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 a South Carolina legislator also work as president or administrator of a college?
The AG said a college president or employee generally was not a second public office for dual-office purposes, but no specific job had been identified. Employer policy, ethics rules, and federal law…
Could Charleston amend its zoning supermajority rule with a simple council majority?
The AG said the three-fourths vote rule for certain zoning changes did not itself govern an amendment to that voting rule. If council had enacted the rule by a simple majority, the AG predicted a…
Could South Carolina officers seize unlawfully grown hemp without a court order after the grower consented?
The AG said no judicial authorization was needed if the grower had validly consented to seizure and destruction and Agriculture notified officers of a willful violation. It did not decide whether…
Could Beaufort County’s school board censure or remove one of its elected members?
The AG said Beaufort’s board could express disapproval of a member who violated its standards, including measures like warning or censure, but could not remove the elected member from office. The…
Could South Carolina’s disabilities commission act with only two of its three remaining members?
The AG predicted no. The commission’s authorized membership was seven, so four members were needed for a quorum despite vacancies; it identified interim gubernatorial appointments and possible…
Could South Carolina State Inspector General staff administer oaths and examine witnesses and agency records?
The AG said staff could exercise the inspector general’s specified investigative powers when necessary to perform the office’s duties. The inspector general retained authority to oversee how staff…
Could Columbia declare homes or locations with homemade unserialized guns a public nuisance?
The AG predicted a court would find Columbia’s ghost-gun nuisance ordinance preempted because it effectively regulated firearm possession and transfer. Only a court could set it aside; the opinion…
Could one person serve on Jasper County’s election board and the Palmetto Breeze transit board?
The AG said no. It treated both the Jasper County election board and the regional transportation authority’s governing board as public offices, so simultaneous service violated South Carolina’s…
Could North Charleston require mayor and council candidates to live in the city for six months?
The AG concluded North Charleston lacked authority to add that residency condition and said it conflicted with state elector qualifications. It raised a separate equal-protection concern but said…
Could someone buy or resell an already winning South Carolina lottery ticket at a discount?
The AG read the lottery statute as likely banning paid secondary ticket transfers, while warning that a court might defer to the Lottery Commission’s different view of unsigned winning tickets as…
Must South Carolina's Conservation Bank be named on title insurance when it funds a land conservation grant?
Probably not. The AG read the named-insured requirement as applying to loans; for grants, the Bank must instead be indemnified for the grant amount, with that indemnity secured by the recipient's…
Did a grandfathered South Carolina cemetery lose its acreage exemption after missing license renewal?
The AG said a missed renewal beyond the reinstatement period required a new application, but could not decide conclusively whether the cemetery also lost its acreage exemption. It said a court could…
Can a South Carolina CPA use the CPA title while preparing taxes outside a registered CPA firm?
The AG read the Board's regulation as barring a South Carolina-licensed CPA from using the title for tax preparation without a registered-firm affiliation. It warned that a court might find that…
Must a South Carolina school board give public notice of its committee meetings?
Yes, when a quorum of the committee convenes to discuss or act on its public work. The AG said the committee is its own public body, so its members determine the quorum, and FOIA's requested-notice…
Can a South Carolina auction firm keep its license number after its listed auctioneer changes?
The AG said a court would likely find that the Auctioneers' Commission may reissue the same firm license number on renewal after a change in the listed licensed auctioneer. It found no rule…
Can a Walterboro council member also serve on the state Research Authority and a technical college commission?
The AG said those board and council roles are public offices and simultaneous service would violate South Carolina's dual-office rule. It could not decide whether the requester's…
Can a South Carolina county election board combine precincts or make several precincts share one polling place?
Generally no, the AG said. County boards lack authority to consolidate precincts or use one polling place for several precincts unless the legislature specifically allows it; the opinion identifies…
Can a South Carolina city IT director also serve as a commissioned railroad police officer?
Yes, the AG said, for a railroad officer commissioned as a special state constable. The state constitution expressly excepts constables from its dual-office restriction. The opinion reserved the…
What process should South Carolina police use before seizing hemp grown in violation of the Hemp Farming Act?
The AG advised SLED to seek court authorization with notice and a hearing for the grower before seizing allegedly unlawful hemp. The Act did not specify a seizure procedure, and the opinion deferred…
What charge applies in South Carolina if someone rides a moped while their moped license is suspended?
The AG said driving under suspension under § 56-1-460 was the appropriate charge. It acknowledged a court could apply the no-valid-moped-license provisions, but read the motor-vehicle definition and…
May South Carolina's Forestry Commission free a private contractor's stuck equipment on woodland?
The AG said the Commission could reasonably provide extraction services to contractors hired by landowners for reforestation work. The statute requires a reasonable fee at least equal to the…
Can a South Carolina public board add an officer election under 'Other Business' without advance notice?
The AG said a public body must follow FOIA's specific agenda-amendment process. A catchall item may be too vague to notify the public, and an item allowing final action added after a meeting starts…
Did South Carolina's 2019 lien-fee amendment require another $10 for satisfaction or expungement?
Yes. The AG read the 2019 amendment as imposing a separate $10 fee for a lien satisfaction or expungement in addition to the initial lien-filing fee. It said registers of deeds could not waive that…
Must a South Carolina county put every library or park project on its own bond referendum question?
The AG said separate questions were needed for distinct funding proposals, such as libraries and recreation, but a separate vote was not required for every project within a proposal. It declined to…
Could Charleston Public Works end a water supply contract with Sullivan's Island despite automatic renewals?
The AG declined to interpret that contract, but said a court would likely treat an indefinite unilateral renewal right as terminable by either party on reasonable notice. It also believed the…
When does an election board gathering count as a meeting for South Carolina's three-absence removal rule?
The AG predicted a court would count gatherings to discuss or act on board business, including work beyond scheduled meetings. It also predicted a court would treat removal after three consecutive…
Could the University of South Carolina trustees waive the five-day mailed notice rule for a special meeting?
No, according to the AG's 2019 opinion. The statute required five days' notice by mail to every trustee, and the office said that requirement could not be waived.
Could an unlicensed South Carolina shop sell raw hemp by packaging it as a hemp product?
The AG said packaging alone did not turn raw hemp into a hemp product, and unlicensed handling of raw hemp was unlawful. It said a court could find the conduct criminal, while leaving particular…
Can a South Carolina county council skip one month if it holds more than twelve meetings a year?
The AG said a court likely would require a publicly noticed council meeting in every calendar month. Extra meetings in other months would not make up for a skipped month.
Are police officers or emergency medical workers caregivers under South Carolina's adult protection law?
The AG said it depended on whether a particular responder provided care to a vulnerable adult, a factual question it could not decide generally. It observed that officers usually do not provide care…
Must a South Carolina school board trustee file a FOIA request and pay for the district's financial records?
The AG said a trustee could access the district's existing financial documents without filing a FOIA request or paying for access. The district could control the response's timing and manner, and…
Can a police agency reimburse mandatory officer training at a flat hourly rate instead of the salary actually paid?
The AG said a court likely would require reimbursement based on actual salary paid during mandatory training, rather than a fixed number of hours. It did not decide whether particular overtime or…
Which South Carolina charge applied to riding a moped without a valid license?
The AG said a prosecutor could choose either of two overlapping moped-license statutes when the facts supported the charge. The statutes carried different penalties, but neither displaced the other.
Did a South Carolina drug trafficking prisoner have to serve a 25-year minimum day for day, or could the 85-percent rule apply?
The AG predicted that the later 85-percent statute controlled the listed no-parole trafficking offenses, making community supervision possible after at least 85 percent of the imposed term. It…
Could South Carolina magistrate or municipal courts hear a 17-year-old's traffic or fish and game case after the juvenile age rose?
The AG predicted that summary courts and family courts retained concurrent jurisdiction over those specified offenses for people under 18, including 17-year-olds, after the July 2019 age change.
Did South Carolina homeowners need U.S. citizenship to qualify for the residential property tax benefit?
The AG said eligibility turned on whether the property was the owner's legal residence, which depended on domicile and individual facts. Citizenship was not an express statutory requirement, but…
Could a South Carolina Medicaid transportation broker hire a rideshare company for nonemergency medical trips?
The AG said the Transportation Network Company Act's exclusion for arranging medical trips did not itself bar the state from allowing a broker to contract with a rideshare company. Other contract…
Could a South Carolina city lower its mayor's salary after changing its form of government?
For a change that substantially reduced the mayor's duties, the AG said the usual salary-timing statute did not govern the transition and the city could set timing by ordinance. It said the statute…
When forfeited cash or property goes to a South Carolina agency, does it become a public asset?
The AG said forfeited property that becomes an agency's property generally counts as public revenue or an asset subject to public-asset requirements. The specific forfeiture statute may impose…
Could South Carolina counties still bill 2019 boat property taxes before the new prospective system began?
The AG said the 2018 law did not stop counties from billing watercraft under existing 2019 law before its January 2020 effective date. It left reasonable choices about implementing the later…
Could South Carolina enforce campaign-disclosure reports against political parties' campaign accounts?
The AG said First Amendment issues made enforcement uncertain and endorsed the Ethics Commission's existing policy of suspending enforcement for campaign accounts while continuing it for operating…
Could a South Carolina school trustee withdraw a resignation before the board accepted it?
The AG predicted that a trustee could withdraw a tendered resignation before the authorized body accepted it. The office declined to decide whether a particular seat was vacant because that depended…
Could a South Carolina job applicant say “no” to an arrest or conviction question after expungement?
The AG said it depended on the expungement statute. Removing a record from public view did not generally erase the event, but some statutes expressly restored a person's prior legal status and…
Could Rock Hill transfer utility revenue to its general fund before funding required reserves?
The AG said utility revenue could be transferred if it was eligible surplus after required costs and reserves, or paid costs sufficiently related to utility service. It could not decide whether Rock…
Can a South Carolina school district use trespass law to bar someone from a public board meeting in its office building?
The AG said trespass law covered school administrative property, but a person attending an open board meeting likely had legal cause to be there. A disruptive attendee could instead be removed under…
Could Richland County use its general fund to subsidize low-income residents' higher sewer bills?
The AG predicted a court would find the proposed subsidy unconstitutional because it directly benefited selected private households and offered the county only an indirect public benefit.
Could South Carolina legislators approve part of one agency regulation and reject another part in one resolution?
The AG said the 2019 resolution could not split a single regulation that way. It agreed that the review period was not tolled and the whole regulation should be published, with changes requiring…
Did South Carolina's 2018 dam safety joint resolution remain binding on DHEC in 2019?
The AG concluded a court would likely treat the resolution as binding law if all constitutional enactment formalities were satisfied. The office could not verify whether the Great Seal and other…
How could an elected South Carolina fire district raise its millage or combine with another district in the same county?
The AG said elected commissioners could seek a millage increase only through the specified statutory procedures, not the general authority to adjust service charges. Districts in the same county…
Could a South Carolina sheriff assign a school resource officer to a private nonprofit school?
The AG concluded the statute authorizing school resource officer assignments applied only to public school systems and districts, so it did not authorize the proposed private school assignment.…
Could a South Carolina technical college provide the basic training required to certify police officers?
The AG said the Criminal Justice Academy was the sole state institution authorized to conduct mandatory basic training for officer certification, and the Training Council did not have to allow an…
Could someone obtain South Carolina police certification test questions through a FOIA request?
The AG concluded reusable Criminal Justice Academy certification test questions were scholastic records outside FOIA's public-record definition, so the Academy did not have to disclose them. The…
Could a South Carolina agency withhold employee sick leave and attendance records under FOIA's privacy exemption?
The AG concluded an agency could not withhold leave requests or attendance logs wholesale under the privacy exemption. It said a court would likely allow limited redactions of medical details or…
Could a volunteer firefighter also serve on the board of a related special tax district?
The AG said simultaneous service for the private volunteer fire corporation and the tax district was not prohibited dual office holding. It could not decide whether a separate supervision-based…
Could a summer day camp avoid South Carolina child care licensing by enrolling children in successive short sessions?
The AG said the short-session day camp exception could not be used to let the same child attend successive sessions beyond the statutory attendance limit. It treated that arrangement as outside the…
Which South Carolina agency reviewed permits for changes to New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam?
The AG concluded DHEC, rather than the Savannah River Maritime Commission, would likely decide the water quality certification and navigable waters permit for the Corps' proposed project. The…
Could Pickens County Water Authority serve a customer outside Liberty when the city had a nearby water line?
The AG said the authority could serve a Pickens County customer outside municipal limits if that area was not served by a municipality when the authority's 1971 enabling act took effect. A nearby…
Which South Carolina offenses triggered the rule against masking a commercial driver's conviction?
The AG read the rule to cover state traffic offenses and local laws regulating motor vehicle use on public roads, subject to the regulation's stated exceptions. It called the interpretation…
Who bears correction costs if a South Carolina school district certifies a millage rate above the lawful limit?
The AG said an entity that certifies an excessive rate in writing to the county auditor must pay statutory correction costs. It thought a court would likely count the costs of whichever correction…
Could South Carolina counties collect commercial vehicle road use fees and forward them to DMV?
The AG said a court would likely defer to DMV's reading that a fee paid to a county and then remitted to DMV counted as paid to DMV. Its reasoning partly depended on whether the prior revenue…
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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.