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.
No South Carolina opinions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Could a South Carolina commercial driver face a criminal charge for measurable alcohol, and did a CDL warning permit a later DUI charge?
The 1995 AG letter read the measurable-alcohol rule as a criminal offense as well as a 24-hour out-of-service basis, while acknowledging that courts had not settled the question. It said the CDL…
Could a South Carolina magistrate voluntarily give up part of the statutory salary to save county money?
The 1995 informal AG letter said yes for a genuinely voluntary waiver. It read the minimum-pay rule as binding the county, while allowing the magistrate personally to decline part or all of the pay;…
Could Lexington School District Four sell or lease school property without county consent or at less than fair market value?
The 1995 AG letter said the district was subject to the statute requiring county approval for a school-property sale or lease. It cited earlier opinions saying the property could not be donated, but…
How could a South Carolina town obtain annexation petition signatures for heirs property with unknown owners?
The 1995 AG letter said state annexation law then offered no alternative signature method for that situation. It suggested that probate or a court action to clear title might identify the owners…
Could Columbia’s fire marshal enforce building and fire codes inside state-owned buildings in the city?
The 1995 AG letter said code interpretation and enforcement for state buildings belonged to the State Engineer, not the city fire marshal. It described the city official’s authority there as related…
Could one person serve on Newberry County’s transportation committee and nursing home board at the same time?
The 1995 AG letter said simultaneous service most probably violated South Carolina’s dual-office rule because both positions appeared to be public offices. It reserved reconsideration if a county…
Which South Carolina rate-approval rule governed automobile insurance premiums in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter identified the automobile-insurance provisions, not the property, casualty, and title provision the requester asked about. It said proposed auto rates needed Department of…
Who brought a South Carolina fugitive back from another state, and who paid the transport costs?
The 1995 AG letter described the circuit solicitor applying to the governor for extradition. It said a SLED agent and an officer from the local agency usually transported the fugitive, with each…
Did South Carolina police retirement benefits give triple credit for unused annual leave at retirement?
The 1995 AG letter agreed that up to 45 days of termination pay for unused leave was included before the three-year average was calculated, rather than added afterward to produce triple credit. It…
Was turning left across a South Carolina street into angle parking an illegal U-turn?
The 1995 AG letter said turning back down the opposite side of the street to park violated the U-turn statute. A direct left turn into an angle space might also violate it, but the letter left that…
Could a sheriff’s deputy transport someone arrested by a private security guard without assuming liability for the arrest?
The 1995 AG letter said a deputy generally would not be liable merely for taking custody and promptly transporting the person if the deputy neither participated in the arrest nor had reason to…
Could a South Carolina magistrate amend a warrant or traffic ticket after a prosecutor found prior convictions?
The 1995 AG letter said an upward amendment to reflect prior convictions for the same offense was generally permissible if it caused no undue surprise and stayed within magistrate jurisdiction. It…
Could someone serve on the Charleston County Library Board and South Carolina State Board of Education together?
The 1995 AG letter said the state education board seat was a public office and a county library board seat probably was too. Concurrent service could therefore violate the dual-office clause, but…
Did South Carolina voters have to give a Social Security number to register in 1995, and could the public see it?
The 1995 letter read state law as requiring the number and concluded that the federal Privacy Act grandfather provision permitted that requirement. Election officials reportedly masked numbers on…
Who could sign a 1995 South Carolina agreement with the Navy over the H. L. Hunley?
The 1995 AG letter identified the Hunley Commission as an essential party and said the Attorney General could sign in conjunction with it. It also recommended signatures from the Budget and Control…
Did the 1995 South Carolina AG consider Horry County’s proposed public-nudity ordinance facially valid?
Yes. The 1995 informal letter concluded that the proposed ordinance was valid on its face under state and federal law, while warning that some applications could reach lawful or protected conduct.…
Could South Carolina officers force entry into a home to carry out a mental-health detention order in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter favored obtaining a judicial order before forced entry to seize a person for mental-health detention. It said a probate-court order could suffice without an arrest warrant, but…
Could Seneca police serve a warrant at the Oconee County jail in Walhalla, and did Walhalla officers have to execute probate commitment orders?
The 1995 AG letter said Seneca police lacked territorial jurisdiction to serve their own warrant at the Walhalla jail; a sheriff’s deputy or magistrate’s constable could serve it through the cited…
Could a South Carolina city charge a business-license tax on a store’s beer and wine sales in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter relied on state tax provisions that made beer, wine, and liquor taxes exclusive of other local taxes and licenses. It treated the earlier AG conclusion barring a local…
Could a South Carolina city tax video-game machine receipts on top of a machine license fee in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter read a South Carolina Supreme Court decision as barring a municipal license tax based on video-game machine receipts in addition to a permitted machine fee. A provision that might…
Could one person serve on the Cherokee County Development Board and Gaffney’s planning commission in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said dual office holding was quite possible but did not give a final yes-or-no answer. It needed to know how Gaffney’s commission was established and whether later county action…
Did Cherokee County have to keep paying a magistrate who could not perform most duties because of illness in 1995?
Yes, on the facts assumed in the 1995 letter. The AG concluded that the county should continue the magistrate’s usual salary and benefits during the current term because the statute protected…
Could South Carolina’s governor suspend an indicted school superintendent and assistant superintendent in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that both officials counted as officers for the suspension provisions and that the described indictment charged an offense involving moral turpitude. It said the…
Was a sweepstakes entry form that switched long-distance service deceptive under South Carolina law in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that the promotion appeared unlawful because entering the sweepstakes also authorized a carrier switch without clear disclosure. It said the material had a capacity to…
Could a South Carolina city withhold job applicants’ names or council grievance records under FOIA in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter treated disclosure as the starting rule, with the city to decide whether a specific privacy or other exemption applied to applicant and grievance records. It also said FOIA itself…
Could a Piedmont Park fire district commissioner also serve as a volunteer firefighter in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that serving both as district commissioner and district officer or firefighter would create an impermissible master-servant conflict, because commissioners selected and…
Which county’s Sunday-sales rule applied to a store straddling Richland and Lexington Counties in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said Richland County’s suspension of blue laws applied only on its side of the boundary. Before 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the Lexington side remained subject to state restrictions except…
Should a South Carolina court clerk redact Social Security numbers before releasing public court records in 1995?
Yes. The 1995 AG letter said the Charleston County clerk should redact Social Security numbers before releasing otherwise public records, whether at the clerk’s office or through its computer access…
Did a state highway right of way turn adjacent privately deeded land into public property in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter did not give a categorical answer. It said the documents creating the right of way and any reserved rights, encroachment permission, or other servitude had to be examined before…
Which South Carolina agency tracked local-government debt limits for legislators in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter pointed to the State Treasurer’s statutory responsibilities and published debt reports, but said a requirement to keep legislators informed about local debt percentages was a…
Could a Springfield town council member also take a paid water-and-sewer job with the town in 1995?
No. The 1995 AG letter said simultaneous council service and town employment would violate the state statute barring a council member from holding municipal employment during the elected term,…
Did selling a collectible card with a chance to win cash count as a lottery in South Carolina in 1995?
Yes, under the facts reviewed in the 1995 AG letter. It found a prize awarded by chance and treated the card purchase as payment for entry, despite describing the entry as “free.” It concluded the…
Could a South Carolina town annex an area when it could not find enough property owners to sign in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter found no clear route around the signature problem. It viewed the owner-petition procedure in §5-3-150 as the most likely available method, but said electors could not simply…
Could a South Carolina coroner authorize cremation of an indigent or unclaimed person in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said a coroner could authorize cremation when the decedent was indigent or disposition was the state’s or county’s responsibility, in the absence of a person serving as the…
Could South Carolina pay a private college to operate a women’s leadership program in 1995?
In an informal 1995 letter, the AG’s office considered state payments under the Converse College contract constitutionally valid because they paid for a public educational purpose and gave the…
Could a South Carolina sheriff test jail inmates, including pretrial detainees, for sexually transmitted diseases in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said the then-current statute authorized examination and treatment of confined people for sexually transmitted diseases and did not exclude pretrial detainees. It also found…
Could a South Carolina county recreation commission donate tax funds to a YMCA in 1995?
No, for the donation described. The 1995 AG letter reaffirmed an earlier conclusion that using public funds for a YMCA building fund would violate the state constitution and said a donation to a…
Could a South Carolina sheriff release the name of a missing child to the public in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said releasing the name of a missing child who had not been taken into custody did not trigger the juvenile custody-record confidentiality rule. It also said child-protection…
Did a South Carolina private-investigator license provide a defense to a stalking charge in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said legitimate investigative conduct within a registered detective’s authority could be asserted as a defense under the then-current stalking law. Registration did not shield…
Could Fripp Island require sprinklers in new homes through water-district rules in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter treated the proposed sprinkler requirement as a building-code issue. It said Beaufort County’s adopted code might need a modification or waiver under the statutory process and…
Could a South Carolina fire district withhold public incident reports because a requester planned to solicit insurance clients in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said the commercial-solicitation ban did not itself justify withholding otherwise public fire incident reports. The recipient was responsible for the use restriction, while the…
Did a free hunting or fishing license let Catawba Nation members use South Carolina wildlife areas without a separate permit in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter accepted the Department of Natural Resources’ reading that the statute gave Catawba Nation members free recreational hunting and fishing licenses but did not waive a separate…
Did Allendale County have to pay the entire cost of the town’s solid-waste disposal in 1995?
No such full-payment duty was found in the 1995 AG letter. It distinguished the county’s responsibility to provide for facilities serving incorporated and unincorporated areas from who bears every…
Could South Carolina DOT or education board members be reappointed without rotating counties in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said initial two-year DOT district commissioners could not immediately receive a consecutive four-year term; the next seat should rotate to another county. For the State Board of…
Could South Carolina’s LLR director refuse state-funded travel for a dentistry board member in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said it could not find that the director exceeded his authority by refusing the travel. It read the Government Restructuring Act as giving the director broad management control…
Could South Carolina suspend an indicted school superintendent and pay for his criminal defense in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said the governor could suspend the superintendent because the described bid-rigging and gratuity indictment charged moral turpitude. It also concluded the school district could…
Did a part-time property owner count as a resident freeholder for a South Carolina town boundary petition in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion treated residency as domicile: the owner had to intend the place to be a permanent or indefinite home. Periodic absences did not automatically end residency, but merely…
Could a South Carolina county legislative delegation elect officers by anonymous paper ballot in a public meeting?
The 1995 informal opinion said paper ballots were not automatically forbidden, but a member’s request to identify how each person voted probably called for recording individual votes. Without the…
Did the 1995 South Carolina overweight-truck fine option unlawfully penalize drivers who requested a hearing?
The 1995 informal opinion concluded that the payment option would withstand a due process and equal protection challenge. A cited driver could choose a magistrate’s hearing, while timely direct…
Could South Carolina State University use public funds for sympathy gifts or a student representative’s wardrobe?
The 1995 AG letter found the public purpose of university bereavement acknowledgements difficult to demonstrate. It did not decide whether the wardrobe or proposed canteen expenditures qualified;…
Could a South Carolina school district release students from regular classes for religious instruction in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said a district appeared able to adopt a released-time policy for religious instruction, including during regular classes, if the student met state education requirements and the…
Did a paid million-dollar hole-in-one contest likely violate South Carolina lottery and gambling law in 1995?
The 1995 informal opinion concluded that the proposed paid contest would likely be both a lottery and gambling. It viewed a hole-in-one as sufficiently dependent on chance despite golf skill, while…
Did a third South Carolina bad-check conviction have to be punished as a Class E felony under the 1995 law?
The 1995 AG letter said a court would probably apply the repeat property-offense rule to a third fraudulent-check conviction, even for a check of $500 or less, because punishment depended on the…
Could a South Carolina magistrate countersign a faxed arrest warrant from another county in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said there was no absolute legal prohibition on countersigning a faxed copy of an arrest warrant. Whether to countersign it remained within the individual magistrate’s discretion.
Could a South Carolina district allow students to leave instructional time for religious education in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said federal precedent and a state education regulation appeared to permit a district policy excusing students for religious instruction. It left the amount of release time and…
Did a South Carolina public hospital have to provide emergency care to a prison inmate in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said a hospital appeared obligated to provide emergency care when an inmate actually sought it and medical staff found it necessary, regardless of ability to pay or residence. It…
Could an elementary school bar a student from distributing anti-abortion material in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter did not decide whether the specific material could be barred. It said the answer required examining the material and distribution circumstances, while the cited cases allowed some…
Did South Carolina repeal the special distribution rules for certain drug fines in 1994?
The 1995 AG letter concluded that Section 36 of the 1994 appropriations act repealed the earlier fine-distribution subsections for specified drug offenses. It treated their appearance in an…
Did parents have a constitutional right to take students out of class for religious instruction in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said a school district could consider excusing students under its attendance policy, but it could not determine whether the First Amendment required release. That question lacked…
Could a South Carolina guardian ad litem hire a private investigator in a child abuse case in 1995?
The 1995 AG letter said a guardian could employ an investigator when necessary for an independent assessment of the child’s circumstances. It urged limiting shared confidential information to what…
Browse South Carolina opinions by topic
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.