Title 2, General Assembly

The clerk of the House of Representatives may offer for sale to the public at least five hundred copies of each legislative manual, as published, at such price as may be determined by the clerk; provided, that this price may not be less than the additional cost of printing each s…

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law or rule of court, no member of the General Assembly shall be required to appear in court as an attorney, who is the attorney of record, witness or otherwise during any regular legislative day, on any day in which the General Assembly is…

No furniture owned by the State and utilized by the General Assembly shall escheat to any member of either body unless such member shall have served for not less than six years.

The General Assembly shall not by act or resolution give away any State-owned property but may provide that State-owned property may be sold at fair market value.

The regular annual session of the General Assembly shall adjourn sine die each year not later than five o'clock p.m. on the second Thursday in May. The regular annual session of the General Assembly can be extended: (a) if the House of Representatives fails to give a third readin…

Representatives to the House of Representatives shall be elected from the several counties of the State at the general election to be held on Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every even-numbered year.

Beginning with members of the General Assembly first elected in the 1992 General Election, the Operations and Management Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate acting as a joint committee shall establish a program for newly elected members of the General Assemb…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, or any limitation or provision contained in the annual general appropriations act, each house of the General Assembly is exempt from any provision which requires the approval of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, R…

(A) With the exception of the Governor's Executive Budget and related documents and telephone directories, an agency, a department, or an entity of state government required by law to report to the General Assembly shall prepare its report and transmit its report electronically t…

(A) For the purposes of this section, "monument" means a statue, bust, mural, portrait, or other memorial to a person or event venerated for its enduring historical significance. (B) There is established a moratorium on the placement of additional monuments on the State House gro…

(A) The South Carolina Housing Commission (commission) is hereby established. The purpose of the commission is to provide recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on an annual basis to ensure and foster the availability of safe, sound, and affordable housing and w…

Each House office in this State shall constitute a separate and distinct office to which a separate number shall be assigned within each election district for such an office. A candidate for such an office shall be required to qualify for a specific office and shall not be permit…

Any person otherwise qualified by law and the Constitution of this State may file as a candidate and can be elected only in the district in which he is a resident. A person may file for only one House office. Terms of office shall be for two years.

Beginning with the 2024 General Election, one representative of the House of Representatives must be elected from each of the following districts: DISTRICT 1 Area Population County: Oconee SC Holly Springs 652 Keowee 2,771 Long Creek 628 Madison 923 Mountain Rest 1,326 Richland 1…

The clerk of the House of Representatives shall within ten days from the adjournment of the General Assembly sine die send the names of all persons elected or appointed by the General Assembly during the session to the Secretary of State, together with the action of the General A…

Commencing with the 2024 General Election, one member of the Senate must be elected from each of the following districts: DISTRICT 1 Area Population County: Oconee SC 78,607 County: Pickens SC Abel 2,291 Calhoun 3,546 Clemson 2,784 Issaqueena 1,625 Lawrence Chapel 1,668 Morrison …

Every chairman of a committee of the House of Representatives or of the Senate who is ex officio a member of any commission or board shall continue to be a member of such commission or board after each general election and until his successor shall be appointed chairman of such c…

The term of legislative members of the state boards and commissions is coterminous with their term of office in the General Assembly except that they shall serve until their successors are elected or appointed and qualify. Nothing in this section prohibits the reappointment of le…

Wherever a statute provides for the chairman of a standing committee of the General Assembly to be a member of a board or commission, ex officio, the members of the standing committee may elect another member of the committee to serve in lieu of the chairman.

As used in this chapter: (1) "Agency" means an authority, board, branch, commission, committee, department, division, or other instrumentality of the executive or judicial departments of state government, including administrative bodies. "Agency" includes a body corporate and pol…

Any person who appears before a committee or subcommittee of either house, pursuant to this chapter, and wilfully gives false, materially misleading, or materially incomplete testimony under oath is guilty of contempt of the General Assembly. A person who is convicted of or plead…

Whenever any person violates Section 2-2-100 it is the duty of the chair of the committee or subcommittee before which the false, misleading, or incomplete testimony was given, to notify the Attorney General of South Carolina who shall cause charges to be filed in the appropriate…

A person is guilty of criminal contempt when, having been duly subpoenaed to attend as a witness before either house of the legislature or before any committee thereof, he: (1) fails or refuses to attend without lawful excuse; or (2) refuses to be sworn; or (3) refuses to answer …

(A) Beginning January 1, 2015, each standing committee shall conduct oversight studies and investigations on all agencies within the standing committee's subject matter jurisdiction at least once every seven years in accordance with a schedule adopted as provided in this chapter.…

(A) The procedure for conducting the oversight studies and investigations is provided in this section. (B)(1) The President of the Senate, upon consulting with the chairmen of the standing committees in the Senate and the Clerk of the Senate, shall determine the agencies for whic…

(A) In addition to the scheduled seven-year oversight studies and investigations, a standing committee of the Senate or House of Representatives may initiate an oversight study and investigation of an agency within its subject matter jurisdiction. The motion calling for the overs…

The General Assembly finds and declares the following to be the public policy of the State of South Carolina: (1) Section 1, Article XII of the State Constitution requires the General Assembly to provide for appropriate agencies to function in the areas of health, welfare, and sa…

When an investigating committee conducts an oversight study and investigation or a legislative investigation is conducted pursuant to Section 2-2-40(B), evidence or information related to the investigation may be acquired by any lawful means, including, but not limited to: (A) se…

(A) An investigating committee's request for a program evaluation report must contain: (1) the agency program or operations that it intends to investigate; (2) the information that must be included in the report; and (3) the date that the report must be submitted to the committee…

All testimony given to the investigating committee must be under oath.

Any witness testifying before the investigating committee may have counsel present to advise him. The witness or his counsel may, during the time of testimony, claim any legal privilege recognized by the laws of this State in response to any question and is entitled to have a rul…

A witness shall be given the benefit of any privilege at law which he may have in court as a party to a civil action.

All members elected to the General Assembly shall take the oath prescribed in Article III, section 26, of the Constitution of the State, before entering upon the duties of their office.

(A) The Sergeant At Arms of the Senate and the Sergeant At Arms of the House of Representatives shall take exclusive care and charge of the Senate chamber and the hall of the House of Representatives and the committee rooms, respectively, and be held responsible for their keeping…

(A) The duties of the Sergeants at Arms and Directors of Security of the respective Houses or the Assistant Sergeant at Arms, or both, are: (1) as provided by law; (2) as provided by the Rules of the respective Houses; (3) the security of personnel and property of the respective …

The Speaker is hereby designated as the department head and chief administrative officer of the House of Representatives. He is authorized to furnish his office and those of the various standing committees of the House with such supplies and equipment as he deems necessary to be …

The Senate and House of Representatives shall each elect, on the first day of the session of each General Assembly, a chaplain, who shall serve as such officer during the sessions.

There shall be appointed at the commencement of the first session of every term of the General Assembly for the Senate: (1) By the presiding officer of the Senate the secretary to the president, the secretary between sessions, the pages, the postmistress, a telephone page, three …

The clerk of the House of Representatives shall appoint all of the clerical and stenographic help in the House and in addition thereto shall be authorized to employ one porter. The sergeant at arms of the House shall appoint one porter. The Speaker of the House shall appoint the …

The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall have authority to employ such additional employees, not in excess of two, as he deems necessary for the proper operation of his office and upon his approval their salaries as set by him shall be paid from the approved accounts of …

(A) The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint the Executive Director of Research. The Speaker, with the advice and consent of the individual committee chairmen, shall appoint the Director of Research for each standing committee. (B) Necessary temporary or permanen…

When either the House of Representatives or the Senate submits its annual budget requests all employees shall be designated as temporary or full time and the compensation of all full-time employees shall be shown as a line item.

(A) All persons elected or appointed under the provisions of this chapter shall receive such compensation as the General Assembly shall determine. (B) Notwithstanding any other law, the Speaker must authorize and allocate any base pay increase, merit pay, or bonus among the staff…

Full-time employees of the House of Representatives and the Senate are prohibited from outside employment during normal working hours, except with the permission of an employee's department head, and annual leave must be taken for any approved outside employment.

All officers making any of the appointments provided for in this chapter shall forthwith, when each appointment is made, furnish correct lists thereof to the clerks of the two houses respectively and copies of such lists, together with a list of the officers or attaches elected b…

No person holding or exercising the duties of any office in this State and no person not a permanent resident of this State shall be eligible to election or appointment to any of the offices or positions provided for in this chapter.