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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Did Marlboro County’s auditor have to resign before running for county treasurer in 1996?
The 1996 AG said state law did not require the auditor to resign merely to run for treasurer. The dual office holding issue would arise only if she won and tried to hold both offices; the opinion…
Did Newberry County’s voter-adopted Revenue Ordinance prevent a proposed industrial fee-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement?
On the materials presented, the 1996 AG agreed with the county attorney that Newberry County’s Revenue Ordinance was aimed at new or increased county taxes, not industrial growth. The AG deferred to…
Did Lexington School District Four’s fiscal autonomy remove the county-board consent requirement for selling school property?
The 1996 AG said the school district still appeared subject to the statute requiring county education board consent before a school property sale or lease. Its separate authority over tax levies did…
Could a South Carolina political subdivision use an insurance company’s deferred compensation plan under the 1996 statute?
The 1996 AG did not give every insurer blanket approval. He said an insurance company offering the plan would at least need to qualify as a supervised trust institution and keep deferred amounts in…
Did South Carolina’s 1996 false-information statute cover a driver who gave police a false name during an investigation of the driver?
The 1996 AG said the cited statute did not appear to cover a driver’s false statement of their own identity when officers were investigating that same person. Its text addressed false information…
Could a South Carolina police department prohibit officers from taking off-duty jobs at businesses that sell alcohol?
The 1996 AG said courts had generally upheld rules barring officers from off-duty work in establishments licensed to sell alcohol. He pointed to a South Carolina decision sustaining a similar…
Could an Edgefield County employee serve on the same county’s council while keeping the county job?
The 1996 AG said the office’s longstanding view was that a county council member could not simultaneously work for that county because the person would be both supervisor and employee. A county…
Could a South Carolina sheriff post current warrant and eviction records online without invading privacy?
The 1996 AG said accurate, nonmisleading reporting of current or recent public warrants and eviction court records would not, on the facts presented, amount to invasion of privacy or defamation. His…
Could a South Carolina school use a drug dog to check student lockers or students without a warrant in 1996?
The 1996 AG viewed a reliable dog sniff of lockers as permissible and said an alert could support a locker search, with discovered drugs usable in school or criminal proceedings. He thought…
Could an Alaska court require a South Carolina robbery victim to travel back to testify despite hardship?
The 1996 AG said an Alaska request would not by itself compel the South Carolina witness to travel. Under the interstate witness act, a South Carolina court would hold a hearing on materiality and…
Could a first-district South Carolina transportation commissioner serve a consecutive term or remain after the term expired?
The 1996 AG said a commissioner who served the initial two-year term could not immediately take the next four-year term because representation had to rotate to another county. He also read the…
Could a South Carolina transportation commissioner serve consecutive terms, including after an initial two-year term?
The 1996 AG reaffirmed that a DOT commissioner could not immediately succeed themselves. County representation had to rotate, although the same person could serve again after another county’s term;…
Could a Christian student club meet during a South Carolina high school activity period?
The 1996 AG said the answer depended on the school’s facts: whether the period was noninstructional time and whether other noncurriculum student groups could meet then. The opinion did not decide…
Did South Carolina coroners qualify for the law enforcement subsistence allowance in 1996?
The 1996 AG concluded that a court would likely find coroners and deputy coroners outside the allowance in Section 23-1-40 because they were not law enforcement officers for that statute, despite…
Could South Carolina prosecute distribution of sexually explicit material to minors under its harmful-material law?
The 1996 AG considered Section 16-15-385 a constitutional means to prohibit distribution of material harmful to minors. The submitted publications might qualify, but prosecution depended on the…
Would South Carolina judicial conduct rules prevail over a statute assigning judges to government committees?
In 1996, the AG informally concluded that judicial conduct canons would take precedence if they conflicted with a statute requiring judges on outside government committees. The AG declined to judge…
Did the Town of Reidville’s South Carolina charter still exist after decades without active town government?
Assuming the facts supplied were correct, the 1996 AG thought Reidville’s charter continued because later statutes made municipal charters perpetual and no qualifying forfeiture or cancellation…
Were South Carolina game-law conspiracy cases tried in magistrate court or general sessions court in 1996?
The 1996 AG concluded that the specific Title 50 conspiracy penalty controlled over the general conspiracy statute, making those cases General Sessions matters. Continuing to bring them in…
Did a South Carolina trust company operating in January 1972 need later approval under the trust-business law?
The 1996 AG said an entity actually conducting trust business on January 1, 1972 qualified for the statutory exception without any minimum transaction volume. The Board of Bank Control, not the AG,…
Could South Carolina police decline to seize a repeat DUI or suspended-license offender’s vehicle because forfeiture costs were high?
The 1996 AG said officers had no discretion to skip a vehicle seizure once Section 56-5-6240’s conditions were met, even if liens and costs exceeded the vehicle’s value. Lienholders and other…
Could South Carolina water recreation tax money pay to plan and develop a riverfront project?
The 1996 AG said the funds could pay for planning and development only to the extent a project directly supported physical improvement of a natural water resource or associated wetland. The AG could…
Who counted as the host local government for a regional South Carolina landfill, and who could serve on its citizens committee?
The 1996 AG read the host local government as the subdivision furnishing the regional landfill facilities. Up to ten committee members could be chosen, with at least 80 percent registered voters or…
Did an out-of-county property bail bond need a second clerk’s approval in South Carolina?
The 1996 AG found no statutory requirement for the clerk in the county where the bond was pending to countersign after the clerk where the real property was located valued it. The latter clerk had…
Was South Carolina’s mail voter-registration deadline 30 or 45 days before a 1996 special election?
In 1996, the AG concluded that the National Voter Registration Act displaced South Carolina’s 45-day mail-registration rule, allowing registration up to 30 days before an election. The conclusion…
Did employees of a South Carolina city housing authority qualify for state military leave in 1996?
The 1996 AG concluded that a city housing authority counted as a political subdivision for Section 25-1-2250, so its officers and employees came within that military-leave provision.
Was a South Carolina loan production office automatically a bank branch under the 1996 banking law?
The 1996 AG withdrew an older view that loan production offices inherently were branches. Later statutes and decisions showed that a typical office soliciting loans while decisions were made…
Did South Carolina’s 1995 job development fees serve a public purpose and count as public funds?
The 1996 AG concluded that the Enterprise Zone Act’s job development fees served a valid economic-development public purpose. Qualifying employers’ retained withholding was treated as a tax credit,…
Who had to serve South Carolina magistrate restraining orders for stalking or harassment in 1996?
The 1996 AG concluded that a county sheriff had to serve a magistrate’s stalking or harassment restraining order when the court placed it in the sheriff’s hands. The court remained responsible for…
Could South Carolina local police enforce the criminal retail-license law even though it named the tax agency?
The 1996 AG said local law enforcement could enforce the criminal offense for operating as a retailer without the required license. The statutes did not reserve criminal enforcement exclusively to…
Could a South Carolina coroner disclose a deceased person’s HIV or hepatitis B test results to an exposed rescuer?
The 1996 AG found no absolute statutory bar and thought a coroner probably could notify an exposed caregiver of test results. It stressed uncertainty, the interests of the deceased and family, and…
Were volunteer South Carolina state constables covered by public liability insurance and workers’ compensation in 1996?
The 1996 AG said a constable employed by a public agency could receive coverage through that employer, but being commissioned alone did not make all volunteer constables eligible as a group. Group…
Did South Carolina’s 1995 failure-to-stop expungement law cover older convictions?
The 1996 AG said the new expungement remedy generally did not apply to crimes committed before the amendment took effect on June 12, 1995, absent a court ruling otherwise. For qualifying first…
Could Citadel alumni living outside South Carolina vote on appointments to its Board of Visitors?
The 1996 AG found no constitutional requirement limiting the Association of Citadel Men’s appointment process to South Carolina residents. The statute delegated selection of three board members to…
Did South Carolina police have to transport people certified for emergency mental health admission and could they bill the state?
The 1996 AG said an officer had a mandatory duty to transport a patient when a facially valid emergency certificate or court order was placed in the officer’s hands. It found no authority for a…
Could South Carolina’s economic-development council reject a tourism infrastructure grant application?
The 1996 AG said the council had broad discretion to approve or deny applications from the special tourism infrastructure fund, using guidelines consistent with the statute and the fund’s purpose.…
Did selling scratch-and-win cards become a lottery even when free entries were offered?
The 1996 AG predicted that the described scratch-and-win promotion was a lottery, despite a “no purchase required” option, because buyers paid for a chance and free entrants still supplied a benefit…
Could South Carolina’s Hunley Commission sponsor a fundraising dinner for recovery and display of the submarine?
The 1996 AG said the commission could sponsor the described dinner, with private proceeds donated through Charleston to help raise, conserve, and display the Hunley. The opinion flagged public-fund…
Could a South Carolina traffic court reduce points for a lesser charge but keep the higher charge’s fine?
The 1996 AG said a court accepting a plea to a lesser traffic offense had to use the fine authorized for that lesser offense. It could not retain the higher charge’s monetary penalty simply to raise…
Could a national bank serving a South Carolina military base open banking facilities off the base?
The 1996 AG recognized federal authority for a bank facility on the military installation but said substantial banking facilities beyond the base would face South Carolina branch-banking restrictions.
Could a South Carolina mayor or council member take leave from a volunteer fire department to avoid an office conflict?
The 1996 AG said no. Its earlier opinions had found simultaneous service prohibited for the town officials at issue, and a leave of absence did not sever the continuing fire-department relationship.
Where could a driver carry an opened liquor container in a South Carolina pickup truck or station wagon?
The 1996 AG read “cargo area” as the vehicle space intended for carrying goods, such as a pickup bed or the area behind a station wagon’s last seat. It said the glove compartment and small storage…
Could a South Carolina violent-crime victim obtain a juvenile offender’s photograph from the juvenile justice department?
The 1996 AG concluded that a photograph counted as “basic descriptive information” that the Department of Juvenile Justice had to provide on request to the victim of a violent crime committed by the…
When did South Carolina corrections take custody of a prisoner sentenced to more than three months, and who paid for a transfer delay?
The 1996 AG said state custody began on sentencing for a term over three months. Corrections could schedule pickup with reasonable promptness after court notice but could not refuse a duly sentenced…
Could a South Carolina savings association convert directly into a state-chartered bank?
The 1995 AG said the banking board might approve a direct conversion if it found the public interest and the association met ordinary bank-charter requirements, despite the board’s historically…
Could a South Carolina council-manager town choose someone other than the mayor to chair meetings, and could its mayor serve as a volunteer firefighter?
The 1995 AG said the council could choose its presiding officer under its meeting rules. It also said the town’s volunteer firefighters were municipal employees for the cited conflict statutes, so…
Could a South Carolina council-manager town’s mayor or council member also serve as a volunteer firefighter?
The 1995 AG said the town’s volunteer firefighters were municipal employees, and the cited statutes prohibited a mayor or council member from holding that employment during an elected term. The…
Could South Carolina deputies change the hospital named for an emergency mental-health transport?
The 1995 AG said the certifying physician chose the receiving facility after the required consultation. Once that facility appeared on a valid certificate, law enforcement had to transport the…
Could South Carolina apply a two-year parole review interval to violent offenders convicted before the 1986 change?
The 1995 AG said later federal decisions supplied a credible argument for applying the two-year interval to older convictions, but the courts had not resolved South Carolina’s particular statute. It…
Could a nonlawyer charge garages to obtain car titles or enforce repair liens on their behalf in South Carolina?
The 1995 AG found no statute categorically barring an agent from assisting a garage owner, but said some proposed services might be unauthorized practice of law. Only the South Carolina Supreme…
Could South Carolina use a later restitution collection procedure for an earlier criminal restitution order?
The assistant deputy attorney general thought it could. Applying the later collection provisions to an existing restitution order would change the method of enforcement without increasing the…
Could a South Carolina hospital waive a patient copayment while billing the insurer?
The 1995 opinion said a waiver could be lawful if fully disclosed to the insurer and the bill accurately reflected the provider’s charge. Concealing the waiver while billing the insurer as though…
Could South Carolina take every resident of an unlicensed care facility into protective custody?
No. The 1995 opinion said a missing or revoked facility license did not automatically authorize protective custody. Authorities had to consider each resident’s vulnerability and evidence of abuse,…
Could someone serve on both the Charleston County Library Board and South Carolina State Board of Education?
The 1995 opinion said no. A Charleston County Library Board seat was a public office for dual office holding purposes, and holding it while serving on the State Board of Education would violate the…
Could South Carolina require a sonogram at ten weeks and allow complaints about abortion clinics to be reported to DHEC?
In 1995, an assistant deputy attorney general said there were plausible constitutional arguments for both proposed rules under the court decisions then controlling. He expressly could not predict…
Could South Carolina officers enter a home to execute a probate detention order for a dangerous person with mental illness?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that officers generally could use necessary, reasonable force to enter when executing a facially regular probate detention order for a person likely to cause serious…
Would the Hunley shipwreck coordinates become public if the Navy gave them to South Carolina’s Hunley Commission?
The 1995 AG letter said no. It concluded that the coordinates were exempt while part of the Navy–state contract negotiations and also reasoned that the state’s protection of historic shipwreck…
Did Excel Telecommunications’ 1995 recruiting plan violate South Carolina’s ban on pyramid schemes?
The AG could not decide from the newspaper account supplied. The letter said a pyramid analysis required facts about participants’ right to sell the service and whether recruiting rewards were…
When did a South Carolina sheriff candidate have to meet the qualifications and file the required affidavit?
The 1995 AG letter read the statute to require qualification by the last day for filing candidacy and allowed the affidavit as early as 60 days before that deadline. It separately noted that…
Could a South Carolina registered nurse pronounce a hospital patient dead instead of a doctor or coroner?
The 1995 AG letter treated pronouncement as certification of death and concluded that only a physician, coroner, or medical examiner could certify it. It found no statute changing the earlier…
Who paid the Orangeburg election commission’s legal expenses from a contested school board runoff?
The 1995 AG letter concluded, with stated uncertainty, that the county election commission bore the protest expenses because election duties had passed to it and no statute or agreement placed 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.