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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Which South Carolina court could try driving-under-suspension cases after the 2000 amendment?
The 2000 AG read the amendment to place those cases in magistrate or municipal court, rather than general sessions. It also said cases tried within magistrate jurisdiction did not require a…
Could a South Carolina city charge a landlord to remove a tenant’s belongings after an eviction?
The 2000 AG thought a proposed charge would probably undermine, and perhaps contradict, the state rule requiring local officials to remove property from a public street. It acknowledged the statute…
Could a South Carolina election commissioner run for county council while keeping the commission seat?
The 2000 AG said the commissioner had to resign on filing as a candidate because state law barred commission members from participating in a political campaign. It also said holding the election…
Could a South Carolina blind-services commissioner also lead a local private advocacy chapter?
The 2000 AG said holding both positions did not violate the state dual-office rule: the local nonprofit presidency was not a state office. It deferred a separate conflict-of-interest question to the…
Could a judgment creditor seize South Carolina county vehicles or equipment used for public purposes?
The 2000 AG read the county-property exemption to cover both real estate and personal property actually used as public property. On that reading, vehicles and equipment meeting that condition could…
Could South Carolina car dealers send sales staff to an auto show where vehicle sales were forbidden?
The 2000 AG said yes if the staff only supplied information and made no offer, attempt or solicitation to sell a vehicle. The activity mattered more than the employees’ job titles.
Could Anderson County’s legislative delegation require a countywide school-tax increase?
The 2000 AG predicted a court would probably find that the delegation could not constitutionally raise local school-tax millage. The letter did not decide whether statutes otherwise granted the…
Could one person be Johnsonville’s city administrator, associate judge and school board trustee?
The 2000 AG thought the city administrator role was probably not a public office for the dual-office rule. It said the associate municipal judge and school board trustee roles were both offices and…
Did an older South Carolina transit authority have to follow new board-appointment rules?
The 2000 AG said the Pee Dee authority had to follow § 58-25-40 as earlier appointees’ terms expired, despite its choice to operate under pre-1985 law. Because it received state funds, the…
Were Lake Wateree’s motorboat noise rules too vague to enforce without a decibel limit?
The 2000 AG said the equipment-based boat rules and related penalties were specific enough to withstand a vagueness challenge. It noted that only a court could make a final constitutional ruling.
Could South Carolina candidates return an unneeded caucus donation without making a new contribution?
The 2000 AG said returning the full, lawfully received amount to the legislative caucus committee was not a new campaign contribution on the stated facts. The candidates did not earmark the money…
Could a South Carolina sheriff charge a school district for drug-sniffing dog services?
The 2000 AG said a sheriff with the resources to provide the service had to do so without a fee because no statute authorized charging for it. It treated the proposed contract-bidding question as…
Could a South Carolina town annex land across a county line?
The 2000 AG said earlier office opinions still viewed cross-county annexation as extremely doubtful because they found no authorizing statute and cited the state constitution. It did not rule on a…
Did a South Carolina pardon prevent social services from considering the conduct behind a crime?
The 2000 AG said its prior view remained that a pardon ended further punishment but did not erase the underlying acts. It read a recent DUI sentencing decision narrowly and did not treat it as…
Could a Charleston County planning commissioner also sit on South Carolina’s coastal appeals panel?
The 2000 AG said no. It treated both the county planning commission seat and the Coastal Zone Appellate Panel seat as public offices, making simultaneous service contrary to the state dual-office rule.
Could a company redeem out-of-state gambling prizes for cash inside South Carolina?
The 2000 AG said the described arrangement would be prosecutable: machines used across the border would produce cash payoffs in South Carolina. Separate companies handling play and payout did not…
When could a South Carolina sheriff remove a manufactured-home tenant, and what happened to the home?
The 2000 AG said the sheriff could remove the tenant after a valid ejectment writ and required notice, using the least destructive entry possible, but could not remove the tenant’s belongings from…
Could South Carolina’s governor remove Clearwater water district commissioners for neglecting duties?
The 2000 AG said the governor then lacked statutory authority to remove those district commissioners for failure to perform their duties. It reasoned that the general removal law covered state and…
Could police arrest a store employee without a warrant for theft observed weeks earlier by store staff?
The 2000 AG said the responding officer could not initiate a warrantless arrest for a theft neither seen by the officer nor freshly committed. A store agent’s delayed detention would likely be an…
Could Norway, South Carolina, provide police protection outside its town limits?
The 2000 AG said state law allowed municipal police to serve town-owned or controlled property wherever located and permitted contracts for protection beyond town limits with specified entities. For…
Could a Mount Pleasant police officer serve at the same time on Berkeley County Council?
The 2000 AG said no. Both positions were public offices under South Carolina's dual-office rule; taking the county council seat automatically vacated the earlier police office, though the officer…
How could Aiken enforce unpaid parking tickets under South Carolina law in 2000?
The 2000 AG said Aiken could use an ordinance summons if it had adopted that procedure. Failure to appear without posting bond could then support misdemeanor penalties and arrest; the city could…
Who appointed a public housing resident to a municipal housing authority board in South Carolina in 2000?
The 2000 AG said the mayor alone appointed the directly assisted resident commissioner unless the authority's rules called for an election by assisted residents. A mayoral appointee served at the…
Could Dorchester school board candidates file after a new deadline was precleared a day late in 2000?
The 2000 AG did not resolve which filing deadline governed. The letter favored allowing candidacy where qualifications were doubtful but recognized authority for retroactive preclearance of the new…
Could South Carolina indigent defense pay older appellate conflict bills from a later appropriation?
The 2000 AG said Proviso 35.3 did not authorize payment for appeals heard before its passage. The proviso lacked express retroactive language or sufficiently clear legislative intent; the letter…
Did a seat on the Orangeburg-Calhoun law enforcement commission count as a public office?
The 2000 AG said yes for South Carolina's dual-office rule. The commission board's continuing powers over detention facilities, property, regulations, spending, and staff exercised part of the…
Could a 2000 South Carolina primary candidate challenge the party pledge before running as an independent?
The 2000 AG said the South Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the notice and pledge requirements of Section 7-11-210 against constitutional challenges, and the office could not declare the statute…
Could Charleston County council review taxpayer records in a business license appeal and disclose them publicly?
The 2000 AG said council members could review taxpayer information for a business license appeal. The letter also said the public record could be redacted before inspection or copying to protect…
Could a banned South Carolina video gambling machine become legal by being converted to another use in 2000?
The 2000 AG said no. Under the cited state Supreme Court rulings, video gambling machines became contraband on July 1 regardless of use or operability; converting one to an arcade or internet use…
Could someone on a county First Steps board also take another local board appointment in 2000?
The 2000 AG said a First Steps partnership board seat did not itself count as a public office because the board was a private nonprofit. Its members could hold another appointment unless that…
Could South Carolina's Commission for Minority Affairs meet less than once a month in 2000?
The 2000 AG said no under the statute then in force: the commission had to meet at least once each month. The letter suggested exploring telephonic meetings, which it said FOIA permitted, as a way…
Could a city require permits and license fees from contractors on an approved school expansion project in 2000?
The 2000 AG agreed that a city inspector could not impose local building-standard permit or license requirements if the school project had State Department of Education review and approval. The…
Could one person serve on Berkeley County's zoning appeals board and Hanahan's election commission in 2000?
The 2000 AG said no: both seats were public offices under South Carolina's dual-office prohibition. Taking the second office automatically vacated the first, although the person could act in the…
Would a random cash prize for people who voted count as an illegal lottery in South Carolina in 2000?
The 2000 AG declined to give a confident yes or no. Earlier lottery analysis looked for a prize, consideration, and chance, but a recent state Supreme Court ruling had narrowed the constitutional…
Could Bonneau's mayor also sit on Berkeley County's advisory rural fire control board in 2000?
The 2000 AG said yes. The mayoralty was a public office, but the county fire board's coordinating role was largely advisory and did not make its members officeholders for the dual-office rule.
Was Beaufort's city attorney holding two offices by also prosecuting municipal cases in 2000?
The 2000 AG said no. State law let city council define the municipal attorney's duties, and prosecution of city ordinance violations could be one of them. In the described arrangement, council had…
Could South Carolina's Ports Authority keep part of a private cargo terminal's profits on leased naval base property?
The 2000 AG said the redevelopment statute probably did not forbid the proposed arrangement. It deferred to the Ports Authority's and Redevelopment Authority's reasonable reading that the law…
Could Richland County require every dog or cat to be sterilized before returning it to its owner in 2000?
The 2000 AG said the statute did not bar a county from adopting sterilization procedures generally, but it exempted a privately owned animal when its owner claimed or proved ownership. The county…
Could Westminster's police chief also serve as city administrator under South Carolina's dual-office rule?
The 2000 AG said the arrangement did not appear to violate the rule. A police chief held a public office, but under Westminster's council form of government the administrator most probably did not,…
Did McBee's 1972 council vote legally annex the Horton-Norwood tract?
The 2000 AG did not decide whether the tract was inside McBee. The answer depended on unresolved facts about the required owner petition, council ordinance, and the town's treatment of the area; the…
Did South Carolina's 2000 video gambling ban cover disabled machines and their component parts?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that the ban made video gambling machines contraband even when unplugged, disabled, or stripped of parts. Criminal possession depended on the facts, including who…
Did service on Beaufort County's old election boards count toward the new board's term limit?
No. The Attorney General's informal opinion concluded that service on the two abolished boards did not count toward the consecutive-term limit for the new Beaufort County Board of Elections and…
Did membership on South Carolina's Minority Affairs Commission count as holding a public office under the dual-office rule?
The Attorney General concluded that a commission member did not hold a public office for South Carolina's dual-office restriction. The commission's duties were chiefly advisory and did not exercise…
Could the South Carolina State Museum provide free office space to its nonprofit foundation?
The assistant attorney general concluded that rent-free space would appear permissible if the proposed appropriation proviso passed. That would supply statutory authority, and the foundation's…
What happened if a South Carolina political party missed the deadline to file candidates' statements for the ballot?
The party had to meet the filing deadline. The Attorney General found the consequence for a candidate who had personally filed on time uncertain under conflicting language in the statute and a…
Could a South Carolina student keep a LIFE scholarship while on first-offense drug conditional-discharge probation?
Yes, under the circumstances described. The assistant deputy attorney general concluded that a student remained eligible during conditional-discharge probation because the court had not entered a…
Could a South Carolina school board appoint more than thirteen members to its health education advisory committee?
The assistant deputy attorney general referred to an earlier opinion concluding that the local committee should have no more than thirteen members. He did not categorically invalidate votes…
Could a South Carolina clerk waive the arrest-record destruction filing fee because a person was indigent?
The assistant deputy attorney general found no indigence waiver for the filing fee in the provision or any other applicable statute he located. He noted that the provision did contain exceptions for…
Could South Carolina public libraries use Internet filters to block pornography from children?
The Attorney General concluded in 2000 that public libraries could use Internet filters to protect minors from harmful material. He also said libraries were not required to provide computers or…
Could South Carolina's fisheries division director serve on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission?
The assistant attorney general found no statutory or case-law prohibition on the proposed appointment. He also thought the division directorship was not a public office for dual-office purposes, but…
Could South Carolina bar public bodies from giving records to private firms for commercial solicitation?
The deputy attorney general concluded that the proposed bill limited access to government information without abridging free speech, and was entitled to a presumption of constitutionality. He did…
Could a South Carolina code enforcement officer detain a driver with an outstanding warrant until police arrived?
The opinion said a code enforcement officer had no statutory authority to detain a suspect beyond a citation while waiting for police. A felony warrant might support a citizen's arrest, but the…
Could a South Carolina prosecutor mail a jury-selection questionnaire directly to prospective jurors?
The assistant deputy attorney general advised against a prosecutor's direct pretrial mailing to prospective jurors. He favored questionnaires sent under court auspices, with both sides aware and…
Could South Carolina set different probate-judge qualifications based on county population?
The assistant attorney general thought a court would likely uphold the proposed population-based qualifications if their justifications resembled those accepted in prior cases. He also said the…
Did a South Carolina political party have to open every precinct for its 2000 presidential preference primary?
No, according to the February 2000 AG opinion. It read South Carolina law to leave party-financed presidential preference primaries to party rules, so the party could choose its polling places and…
Did three convictions at one South Carolina municipal-court appearance count as one first offense for expungement?
The assistant deputy attorney general concluded that multiple convictions from one court appearance were separate offenses, so the first-offense expungement provision did not apply. He emphasized…
When did South Carolina's vehicle proof-of-insurance requirement apply to a newly purchased car?
The assistant deputy attorney general repeated an earlier opinion that the cited insurance charge attached only after the vehicle's registration and licensing application was approved. He said an…
Which magistrate-court tasks could a South Carolina county contract to a private company?
The assistant deputy attorney general concluded that a private company could help monitor compliance and perform administrative tasks under court supervision. Judges had to retain sentencing…
Did South Carolina require fingerprints when a juvenile was charged only with carrying a gun onto school property?
Yes. The assistant deputy attorney general concluded that a juvenile taken into custody and charged with carrying a firearm onto school property had to be fingerprinted. He read the carrying itself…
Could a South Carolina municipal election commissioner join a campaign, display a bumper sticker, or sign a ballot petition?
The assistant attorney general read the statute as barring a commissioner from campaigning even in a presidential race. Ordinary party activity was not necessarily barred, a campaign bumper sticker…
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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.