the Wagener utility clerk as an employee, so holding both roles did not violate the constitutional…
Could a Clemson University police patrolman also serve on a South Carolina city council?
The AG said the described patrolman could serve on the Westminster city council without violating the dual-office rule because his police authority came solely from a constable commission, an…
Could a South Carolina county council cut the salary of an appointed clerk of court during the unexpired term?
The AG said no. It reaffirmed an earlier opinion that the clerk's salary could not be reduced during the existing term merely because a new person was appointed to fill the vacancy.
Did a Columbia city manager hold a second public office by supervising public safety departments?
The AG said no on the described arrangement. Police, fire, emergency services, and accreditation responsibilities were additional duties of the city manager position, not a separate public office.
Did Georgetown County lose its turn on South Carolina's State Board of Education when Horry County's member stayed longer?
No. The AG said unanimous consent extending Horry County's member only postponed the required county rotation; Georgetown County retained the next turn after that member's term ended.
Could a South Carolina special tax district give tax money to a members-only civic club or pay its legal bills?
The AG said district money could go to a private club or its projects only for a demonstrated public purpose. The club's litigation fees generally did not qualify unless they benefited the public,…
Could a South Carolina public university trustee also sit on a federal Small Business Administration advisory committee?
The AG said yes. A Medical University of South Carolina trustee held a state office, but the federal advisory-committee role was not a second state office for South Carolina's dual-office rule.
Could one person serve on South Carolina's Board of Law Examiners and a city housing authority board?
No. The AG said both positions were state or local public offices, so holding them together violated the dual-office rule. Taking the second office would automatically vacate the first, although the…
Did South Carolina's accommodations-tax restriction on paying old bonded debt cover Florence Civic Center certificates of participation?
The AG concluded that the restriction in Section 6-4-15 likely did not cover Florence's certificates of participation because their payments depended on annual appropriations and they were not…
Could a South Carolina county delinquent tax collector also serve on a school board?
The AG said no. Both the Barnwell County delinquent tax collector and a district school-board member held public offices; assuming the board seat would automatically vacate the collector's office.
Was breach of the peace still a South Carolina common-law offense that police could enforce in 2003?
Yes. The AG said the common-law offense remained despite a separate disorderly-conduct statute, and officers could enforce it. The opinion described limits on warrantless misdemeanor arrests and…
Did Beaufort need a new tourism-advisory review every year to reimburse a performing arts center project from accommodations tax?
The AG said one review of the entire five-year project satisfied the project-review requirement; a fresh recommendation was not needed before each annual payment. The restriction on retiring old…
Could a house owned by a South Carolina corporation or LLC receive the owner-occupied residential property-tax assessment?
The AG said no under the ownership rule it discussed. A shareholder or LLC member living in a company-owned house was not the owner of the real property for the legal-residence assessment.
Could a South Carolina school district exceed a local six-mill tax cap to meet the state's minimum education funding requirement?
The AG said a court would likely allow an increase beyond York County's local six-mill cap when needed to meet the statewide minimum local education effort. The cap otherwise remained in force…
Did South Carolina natural-resources officers with governor's commissions qualify for the constable exception to dual-office rules?
The AG said yes for Department of Natural Resources officers commissioned by the governor, including the regular and deputy officers described. The conclusion rested on the state supreme court's…
Could South Carolina school trustees keep serving after their terms expired while waiting for successors?
Yes. The AG said three John de la Howe School trustees could continue as de facto board members until successors were appointed and qualified, even though the statute had no express holdover clause.…
Did a South Carolina county council member lose her seat by moving outside her current district after redistricting?
The AG said yes on these facts. The member voluntarily moved from current District Three to District Four, so the redistricting protection did not preserve her seat. She could serve de facto until a…
Could children ride in a pickup truck bed under South Carolina's 2003 restraint and seatbelt laws?
The AG said children under six had to use a proper restraint in the truck's passenger compartment; the pickup-bed exceptions did not cover them. For ages six through fourteen, a listed pickup-bed…
Did federal permission to possess a machine gun also qualify someone for South Carolina's machine-gun registry or permit them to sell it?
The AG said no. In 2003, a federal-possession authorization could exempt a person from the state criminal possession ban but did not add that person to SLED's registry eligibility list. Selling a…
Which South Carolina procedure governed a broken-down vehicle tagged as abandoned by police?
The AG said the abandoned-vehicle tag and disposition procedure in Section 56-5-5850 controlled a vehicle left on a highway and tagged by police. The separate law-enforcement towing provision…
Could a South Carolina municipal clerk of court serve on a different city's council at the same time?
The AG said no. It treated both Mauldin's clerk-of-court role and a Simpsonville council seat as public offices, even though they were in different cities and the clerk described her duties as clerical.
Could a South Carolina town's police and court clerk also serve as its municipal judge?
The AG said the Fort Lawn arrangement created a conflict, or at least an appearance of one, because police-related clerical duties threatened the judge's neutrality. It also said a court would…
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 Aiken's city attorney also serve on the county commission for higher education?
The AG treated Aiken's city attorney as a public officer under that city's ordinance and the higher-education commissioner as another officer. Holding both roles would violate South Carolina's…
Could town police use radar from outside town limits to ticket speeding inside the town?
The AG said the Pinewood officer could not make the described stop from a radar position outside town limits without another grant of authority. A county deputy could do so because the deputy's…
Could South Carolina's Highway Patrol charge a special-event traffic-control fee after a fee proviso was vetoed?
The AG said no unilateral special-event fee was authorized after the proviso's veto, absent another enabling statute. It distinguished approved contracts between law-enforcement agencies for…
Could South Carolina cancel an uncontested municipal election when no write-in candidate declared in advance?
The AG said the 2002 amendment allowing that result was constitutionally suspect because it restricted the write-in vote. The office could not invalidate the statute itself, so it said the law had…
Does a reduction in the Education Finance Act's base student cost qualify as a hardship or emergency allowing a school district to raise millage by two additional mills without a referendum?
The AG said Act No. 581 did not define hardship or emergency. The county board of education must decide case by case whether the district's circumstances qualify; the opinion did not decide whether…
May a person subdivide and plat beach property seaward of the baseline or setback line toward the Atlantic Ocean's mean high-water mark?
The AG found no statute specifically answering the subdivision question. It noted strict coastal-use limits and DHEC's regulatory authority, and advised would-be subdividers to consult DHEC about…
Could South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism grant $180,000 in appropriated funds to the National Heritage Corridor to help secure a Charleston discovery center?
On the stated facts, the AG said the proposed grant was constitutionally valid: promoting tourism was a public purpose, spending already appropriated money did not pledge state credit, and the…
Could a sheriff or county charge jail inmates booking or clothing fees by policy or local ordinance?
The AG found no general authority for a sheriff to impose those fees and considered county fees beyond those authorized by state law very questionable. It said only a court could invalidate an…
Would a pure skill tournament with an entry fee and a fixed prize funded independently of entry fees violate South Carolina gambling law?
Assuming the organizer did not compete and the prize neither came from nor varied with entry fees or entrant numbers, the AG said a court would likely find the contest lawful, particularly under the…
May one person serve as both a municipal judge and a magistrate in a different jurisdiction?
Generally the AG said those are two public offices and simultaneous service violates the dual-office rule. A magistrate may preside over another municipal court in the same county solely under the…
Would Columbia’s combined Interim City Manager and Director of Public Safety position violate South Carolina’s dual-office rule?
No. Based on the supplied job description, the AG viewed public-safety and police duties as added responsibilities of one interim city-manager position, not a second office.
Could the City of Pickens contract its statutory victim services to the county behavioral health service?
The AG identified no provision allowing that contract. It said the cited victim-notice and protection duties were assigned to law enforcement agencies.
May Camden offer municipal employees a voluntary deferred-compensation plan separate from the state plan?
Yes, the AG said § 8-23-70 allows municipalities and other political subdivisions to participate in independent deferred-compensation plans, subject to statutory requirements. The city attorney…
When can an anonymous crime tip justify a police stop or search?
The AG said an anonymous tip must show reliability about alleged criminal activity, such as corroborated predictive information, to support reasonable suspicion. A description that merely identifies…
Would alleged misstatements about a 2002 school bond referendum likely invalidate the referendum or bonds, or stop repayment and related taxes?
The AG said invalidation or an injunction against issuance, repayment, or taxation was highly unlikely on the described facts. A court’s likely remedy, if warranted, would restrict use of bond…
How long may a governor-appointed circuit solicitor serve after a vacancy?
The AG said the Governor fills the vacancy with Senate advice and consent, but the appointee serves only until the next general election. It identified November 2004 as the next general election for…
Could SLED find North Carolina concealed-weapon permit standards equal to or greater than South Carolina’s for reciprocity?
The AG said equal did not mean identical and concluded SLED had a substantial basis to find the North Carolina standards substantially similar. The final reciprocity determination belonged to SLED,…
Would a council member’s assault conviction or earlier indictment require suspension or forfeiture of office?
The AG said assault of a high and aggravated nature could be a crime of moral turpitude depending on facts it could not resolve. An indictment for assault with intent to kill supported gubernatorial…
May a register of deeds refuse to record a “Copyright Notice and Self-Executing Agreement”?
The AG said the document did not appear to be a type ordinarily recorded and might be sham legal process. The register could refuse it on a reasonable belief that it was false, fraudulent, or sham,…
Must an agency funded only partly by a county obtain an independent annual audit?
No. The AG said every agency receiving county funds must provide a detailed annual fiscal report, while the mandatory independent annual audit applies to agencies funded wholly by the county. A…
Could Sullivan’s Island require owners of state-registered golf carts to get a town identification decal?
The AG construed the statutory ban on municipal or county license plates as barring a separate local licensing requirement for a golf cart already registered with the State, even if the town called…
Could a Medical University of South Carolina trustee also serve on the Florence Housing Authority?
No. The AG considered both roles public offices and said simultaneous service would violate South Carolina’s dual-office rule. Accepting the housing authority position would automatically vacate the…
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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.