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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When does attendance by other council members turn a South Carolina committee meeting into a full council meeting?
The 2002 AG said participation by noncommittee members in committee deliberations clearly made it a council meeting. Even silent attendance by enough members for a council quorum created a…
Could a Lexington County council member also serve on a joint water and sewer commission or work as a city utilities director?
The 2002 AG treated city utilities director as employment, which did not create a dual-office violation. Commission membership and county council membership were both public offices, however;…
Could a Greenwood sewer district referendum elect only three of its six board members under the 2002 South Carolina law?
The 2002 AG said the proposed ballot question did not comply with the law because it covered only the three governor-appointed seats, rather than the entire six-member governing body. The AG also…
Could Beaufort County Council hire its own attorney or internal auditor without involving the county administrator?
The 2002 AG said the administrator had to be involved in hiring an attorney or auditor even if the person was called an independent contractor. Council could set the role’s functions, but could not…
When would an unopposed candidate elected to fill a South Carolina clerk of court vacancy take office?
The 2002 informal AG opinion said the candidate still had to win the general election, where write-in votes were possible. Assuming the election filled only the unexpired term, the winner could take…
Could Inman-Campobello Water District voters petition for elected commissioners in 2002?
The 2002 AG said yes, assuming the district had no written contract to provide service outside South Carolina. Qualified district voters could petition for a referendum, with the petition presented…
Who would fill a Summerville school board vacancy when the 2002 candidate petition deadline had already passed?
The 2002 informal AG opinion favored keeping the legislative delegation’s appointee through the rest of the term, ending in 2004, because a vacancy election in 2002 could not meet the act’s earlier…
Could one person serve on both Beaufort County’s transportation committee and South Carolina’s technical education board?
The 2002 informal AG opinion said no. It classified both positions as public offices exercising sovereign power, so holding them together would violate South Carolina’s constitutional dual-office rule.
Why did the South Carolina AG rescind its earlier approval of the Chess Challenge video machine?
After agents seized and examined a Chess Challenge machine distributed for play, the 2002 AG found that chance, not player skill, determined its outcome. The office rescinded its April opinion and…
What guidance did the 2002 South Carolina AG give on storage fees for an impounded vehicle?
The AG said it knew of no state statute directly answering the request. It pointed to other towing and storage provisions using actual-cost and reasonableness standards, and said a local ordinance…
Could a South Carolina municipal court clerk also serve as a crime victim advocate, with the clerk’s office in a police building?
The 2002 AG saw no dual-office violation in the Westminster arrangement but advised against one person doing both jobs because it created at least an appearance of conflict. It knew of no…
Could South Carolina coroners use autopsy photos or videos in law-enforcement training under the 2002 confidentiality law?
The 2002 AG said the statute did not bar that narrow use when the training served law-enforcement purposes and the deceased person’s identity was in no way revealed or suggested. It did not approve…
Which general election would carry a Summerville referendum on Sunday alcohol permits under the 2002 law?
The 2002 AG said the referendum belonged at the next available state, county, or municipal general election in which Summerville’s registered voters could participate. It did not have to wait…
Did a South Carolina day care center inside a city still have to meet State Fire Marshal standards for its state license?
The 2002 AG said yes. Although a city ordinance could displace conflicting Fire Marshal regulations in a general building-code dispute, statewide day care licensing rules adopted the Fire Marshal’s…
Could officers arrest someone attending a South Carolina court, and did the type of court matter?
The 2002 AG read the court-attendance protection as applying to any court, including travel to and from court, but recognized statutory exceptions for treason, a felony, or breach of the peace. It…
Could a South Carolina county charge one $10 fee to file a tax lien and another $10 to satisfy it under the 2002 statute?
The 2002 AG said no. It read the statute as authorizing one $10 fee covering filing, enrolling, and satisfying the described tax lien or warrant, because the text did not clearly authorize separate…
When could a South Carolina municipal judge impose a restraining order in a criminal case?
The 2002 AG said a municipal court had no civil jurisdiction to issue a free-standing restraining order. It could place reasonable restraints on a criminal defendant as a bond condition or a…
Could a South Carolina public service district deduct voluntary association dues from its employees’ paychecks?
The 2002 AG said the St. Andrews Public Service District lacked statutory authority for those deductions, even when employees requested them. The provisions discussed in the letter concerned state…
Could a South Carolina health service district give money to a state candidate or political action committee?
The 2002 AG concluded that a health service district could not make such contributions, including from donated money or a separate political fund. It treated money received by the district as public…
Did a South Carolina safety checkpoint need written rules, traffic data, and advance publicity to be constitutional?
The 2002 AG said those particular features of Michigan’s checkpoint plan were not each mandatory under Sitz. It said a checkpoint needed an administrative plan with explicit, neutral limits on…
Did a South Carolina legislator have to pay for school district records requested for legislative duties?
The 2002 AG said no for the request before it. A legislator’s request for records from a school district in the legislator’s district related to legislative duties, so the public body should provide…
Could a South Carolina fire district put flashing blue lights on its fire vehicles?
The 2002 AG said no for the Cherokee Springs Fire District’s fire units. It read the then-current vehicle statute as requiring flashing red lights for emergency vehicles and reserving blue lights…
Did Horry County’s six-year planning commission service limit apply to members already serving in 2002?
The 2002 AG said yes. It read the county ordinance as counting prior service when deciding whether a current member of a reorganized board could be reappointed, and rejected the argument that this…
Did a South Carolina surveying or engineering firm need its own certificate of authorization?
The 2002 AG agreed with the licensing agency’s counsel that engineers or land surveyors practicing through a firm needed a valid certificate of authorization for that firm under the cited provisions.
Did retaining a retired South Carolina officer’s commission preserve the officer’s power to enforce the law?
The 2002 AG said no. It distinguished a commission kept in retired status from the certification required to enforce state law; retirement ended employment and thus the officer’s active certification.
Would federal marine mammal law preempt South Carolina’s 2002 ban on catching or feeding dolphins?
The 2002 AG said a reviewing court would most likely find the state provision preempted. Federal law barred state enforcement of laws concerning marine mammal takings absent transferred authority,…
Could South Carolina’s tourism review committee examine both advertising and tourism project spending from accommodations tax funds?
The 2002 AG said yes. It read the reporting and oversight provisions as covering the 30% advertising and promotion fund and the 65% tourism-related expenditure fund, though it suggested legislative…
Could a South Carolina county auditor or mayor also serve on a capital projects sales tax commission?
The 2002 AG said no. It treated commission membership as a public office because the commission shaped the tax referendum and capital project choices; serving at the same time as county auditor or…
Could Pendleton police serve a high school outside town limits and exercise full police powers there?
The 2002 AG said a proper agreement could extend municipal police authority to the school. It identified a town-county agreement for nearby unincorporated territory and a possible contract with the…
Did South Carolina’s Education Oversight Committee have to consent before the State Board adopted new standards?
The 2002 AG said prior consent was not required. It read the statutory “advice and consent” process as allowing the State Board to adopt standards and assessments before the committee acted,…
Could a person seek expungement of a first conviction after a later conviction that occurred beyond the three-year waiting period?
The 2002 AG said the later conviction did not erase eligibility to apply under the statute it reviewed. The circuit court still had discretion to deny expungement and could consider that later conviction.
Who controls fire equipment owned by a South Carolina county but used by a fire district?
The 2002 AG said ownership alone did not decide control. If a legislative act created the fire district and gave its board equipment powers, the board likely controlled the equipment; if the county…
Does South Carolina's domestic violence 'must arrest' law leave officers any discretion?
Yes, in assessing the facts and probable cause. The 2002 AG said officers retained broad discretion in that judgment, while the statute mandated arrest when probable cause of a covered offense and…
When could a South Carolina county change a magistrate's work location during the magistrate's term?
The 2002 AG quoted a statute allowing a county governing body to change a magistrate's work location at least four years after the most recent appointment when a material change in conditions…
Can a South Carolina municipal court hear a telephone offense after the original arrest warrant was dismissed?
The 2002 AG said a new municipal arrest warrant was unnecessary when a grand jury had directly indicted the telephone offense. Because the offense was outside magistrate court's exclusive…
Can South Carolina's police academy consider conduct behind a pardoned conviction when assessing an applicant?
Yes. The 2002 AG said a pardon removed the conviction's legal consequences, but academy officials could consider the conduct behind it when deciding whether an applicant met the separate…
Could South Carolina agencies release a veteran's DD Form 214 under the state's public records law?
The 2002 AG concluded that federal rules made DD Form 214 confidential without the service member's written consent, so state agencies could withhold it under South Carolina FOIA. The letter added…
Could one person serve on a South Carolina architectural review board, technical college board and county library board?
The 2002 AG said the architectural review board and technical college trusteeship were both public offices, so one person could not hold both under South Carolina's dual-office rule. County library…
Did South Carolina law require deer to roam free instead of being held behind high fences?
The 2002 AG said wild deer generally belonged to the state, but the fencing answer came from a specific 2000 law. It barred new fences over six feet built expressly to corral wild game for hunting,…
Could a South Carolina legislative delegation advertise for public-service district board candidates beyond the district board's nominees?
Yes. The 2002 AG said the Anderson County legislative delegation could solicit additional candidates through its proposed newspaper and application process, but it still had to consider the…
Could a South Carolina court order restitution to a sheriff's pawn-shop reimbursement fund?
Yes. The 2002 AG said the sheriff's office appeared to be a third-party payee when its program reimbursed pawn shops after stolen property was seized, allowing the court to direct restitution to…
Must a South Carolina school board member resign before running for county council?
No. The 2002 AG found no general or identified Colleton County rule requiring a school trustee to resign merely to run for county council. Holding both offices was a separate matter: if elected,…
Could one person serve on both a local tourism advisory committee and South Carolina's tourism spending review committee?
Yes under the dual-office rule examined in 2002: the local advisory seat was not an office, while the state review seat was. The AG declined to decide whether serving on both created an ethics…
Could South Carolina's Geodetic Survey provide survey-control services also offered by private firms?
The 2002 AG found no South Carolina constitutional or statutory bar to a state agency offering survey-control services also provided by private firms. He said whether the Geodetic Survey should do…
Was South Carolina's new probate-judge qualification enforceable without federal voting-rights preclearance?
The 2002 AG said the 1989 amendment to probate-judge qualifications required federal preclearance, which the requester said had not been obtained. He said the U.S. Supreme Court's rule that an…
Could a South Carolina nonprofit pay lawyers to represent domestic and sexual assault survivors without unlawfully practicing law?
Yes on the arrangement described, if the lawyers retained autonomy and proper attorney-client relationships. The 2002 AG said the victim-services nonprofit would not violate the corporate-practice…
Who had ultimate control of South Carolina's Area Health Education Consortium programs and state funds in 2002?
The 2002 AG said the Medical University of South Carolina's trustees had ultimate authority over AHEC programs and responsibility for ensuring state appropriations were spent for their designated…
Was Mount Pleasant's senior planner a public officer under South Carolina's dual-office rule?
Under the job duties supplied in 2002, the AG considered Mount Pleasant's senior planner an employee, not a public officer. He cautioned that the position could become an office if the planner…
Can South Carolina legislative auditors attend a state agency board’s executive session?
The AG could not conclude with certainty that the 2002 audit-access statute required an agency to admit Legislative Audit Council staff to an executive session. He strongly encouraged agencies to…
Was the Chess Challenge video game machine illegal gambling in South Carolina?
The inspected Chess Challenge prototype appeared not to violate South Carolina’s prohibited-machine statute and so would not be subject to seizure on the facts supplied. The AG warned that minor…
Did a pardon end sex offender registration and remove the person from South Carolina’s registry?
The AG predicted that a South Carolina court would most likely relieve a pardoned offender from continued sex-offender registration. He separately concluded that a pardon would not require removal…
Did a South Carolina care-facility floor restriction violate fair housing laws for disabled residents?
The AG predicted a reviewing court would most likely uphold the rule keeping residents who need help to exit on the floor of exit discharge. He reasoned that the rule addressed actual evacuation…
Was South Carolina’s nonprofit religious-bookstore sales tax exemption unconstitutional?
The AG predicted that a court would uphold the 2002 sales-tax exemption for qualifying nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit sellers of religious materials, against the stated…
Did a South Carolina clerk of court control the whole courthouse or only circuit court rooms?
The AG read the clerk-of-court statute as giving the clerk charge of the entire courthouse building, not just circuit-court rooms. He said that authority could not conflict with other statutes,…
Which court heard offenses in South Carolina’s three-mile municipal police service area?
The AG said authority to provide police protection outside municipal limits did not extend the municipal court’s territory. For offenses in the three-mile area outside Fort Lawn, he concluded the…
Could Mount Pleasant’s planning director also serve on the Awendaw Town Council?
The AG said the Mount Pleasant planning director most likely held a public office because the ordinance gave the position zoning-enforcement authority. Since a town-council member also held an…
May descendants visit and care for family graves on private land in South Carolina?
The AG said descendants had a qualified right, like an easement, to visit and maintain family graves on private land at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner. His answer assumed the cemetery…
Could South Carolina elected officials gamble or play a lottery outside the state?
The AG said the South Carolina Constitution’s gambling prohibition for holders of an office of honor, trust or profit applied to officials who played a lottery or gambled outside the state. He…
Could a South Carolina fire authority demand a medical transport helicopter during an emergency?
The AG could not decide which agency controlled a medical transport helicopter without the specific emergency and officials involved. He said the fire-authority statute did not settle how…
Could a South Carolina board member disclose what was discussed in executive session?
The AG reaffirmed earlier office advice that South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act imposed no mandatory bar on a board member disclosing a vote or reasons for it from executive session. He…
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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.