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.
Was South Carolina’s five-percent rental-car surcharge a tax or a regulatory fee?
The 1994 AG classified the required five-percent rental-car surcharge as a tax. He found it mandatory, enacted to raise revenue, and directed to public purposes through vehicle property-tax…
How did South Carolina’s 1994 video-gambling law limit cash payouts for free-game credits?
The 1994 AG read the provision as capping cash redemption at 2,500 free-game credits per player per location per 24 hours, with each redeemed credit worth no more than five cents. It did not set the…
Could South Carolina’s lieutenant governor suspend a senator for an earlier misdemeanor indictment?
The 1994 AG said the lieutenant governor lacked authority to suspend the senator described. The cited statute applied only to transactions after 1991; the Senate rule addressed felonies or…
Who received confiscated pistols from weapon-law violations outside Horry County’s towns in 1994?
The 1994 AG concluded that pistols confiscated outside Horry County’s municipalities under the specified weapon laws should go to the county police chief. A local act had placed the relevant…
Could a South Carolina school district use food-service revenue to replace the state share of employee fringe benefits?
The 1994 AG found the education department’s narrower reading reasonable: after state funds ran out, food-service revenue could cover only the proportionate shortfall for food-service employees. It…
Could a Laurens County associate probate judge also serve as a city utility commission’s contract attorney?
The 1994 AG said probably yes under the dual-office ban, given the described retainer arrangement: the attorney role appeared to be independent contract work, not a second public office. The letter…
Was the 1994 Charleston County school-district act constitutional despite special-legislation concerns?
The 1994 AG thought the act would probably be upheld and said it carried a strong presumption of constitutionality. He also identified a real possibility that a court could strike it down as…
Could a South Carolina school superintendent conduct student discipline hearings for the school board?
The 1994 AG said a board could designate the superintendent for the described disciplinary hearings, with appeal to the board. Because the office had not seen the district's actual policy, it…
Why did the 1994 South Carolina AG doubt the constitutionality of a bill combining three local subjects?
The AG found the act of doubtful constitutionality: its three unrelated subjects appeared to violate the state single-subject rule, and its county-specific provisions raised local-law concerns. Only…
Could South Carolina’s fire marshal temporarily ban fireworks during dangerous conditions in 1994?
The AG said the fire marshal could not impose a temporary fireworks ban by order under the general enforcement provision or his own regulation. He thought a properly issued, geographically and…
Did appointing a Spartanburg County fire marshal change older fire districts’ powers?
The 1994 AG said appointing a county fire marshal did not change the internal operations or day-to-day work of existing fire special-purpose districts. County council could still have particular…
Did South Carolina property-tax exemptions also exempt a separately listed solid-waste disposal fee?
The 1994 AG said no. The cited exemptions covered taxes based on property value, while the separately imposed waste-disposal fee was not based on the value of the property, even if it appeared on a…
Did federal fair-housing law automatically override South Carolina’s group-home siting statute?
The 1994 AG said the federal law did not automatically displace South Carolina’s group-home statute. A court would likely reject a state-law requirement or practice to the extent it conflicted with…
Could a full-time South Carolina state employee collect a daily parole-board hearing fee in 1994?
The 1994 AG said a full-time state employee most probably could not receive the board’s $300 daily hearing fee. He viewed the fee as per diem, which the then-current appropriations proviso barred…
Did a South Carolina disabled-veteran license plate carry the same parking privileges as a disability plate?
The 1994 AG said a vehicle bearing a disabled-veteran plate had the same parking privileges as one bearing a disability plate. The opinion included designated accessible spaces and the then-existing…
Did renting a South Carolina hotel room by the month put the guest under landlord-tenant law in 1994?
The 1994 AG said monthly rent alone did not settle it. A 90-consecutive-day rental arrangement could make the occupant nontransient, potentially bringing residential landlord-tenant law into play…
Could a South Carolina homeowners association give its board additional powers through bylaws?
The 1994 AG said yes for the nonprofit association described, if the added powers served management of its property or regulation of its affairs and the bylaws were consistent with existing law.
Could South Carolina’s revenue department revoke a license for failing to report business personal property?
The 1994 AG said the department’s discretionary revocation authority reached a taxpayer who failed to file the required business-personal-property return. The department administered that return and…
When a South Carolina forfeited land commission bid at a tax sale, did it have to pay immediately?
The 1994 AG said the commission did not have to pay the county treasurer when it bid in property. If the county later wanted title, it had to purchase from the commission on terms benefiting the…
Would signing the 1994 budget before June 30 keep South Carolina’s dentistry and opticianry boards from sunsetting?
The 1994 AG said yes, if the governor approved the relevant budget provision before June 30. It would replace the scheduled sunset rule and leave the two boards in existence without the separate…
Did South Carolina’s 1994 video-poker vessel ban apply to licensed machines on docked boats?
The AG said the proposed rule would bar machines on boats still capable of navigating state waters, even when temporarily docked and previously licensed. A permanently moored vessel no longer…
Could Rock Hill spend voter-approved fire-protection bond money on other projects, and did alleged transfers warrant prosecution?
The AG read the referendum as approving fire-protection facilities broadly, rather than requiring two particular substations. Bond proceeds remained restricted to that purpose and surplus belonged…
Could Spartanburg County shorten appointed Cherokee Springs fire commissioners’ terms to hold an election in 1994?
The AG concluded that the General Assembly could shorten or extend these legislatively created terms. The county council’s cited statutory authority reached extensions only, so it likely could not…
Could a South Carolina coroner keep a state constable commission without violating dual office holding rules in 1990?
The 1990 Attorney General opinion said a state constable position was no longer considered a second office under South Carolina's amended dual office holding provisions. It separately noted that the…
Did South Carolina's 1989 lottery ban cover a paid courier buying tickets in another state for a local customer?
The Attorney General read South Carolina's 1989 lottery prohibitions as covering a paid courier arrangement in which a customer ordered an out-of-state ticket and received it back in South Carolina.…
Could a 1974 special law shorten Summerville public works commissioners’ terms?
In 1981, the Attorney General agreed that a town specific law setting four year terms for Summerville public works commissioners was unconstitutional special legislation in light of the later state…
Should an alcoholic beverage commission chairman recuse when his son represents a party?
The 1980 South Carolina AG opinion advised the commission chairman to follow judicial disqualification guidance when his son appeared as counsel before the commission. It said the remaining…
How did South Carolina’s 1979 homestead exemption treat residency, incapacity, and out of state disability findings?
The 1979 AG said the one year residency condition had to be met by the prior December 31, a person who lacked mental capacity could not voluntarily change legal residence, and a disability finding…
Did South Carolina’s 1975 Ethics Act bar public colleges from giving legislators football season tickets?
The Attorney General declined to decide whether the particular ticket offers violated the 1975 Ethics Act, calling it a factual question for the State Ethics Commission. It said the circumstances…
Could a South Carolina county reassess one quarter of its property each year for property tax?
The 1974 Attorney General opinion said reassessing one quarter of Greenwood County annually was not automatically unconstitutional if values were equalized countywide. A property owner would need to…
Did South Carolina submit constitutional amendment ratification to its governor for a veto?
In 1973, the AG answered no to whether state legislative ratification of a U.S. constitutional amendment went to the governor for approval or veto. The letter also described South Carolina’s…
Could South Carolina’s utility commission jointly adopt a North Carolina carbon plan and charge South Carolina customers for it?
The Attorney General doubted the commission had statutory authority for the proposed joint proceeding or to impose North Carolina plan costs on South Carolina ratepayers. It identified…
Who should present a juvenile probation violation in South Carolina family court: the solicitor or juvenile justice department?
For the criminal-contempt Rule to Show Cause procedure described, the Attorney General predicted the circuit solicitor was the proper party, because state law vested family-court prosecution duties…
Did South Carolina’s Right to Try Act require hospitals to allow a doctor’s off-label COVID-19 prescription?
The Attorney General predicted the Right to Try Act likely did not apply to the described off-label use. It emphasized physicians’ prescribing discretion and said hospitals generally should respect…
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.