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 Hemingway extend town water lines into a Williamsburg County service area without county approval in 1998?
If the area was a designated county water and sewer service area, the 1998 AG said Hemingway could not serve it without county approval. The AG declined to decide whether Williamsburg County's…
Would electricity market reciprocity rules in South Carolina's 1998 power bill violate the Commerce Clause?
The 1998 AG did not give a categorical answer. It said H.3414's out-of-state supplier restriction faced a serious Commerce Clause challenge but was constitutionally defensible; a more evenhanded…
Could South Carolina lawmakers bar modular homes from local single-family zones despite home rule in 1998?
Yes, as to the home-rule question. The 1998 AG said proposed H.4756 was a statewide general law, so home rule did not limit the legislature's authority to bar modular units from locally zoned…
Could South Carolina call a teacher credential a license instead of a certificate in 1998?
Yes, in the 1998 AG's view, the terms could be used interchangeably for teacher credentials if the legislature changed the relevant statutes consistently. The letter cautioned against changing only…
Did South Carolina's 1998 proposal to cap homeowner assessment growth raise constitutional problems?
Yes. The 1998 AG said proposed H.4695 could be challenged because its cap on owner-occupied home value increases might conflict with the constitution's equal-and-uniform assessment and actual-value…
Did a South Carolina grocery loyalty-card discount reduce the taxable sale price in 1998?
Yes, if the retailer was not reimbursed by someone else for the discount. The 1998 AG agreed that sales tax on a true grocery bonus-card discount was calculated on the reduced price; a…
Could a South Carolina police department recover the cost of optional instructor training when an officer changed agencies in 1998?
Probably not under the statute discussed. The 1998 AG said § 23-6-405 covered mandatory law enforcement training, while Santee's two-week instructor course was voluntary training to teach other…
Could a South Carolina city council member also work as a juvenile justice Community Specialist IV in 1998?
No, on the duties described in the request. The 1998 AG said both a city council seat and a Department of Juvenile Justice Community Specialist IV position were public offices, so holding them…
Could a Summerville council member also sit on the Dorchester County Transportation Committee in 1998?
Most likely not. The 1998 AG said a town council seat was a public office and that a county transportation committee seat appeared to be one too. Serving in both positions most likely violated South…
Could Travelers Rest's city administrator fire the police or fire chief under the town's 1998 code?
No. The 1998 AG said Travelers Rest's municipal code expressly excluded the police and fire chiefs from the department heads its administrator could suspend or dismiss. Under the town's council form…
How did the 1998 South Carolina AG say Duncan Chapel Fire District should fill a board vacancy?
The 1998 AG said the vacant elected seat should be filled by election for the rest of the term. Because the district's founding acts gave no vacancy procedure, it applied the general…
Could a South Carolina prosecutor check prospective jurors' criminal histories in 1998?
The 1998 AG saw no prohibition on a solicitor or city prosecutor running criminal record checks on prospective jurors. The letter relied on decisions from other states and a SLED regulation on…
Could South Carolina's treasurer print his own name but omit the comptroller general's name on state checks in 1998?
Yes. The 1998 AG said the State Treasurer had discretion over the check form and could print his own name while identifying the Comptroller General by title. The statute required the check to…
After South Carolina changed its transfer-fee law in 1997, did Hilton Head still owe the state its collected fees?
The 1998 AG said the 1997 amendments removed the prior requirement to remit real estate transfer fees to the State Treasurer and the related state-aid deduction option. For qualifying fees collected…
Was South Carolina still required to reimburse a dissolved town for lost inventory tax revenue in 1998?
No. The 1998 AG said the Town of City View no longer existed and therefore had no municipal inventory-tax revenue loss to reimburse under § 12-37-450. The AG declined to answer the hypothetical…
Could South Carolina colleges waive nonresident tuition for any scholarship recipient?
The AG recommended using the higher education commission’s guideline that required an academic scholarship of at least $250 per semester to qualify as scholarship aid. He read the statute as leaving…
Could Barnwell require city employees to resign if they ran for public office?
The AG thought Barnwell’s ordinance would most likely survive a constitutional challenge if it served the important government interests discussed in the cited cases. He did not give an…
Could Bamberg collect unsafe-house repair or demolition costs like delinquent city taxes?
Yes, in the AG’s view. The costs described in the quoted provision became a lien on the property and were collectible in the same manner as municipal taxes, including delinquent property taxes, if…
Who paid for legal representation of McCormick County’s election board?
The AG viewed the election and registration board as a county office, so the county was responsible for its legal representation. The county attorney could provide it if authorized; otherwise the…
Could police help a creditor repossess a car without a court order?
The AG recommended that officers generally stand by to keep the peace during private repossessions and intervene if trouble arose. He said creditors in consumer transactions could repossess without…
Could South Carolina deny in-state tuition to a resident’s dependent child because of visa status?
The AG thought the commission’s then-current regulation conflicted with the state tuition statute to the extent it denied rates to eligible residents’ nonpermanent-resident dependents. He said a new…
Could a school bond ballot refer voters to a separate project handout?
The AG said a handout or posting could not cure a defective ballot question. He declined to decide whether Charleston County’s proposed wording was legally sufficient and recommended a declaratory…
Could Saluda County allow a religious ceremony on its courthouse square?
Yes, on the facts presented. The AG thought the square was a traditional or designated public forum used by many groups and that allowing a private religious ceremony on equal terms would not…
Could Marlboro County zone hog farms or junkyards without a comprehensive plan?
The AG said a county planning commission created under the 1994 Planning Act had to develop a comprehensive plan. He read adoption of at least its land-use element as a prerequisite to county…
Did Coastal Carolina University have to collect Horry County’s hospitality fee?
The AG said the fee was paid by consumers and collected by providers. Coastal Carolina had to collect it on athletic admissions, but not qualifying performances by artists; food sales required a…
Could a retired South Carolina judge who practiced law serve as a special referee?
The AG said the judicial-retirement restriction on a retired judge serving as a judge did not appear to bar appointment as a special referee. He treated a special referee as outside that chapter’s…
Were industry training records public after a company chose to locate in South Carolina?
Generally yes, in the AG’s view, especially for records showing public spending. The business-attraction exemption had to be shown document by document and line by line; it did not shield every…
Could a county tax assessor force entry into a new commercial building for appraisal?
No. The AG said the assessor statute did not authorize requiring or forcing entry to appraise property or find untaxed property. The opinion left room for consent or a judicial order when entry was…
Would changing Chester County’s government cut short an elected supervisor’s term?
The AG said no. If voters approved a form of government without a supervisor, the supervisor elected at the same general election would still serve the four-year term; the law did not allow a…
Did a 1996 ruling change when South Carolina House candidates had to live in their districts?
The AG agreed that the 1996 order displaced the 1982 ruling to the extent the older case required district residence before a person offered as a candidate. He said the constitution required…
Could South Carolina require direct mailers to honor a household’s stop-mailing request?
The AG predicted a court would likely uphold a proposed bill requiring mailers to explain how recipients could stop mailings and then honor their requests. He saw no apparent discrimination against…
Could Saluda’s election commission change a hiring vote by calling absent members later?
No, on the facts described. The AG said the properly held 3–2 commission vote remained binding until lawfully rescinded; adding two votes by telephone outside the meeting did not create an official…
Could Riverside High School bar the Bible Club while other student clubs met?
The AG said no. Where the school allowed noncurricular clubs to meet during noninstructional time, the federal Equal Access Act and free exercise principles required comparable access for the…
Could Charleston parks commissioners join the employee group insurance plan if they paid the full premium?
The Assistant AG predicted that a court would treat access to the cheaper group plan as compensation barred by the commission’s enabling act, even if commissioners paid its full cost. He said the…
Could South Carolina legalize video-poker cash payouts through a referendum authorized only by statute?
The AG said no, under his office’s view that the payouts were a lottery barred by the state constitution. He said a legally binding vote on allowing them would have to be part of the constitutional…
Did South Carolina sales tax apply both when someone leased a car and when they later bought it?
Yes, the AG said the lease and later purchase were separate taxable transactions, even when the buyer was the former lessee. He also rejected the claim that taxing both was impermissible double…
When did municipal police have jurisdiction over a public road in the Richland-Lexington Airport District?
The Assistant Deputy AG predicted that courts would read “public road” broadly, focusing on public access, for the amendment extending municipal police jurisdiction to district roads contiguous to…
Could South Carolina’s governor declare a county council seat vacant after a conviction for willful tax noncompliance?
In a 1998 informal opinion, the Deputy AG concluded that a conviction under the cited willful-tax-violation provision appeared to involve moral turpitude and authorized the governor to declare the…
Could The Citadel ban smoking and smokeless tobacco inside its buildings?
The Assistant AG said The Citadel’s Board of Visitors had authority to adopt both smoke-free building rules and a similar policy for smokeless tobacco, at its discretion. He also said the 1990 Clean…
Could a Greenville animal-control officer issue an ordinance summons for a violation the officer did not see?
The Assistant Deputy AG said an ordinance summons under § 56-7-80 could be used even when the officer did not witness the violation, because it was not a custodial arrest. He left the question of…
Were South Carolina chambers of commerce exempt from property tax on every property they owned?
The Assistant Deputy AG gave no blanket exemption ruling. He said the exemption depended on how each property was primarily used and on the statutory no-private-benefit condition; the Department of…
Could a part-time South Carolina magistrate also serve on the Pee Dee Tourism Commission?
The Assistant AG said most probably yes: he viewed commission membership as probably not a public office for the constitutional dual-office rule, and found no supervisory relationship between the…
Could a ten-year-old make a valid contract without a parent’s approval in South Carolina?
The Assistant AG said a minor could generally make a valid contract without parental approval, but it was voidable at the minor’s choice before ratification. After reaching majority, written…
Did the South Carolina AG view indecent exposure as a crime of moral turpitude?
Yes. In a 1998 informal opinion, the Assistant Deputy AG predicted that South Carolina courts would classify indecent exposure as a crime of moral turpitude because he read the state offense as…
Did Colleton County School District need county council consent before calling a school bond referendum?
The Assistant Deputy AG said the School Bond Act allowed the district to call a qualifying general-obligation bond election without county council input; the council’s separate school-tax power…
Could Greenville County Council return control of the county jail to the sheriff by ordinance?
The Assistant Deputy AG did not give a definitive yes or no. He said a later state supreme court decision cast considerable doubt on a 1980 AG opinion against transfer, making council authority…
Could Florence police enforce a careless-driving ordinance after a crash in a private parking lot?
The Assistant Deputy AG said yes for the ordinance described, because it did not require the conduct to occur on a public highway. He distinguished the posting requirement for extending jurisdiction…
Could Florence police enforce traffic laws on a road segment outside city limits but between two parts of the city?
The Assistant Deputy AG predicted a good likelihood that a court would extend the boundary-road jurisdiction statute to that situation, while noting no decision had applied it to those exact facts.…
Could a neighboring town police Highway 302 where the road bordered its limits, though Cayce had annexed it?
The Assistant AG said yes on the described boundaries: Section 5-7-155 gave the neighboring town jurisdiction over a highway bordering its corporate limits regardless of which town contained the…
What training did a former officer need to become a Hampton County reserve officer after three years away?
The Assistant Deputy AG reported that the Criminal Justice Academy regarded the statutory sixty-hour reserve course as necessary for someone away from law enforcement for more than three years. He…
Could Kershaw County enforce an ordinance against keeping a cougar as a pet?
The Assistant Deputy AG said no state statute specifically forbade possession of a wild animal at that time and pointed to a state supreme court decision upholding a similar municipal wild-animal…
Could a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club meet during a public school activity period?
The Assistant Deputy AG said the federal Equal Access Act could require access if the period was noninstructional time and the school allowed noncurriculum student clubs to meet then. He declined to…
Could one South Carolina candidate win nominations from two parties using conventions?
The Deputy AG said the 1998 statutes did not absolutely prohibit a candidate from seeking two convention nominations, but both parties would have to agree and a loss in either convention could…
Could a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club meet during a public school activity period?
The January 1998 AG gave a conditional answer. The federal Equal Access Act could require access if the period was noninstructional and the school allowed other noncurriculum student groups to meet.
Did the South Carolina AG consider reciprocal commercial-fishing license fees for nonresidents constitutional?
The Assistant Deputy AG viewed § 50-17-250 as constitutionally suspect under the federal Privileges and Immunities Clause, but emphasized that only a court could invalidate it. He advised continuing…
Was a Budget and Control Board sewer-system report exempt from South Carolina FOIA as attorney work product?
The Assistant AG predicted a court would most likely treat Report #2 as exempt attorney work product. He relied on information that a judge had already quashed subpoenas for that report and related…
Could Greenville County’s code enforcement administrator also sit on its redevelopment authority board?
The Assistant AG concluded that the administrator post was a public office and that a redevelopment authority director likely held another, so simultaneous service would violate the state…
How did the South Carolina AG address school-bond election protests, joint party notices, and shared candidates?
The Deputy AG said school-bond election results were challenged by timely court proceeding under the cited statute; joint party notices were not absolutely barred but could confuse voters; and…
How did the South Carolina AG suggest disposing of cash found during a murder investigation when no owner claimed it?
The Assistant Deputy AG tentatively favored the law-enforcement property statute, § 27-21-20, over the general unclaimed-property act, assuming no forfeiture law applied and no heirs came forward.…
Could a county or city require historic rehabilitation to begin after its local ordinance to qualify for a special tax assessment?
The Assistant AG predicted that a court would invalidate a local ordinance substituting a later start date for the state statute’s January 1, 1987 eligibility date. The letter addressed that…
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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.