Title 8, Public Officers and Employees

(A) A person who becomes a candidate by filing a statement of intention of candidacy seeking nomination by political party primary or political party convention must electronically file a statement of economic interests for the preceding calendar year pursuant to Section 8-13-365…

Except as provided in Section 8-13-365, certified campaign reports must be filed on a format specified by the State Ethics Commission. The reports filed must be typed or printed in ink on forms supplied by the commission. A report may be filed with the commission on a computerize…

(A) The State Ethics Commission shall develop a contribution and expenditure reporting form which must include: (1) a designation as a pre-election or quarterly report and, if a pre-election report, the election date; (2) the candidate's name and address or, in the case of a comm…

(A) If a candidate or committee has not accepted any contributions and has not made any expenditures during a reporting period, the candidate or a duly authorized officer of the committee must file a statement of inactivity. (B) A statement of inactivity must include the candidat…

The appropriate supervisory office must send a notice of obligation to report and reporting forms by first class mail no less than thirty days before the filing date for each reporting period. A candidate or committee is not relieved of reporting responsibilities if the notice or…

Certified campaign reports must be made available for public inspection at the office of the State Ethics Commission, the Senate Ethics Committee, the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, and the county clerk of court within two business days of receipt. The commission, eth…

(A) A candidate is not exempt from the campaign filing requirements as provided in this article until after an election in which the candidate is a candidate or is defeated and after the candidate no longer accepts contributions, incurs expenditures, or pays for expenditures incu…

(A) Contributions received by a candidate that are in excess of expenditures during an election cycle must be used by the candidate upon final disbursement: (1) to defray ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with his duties in his public office; (2) to be contri…

(A) A ballot measure committee must not use or permit the use of contributions solicited for or received by the ballot measure committee for any purpose other than the purpose for which the ballot measure committee was originally created, unless the person making the contribution…

(A) The appropriate supervisory office, in its discretion, may determine that errors or omissions on campaign reports are inadvertent and unintentional and not an effort to violate a requirement of this chapter and may be handled as technical violations which are not subject to t…

If the Attorney General, after request by the State or any of its political subdivisions, refuses to defend an action brought in a court of competent jurisdiction challenging any provision of this chapter, the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, using funds appropriated to the…

The failure to file a report or statement with the appropriate supervisory office, as required under the provisions of this chapter, is deemed to have occurred in Richland County.

The State Ethics Commission is authorized to retain any funds derived from additional assessments associated with late filing fees to offset the costs of administering and enforcing the "Ethics, Government Accountability, and Campaign Reform Act of 1991". The commission is author…

The State Ethics Commission is authorized to carry forward unexpended lobbyists and lobbyist's principals registration fees into the current fiscal year and to use these funds for the same purpose.

(A) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, a person required to file a report or statement under this chapter who files a late statement or report or fails to file a required statement or report must be assessed a civil penalty as follows: (1) a fine of one hu…

(A) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, a person who violates any provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. (B) A person wh…

(A)(1) There is created the State Ethics Commission composed of eight members who must be appointed in the following manner: (a) four members must be appointed by the Governor, no more than two of whom are members of the appointing Governor's political party; (b) two members must…

The State Ethics Commission has these duties and powers: (1) to prescribe forms for statements required to be filed by this chapter and to furnish these forms to persons required to file them; (2) to prepare and publish a manual setting forth recommended uniform methods of report…

It is unlawful for the Governor, a member of the General Assembly, or anyone who is the subject of a pending investigation or open complaint, to contact or attempt to contact, either directly or indirectly, a member of the commission or a legislative ethics committee to influence…

In order to offset costs associated with the: (1) administration and regulation of lobbyists and lobbyist's principals, and (2) enforcement of Chapter 17 of Title 2, the State Ethics Commission shall retain fees generated by the registration of lobbyists and lobbyists' principals…

(A) The commission may employ and remove, at its pleasure, an executive director. The executive director has the responsibility for employing and terminating other personnel as may be necessary. The executive director administers the daily business of the commission and performs …

The State Ethics Commission at the close of each fiscal year shall report to the General Assembly and the Governor concerning the action it has taken, the names, salaries, and duties of all persons in its employ, and the money it has disbursed and shall make other reports on matt…

When hired, filing for office, or appointed and upon assuming the duties of employment, office, or position in state government, a public official, public member, and public employee shall receive a brochure prepared by the State Ethics Commission describing the general applicati…

Upon request, the commission shall make statements and reports filed with the commission available for public inspection and copying during regular office hours. The commission shall provide copying facilities at a cost not to exceed the actual cost. A statement may be requested …

The commission shall establish a system of electronic filing for all disclosures and reports required pursuant to Chapter 13, Title 8 and Chapter 17, Title 2 except for forms and reports required pursuant to Article 9, Chapter 13, Title 8. These disclosures and reports must be fi…

There is created a House of Representatives Legislative Ethics Committee and a Senate Legislative Ethics Committee. Each ethics committee is composed of six members. Terms are coterminous with the term for which members are elected to the House or Senate. Vacancies must be filled…

Each ethics committee shall meet and recommend any changes in the law or rules relating to ethics considered proper to their respective houses. Changes recommended must be consistent with the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, the provisions of this chapter, and any oth…

Each ethics committee shall: (1) ascertain whether a person has failed to comply fully and accurately with the disclosure requirements of this chapter, which may include, but is not limited to, an audit of filed reports and applicable campaign bank statements, and to promptly not…

(A) The committee, may issue a formal advisory opinion, based on real or hypothetical sets of circumstances. In considering and formulating an advisory opinion either legislative ethics committee shall consider its previous opinions, the relevant opinions of the other legislative…

(A)(1) A complaint alleging a member of the General Assembly, legislative caucus committees, candidates for the General Assembly, or staff of the General Assembly or legislative caucus committee has committed a violation of this chapter or Chapter 17, Title 2 must be a verified c…

(A) Upon receipt of a recommendation of expulsion or an appeal from an order of the ethics committee made pursuant to the provisions of Section 8-13-540, the presiding officer of the House or Senate shall call the House or Senate into open session at a time to be determined at hi…

Unless otherwise currently or hereafter provided for by House or Senate rule, as is appropriate: (1) A member of the General Assembly who is indicted in a state court or a federal court for a crime that is a felony, a crime that involves moral turpitude, a crime that has a senten…

(A) No public official, public member, or public employee may knowingly use his official office, membership, or employment to obtain an economic interest for himself, a family member, an individual with whom he is associated, or a business with which he is associated. This prohib…

(A) A person may not, directly or indirectly, give, offer, or promise anything of value to a public official, public member, or public employee with the intent to: (1) influence the discharge of a public official's, public member's, or public employee's official responsibilities;…

(A) Unless provided by subsection (B) and in addition to the requirements of Chapter 17 of Title 2, a public official or public employee required to file a statement of economic interests under Section 8-13-1110 who accepts anything of value from a lobbyist's principal must repor…

(A) A public official, public member, or public employee acting in an official capacity may not receive anything of value for speaking before a public or private group. A public official, public member, or public employee is not prohibited by this section from accepting a meal pr…

No person may offer or pay to a public official, public member, or public employee and no public official, public member, or public employee may solicit or receive money in addition to that received by the public official, public member, or public employee in his official capacit…

(A) A public official, public member, or public employee may not use or disclose confidential information gained in the course of or by reason of his official responsibilities in a way that would affect an economic interest held by him, a member of his immediate family, an indivi…

Unless otherwise provided by law, no person may serve as a member of a governmental regulatory agency that regulates any business with which that person is associated. An employee of the regulatory agency which regulates a business with which he is associated annually shall file …

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B), no person who serves at the same time: (1) on the governing body of a state, county, municipal, or political subdivision board or commission; and (2) as an employee of the same board or commission or in a position subject to the control o…

(A)(1) A public official occupying statewide office, a member of his immediate family, an individual with whom he is associated, or a business with which he is associated may not knowingly represent another person before a governmental entity, except as otherwise required by law.…

(A) No member of the General Assembly or an individual with whom he is associated or business with which he is associated may represent a client for a fee in a contested case, as defined in Section 1-23-310, before an agency, a commission, board, department, or other entity if th…

(A) No public official, public member, or public employee may cause the employment, appointment, promotion, transfer, or advancement of a family member to a state or local office or position in which the public official, public member, or public employee supervises or manages. (B…

A former public official, former public member, or former public employee holding public office, membership, or employment on or after January 1, 1992, may not for a period of one year after terminating his public service or employment: (1) serve as a lobbyist or represent client…

Except as is permitted by regulations of the State Ethics Commission, it is a breach of ethical standards for a public official, public member, or public employee who is participating directly in procurement, as defined in Section 11-35-310(22), to resign and accept employment wi…

(A) No person may use government personnel, equipment, materials, or an office building in an election campaign. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to a public official's use of an official residence. (B) A government, however, may rent or provide public facilities fo…