Title 2, General Assembly

The nominating committee must be composed of six members, three of whom must be appointed by the President of the South Carolina Senate and three of whom must be appointed by the Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. The nominating committee shall present not mo…

The terms of office of the members of the Council shall be for six years and until their successors are appointed and qualify, except that of the initial members, one shall be elected for the term of two years, one for a term of four years and one for a term of six years. No pers…

The Council shall be in charge of a Director who shall be elected by a majority vote of the Council and he shall hold office for a term of four years and until his successor shall have been elected and qualifies. The Director shall be chosen solely on the grounds of fitness to pe…

For the purpose of this chapter "state agencies" means all officers, departments, boards, commissions, institutions, universities, colleges, bodies politic and corporate of the State and any other person or any other administrative unit of state government or corporate outgrowth …

It is the duty of the council: (a) To respond to any request concerning a fiscal matter or information related to the purposes set forth in Section 2-15-50 which may be referred to it by the General Assembly or any of its members or committees. (b) To conduct audits, if authorize…

For the purposes of carrying out its audit duties under this chapter, the Legislative Audit Council shall have access to the records and facilities of every state agency during that agency's operating hours with the exception of reports and returns of the South Carolina Departmen…

In the performance of their audit duties, Legislative Audit Council staff members are subject to the statutory provisions and penalties regarding confidentiality of records of the agency under review.

(A) Beginning in December 2004 and every three years after that, the Legislative Audit Council shall conduct a management performance audit of the South Carolina Lottery Commission. The cost of this audit is an operating expense of the commission. (B) Nothing in this section limi…

Beginning December 31, 2013, and every three years thereafter, the Legislative Audit Council shall conduct a management performance audit of a program of the South Carolina Department of Social Services. The program to be reviewed will be determined after consultation with the Ho…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in order to further comply with federal requirements and increase the oversight abilities of the General Assembly, the Legislative Audit Council shall ensure that an appropriate amount is budgeted for audit purposes in all Title XX fede…

The facilities of the State institutions of higher learning and any other tax supported agencies shall be available for use by the Council in carrying out its functions.

Neither the Director nor any other employee of the Council shall urge or oppose any legislation or give financial advice to any person except members of the legislature.

It shall not be a function of the Council staff to prepare legislation and all suggested legislation resulting from staff studies shall be channeled through the Legislative Council which shall cooperate with the staff.

As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1)(a) "Anything of value" or "thing of value" means: (i) a pecuniary item, including money, a bank bill, or a bank note; (ii) a promissory note, bill of exchange, an order, a draft, warrant, check, or bond …

A public official or a public employee acting in an official capacity may not receive anything of value from a lobbyist's principal for speaking before a public or private group. A public official or public employee is not prohibited by this section from accepting a meal provided…

(A) A lobbyist may not solicit or accept compensation dependent in any manner upon the passage or defeat of any pending or proposed legislation, covered agency actions, or covered gubernatorial actions. A lobbyist's principal may not employ, appoint, or retain a lobbyist for comp…

A lobbyist who is indicted in a state or federal court for a violation of this chapter must be suspended immediately from acting as a lobbyist by the State Ethics Commission. The suspension shall remain in effect until the lobbyist is acquitted, the charge is dismissed, or the lo…

(A) A lobbyist or a lobbyist's principal who wilfully violates the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. In addition, any lobbyis…

If an alleged violation is found to be groundless by the State Ethics Commission, the entire matter must be stricken from public record. If the State Ethics Commission finds that the complaining party wilfully filed a groundless complaint, the finding must be reported to the Atto…

(A) The Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, any other statewide constitutional officer, a member of the General Assembly, a director or deputy director of a state department appointed by the Governor and a member of the immediate family of any of these public officials may not ser…

A prosecution for a violation of the provisions of this chapter must be commenced no later than four years after the date the violation is alleged to have occurred unless a person, who by fraud or other device, prevents discovery of the violation.

A department director, constitutional officer, agency director, state board or commission, or governing body of any other entity of state government whose department, office, agency, board, commission, or entity employs or contracts with a lobbyist, as defined in Section 2-17-10,…

(A) Any person who acts as a lobbyist must, within fifteen days of being employed, appointed, or retained as a lobbyist, register with the State Ethics Commission as provided in this section. Each person registering must pay a fee of one hundred dollars and present to the State E…

(A) Any lobbyist's principal must, within fifteen days of employing, appointing, or retaining a lobbyist, register with the State Ethics Commission as provided in this section. Each person registering must pay a fee of one hundred dollars. If a partnership, committee, an associat…

(A) Each lobbyist, no later than June thirtieth and January thirty-first of each year, must file a report with the State Ethics Commission covering that lobbyist's lobbying during that filing period. The filing periods are from January first to May thirty-first for the June thirt…

(A) Except as otherwise provided by Section 2-17-90(E), each lobbyist's principal, no later than June thirtieth and January thirty-first of each year, must file a report with the State Ethics Commission covering that lobbyist's principal's expenditures attributable to lobbying du…

(A) Each state agency or department must, no later than June thirtieth and January thirty-first of each year, file a report with the State Ethics Commission covering that agency's lobbying during that filing period. The filing periods are from January first to May thirty-first fo…

An entity which ranks or rates the actions, vote, or failure to act or vote of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, or a member or committee of the General Assembly as to any action, vote, or failure to act or vote by these public officials and which disseminates its rankings o…

On July 1, 1993, the duties and powers given to the Secretary of State in this chapter must be transferred to the State Ethics Commission. When this transfer takes place, the Code Commissioner is directed to change all references in this chapter from the Secretary of State to the…

(A) The State Ethics Commission shall: (1) require a person to submit information pursuant to the requirements of this chapter; (2) in addition to any other penalty in this chapter, require a person who files a late statement or fails to file a required statement to be assessed a…

The State Ethics Commission has the following duties: (1) to develop forms for the filing of notices of registration, representation, complaints, and reports required by this chapter and to furnish the forms to persons upon request; (2) to issue identification cards to each lobby…

(A) The State Ethics Commission shall conduct periodic reviews of reports filed with the State Ethics Commission so as to ascertain whether any lobbyist or lobbyist's principal has failed to comply fully and accurately with the disclosure requirements of this chapter and promptly…

(A) A lobbyist or a person acting on behalf of a lobbyist shall not offer, solicit, facilitate, or provide to or on behalf of any member of the General Assembly, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, any other statewide constitutional officer, any public official of any state ag…

(A) Except as otherwise provided under Section 2-17-100, no lobbyist's principal may offer, solicit, facilitate, or provide to a public official or public employee, and no public official or public employee may accept lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, beverages…

When an election is to be held by the General Assembly in Joint Session, for members of the judiciary, the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission, composed of twelve members, shall consider the qualifications of the candidates. The commission shall meet at least once …

In order to be eligible for appointment by the Chief Justice to serve, any retired justice or judge of this State must have been reviewed by the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission under procedures it shall establish to review retired judges' qualifications for con…

Upon a vacancy in the office of master-in-equity, candidates shall submit an application to the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission. Upon completion of reports and recommendations, the commission shall submit such reports and recommendations on all qualified master…

(A) The Chairman of the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, upon the advice of the commission, shall select members to serve on Citizens Committees on Judicial Qualifications for each geographic district set by the commission. These committees shall, under the rules adopted by t…

(A) It is the responsibility of the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission to determine when judicial vacancies are to occur in the Administrative Law Court and on the family court, circuit court, court of appeals, or Supreme Court and to expeditiously investigate in …

(A) The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission is authorized to investigate and obtain information relative to any candidate for an Administrative Law Court judgeship or a family court, circuit court, court of appeals, or Supreme Court judgeship from any state agency …

(A) Upon completion of the investigation, the Chairman of the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission shall schedule a public hearing concerning the qualifications of the candidates. Any person who desires to testify at the hearing, including candidates, shall furnish …

(A) The responsibility of the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission is to investigate and consider the qualifications of the candidates for judicial office in Administrative Law Court or on the family court, circuit court, court of appeals, or Supreme Court. Investig…

(A) There is created the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission composed of twelve members who must be appointed as follows: (1) four members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and of these appointments: (a) three members must be members of the H…

All records, information, and other material that the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission has obtained or used to make its findings of fact, except materials, records, and information presented under oath at the public hearing, must be kept strictly confidential. T…

(A) The South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission in the discharge of its duties may administer oaths and affirmations, take depositions, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, and other r…

(A) No member of the General Assembly may be elected to a judicial office while he is serving in the General Assembly nor shall that person be elected to a judicial office for a period of one year after he either: (1) ceases to be a member of the General Assembly; or (2) fails to…