When the South Carolina General Assembly (also called the South Carolina Legislature) passes a law, it may designate an existing state agency or create a new state agency to implement and enforce that law. To do this, it gives that state agency the duty and power to write rules and regulations. The official SC.GOV website includes an Agency Listing page with links to all South Carolina State agencies.
This unit on South Carolina Regulations covers how South Carolina regulations are published and how to find, read, and update them in print and using the South Carolina Legislature website.
It ends with a video on how to search for South Carolina regulations for free in print and online.
Once an agency in South Carolina is given the authority to write regulations, it generally provides an opportunity for the public to comment by publishing a Notice of Drafting and the text of its proposed regulations in the South Carolina State Register.Based on the feedback it receives, the agency may make revisions to the regulations before it submits its final version to the General Assembly for approval. After approval by the General Assembly, the final regulations are published in the South Carolina State Register. The regulations become effective when published.
The law library maintains a print version of the South Carolina State Register from its inception in 1977 to the present.
The current South Carolina State Register and archival volumes dating back through 1999 are available online through the South Carolina Legislature website. The University of South Carolina provides access to the remaining volumes of the South Carolina State Register (from 1977 through 1998) as part of its digital collections.
South Carolina Code of Regulations
After an agency's final regulations are published in the SC State Register, they are organized by agency and arranged by chapters and sections (i.e., codified) in the South Carolina Code of Regulations.
For example, in 2002 the South Carolina Lottery Commission issued regulations to implement the South Carolina Education Lottery. The regulation addressing how to claim a lottery prize from a winning ticket was published in the South Carolina Code of Regulations as Chapter 44, “Lottery Commission,” Section 70, “Claiming Prizes.”
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44-70 Claiming Prizes. A. A claim shall be entered in the name of a single natural person. A guardian may claim a prize if the ticket was received as a gift. No claim may be paid to an individual who is not eighteen (18) years of age. Groups, family units, organizations, clubs or other organizations shall designate one individual in whose name the claim is to be entered. B. Unless otherwise provided in the rules for a specific type of game, a claimant shall sign the back of the ticket and complete and sign a claim form provided by the Executive Director. The claimant shall submit the claim form and claimant’s ticket to SCEL in accordance with the instructions as stated on the claim form and on the back of the ticket. If there is a difference or conflict in the name appearing on the ticket and the claim form, the name which appears on the ticket controls. C. The claimant, by submitting the claim, agrees to discharge the State, SCEL, its officials, officers and employees of all further liability upon payment of the prize. D. A prize must be claimed within the time limits prescribed by the Executive Director. E. The Executive Director or Commission may deny awarding a prize to a claimant if the ticket is printed or produced in error. F. The Executive Director’s decisions and judgments in respect to the determination of a winning ticket or any dispute arising from the payment or awarding of prizes are final, subject to an appeal to the Commission. G. Unless the rules or procedures for any specific game provide otherwise, SCEL shall have the authority to designate any game be paid in periodic payments. Any prize not designated to be paid in periodic payments by the player or SCEL will be paid in a lump sum less that portion paid to the federal and state government for withholding tax purposes. No schedule of prize payments shall exceed twenty (20) years. To provide periodic prize payments, SCEL may purchase annuities from annuity sellers, securities from the United States government, or any other instruments provided for by law. HISTORY: Added by State Register Volume 26, Issue No. 6, Part 2, eff June 28, 2002. |
Text of SC Lottery Regulations
The current South Carolina Code of Regulations is available online for free via the South Carolina Legislature website.
The official South Carolina Code of Regulations is published in print, annotated, and indexed as part of the South Carolina Code Annotated.
Annotations add the following to the text of a regulation:
An annotated version of the South Carolina Code of Regulations is also available through Westlaw, which some South Carolina public libraries subscribe to for their patrons
Citation
You may find a South Carolina regulation cited in an article or book on a legal topic, referenced in a statute or its annotations, or cited in a case.
If you know the citation to a South Carolina regulation, you can locate it in the print South Carolina Code of Regulations by going to the volume that contains that chapter and section.
For example, to locate Lottery Regulation 44-70. Claiming Prizes in the South Carolina Code of Regulations, find the red regulations volume that contains Chapter 44 and turn to Section 70.
Text of SC Lottery Regulations
Once you find a regulation that applies to your legal issue, you can use the Table of Contents for that chapter to find other relevant regulations. For example, in the Table of Contents for Chapter 44 on the right, you find the Definitions regulation, which includes the term "Unclaimed Prize." In that definition, you learn that a prize is considered unclaimed after 180 days.
If you do not have a citation to a specific regulation to help you begin your search, you can use the A-I and J-Z Indexes for the South Carolina Code Annotated, which includes South Carolina regulations, to find a regulation on your legal issue by subject.
Each index contains an alphabetical list of topics with references to South Carolina statutes and regulations on that topic.
A reference to a regulation will have the name of the agency, and an "R" before the citation. For example, in the index below under LOTTERIES, you find an entry for Lottery R 44-10 et seq. (Et seq means and the following). If the first topic you look up in the index does not work, it may refer you to a different, more helpful topic.
You may also find regulations by subject in the indexes to the South Carolina Code Annotated under the topic "Rules and Regulations" or listed under the name of the responsible agency.
The official South Carolina regulations are published in the print South Carolina Code of Regulations.
The unofficial and unannotated South Carolina Code of State Regulations is available for free through the South Carolina Legislature website, which allows you to search by citation, browse regulations by chapter, and search regulations by keyword.
An agency's regulations may be posted on its website. The South Carolina Legislature website provides an alphabetical listing of links to South Carolina State Agency Websites. The Lottery Commission is listed under "E" for Education Lottery Commission.
On the South Carolina Education Lotttery website, choose the ABOUT US tab to find links to the Lottery Act and Lottery Commission regulations. Remember: although regulations are a separate source of law, regulations derive authority from statutes.
The SC Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) website can be a very helpful resource for finding the statutes and regulations that govern its many divisions:
For example, if you use its Professions +Occupations tab to look up the South Carolina Athletic Commission you will find links to the statutes and regulations for the occupations it licenses and permits.
There are several websites that provide links to all state regulations available online. Examples include the website for the Administrative Codes and Registers Section (ACR) of the National Association of Secretaries of State, which provides links to administrative codes and state registers available for U.S. states and territories; the Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C.'s Legislative Sourcebook, which includes a page of website links and telephone numbers for state legislatures, state laws, and state regulations; Cornell Law School's Listing by Jurisdiction with links to regulations for each state; and FindLaw's Cases and Codes webpage, which provides links for each state's administrative codes.
South Carolina colleges and universities and public libraries may provide access to South Carolina and all other state regulations (also called administrative codes) through subscriptions to Westlaw or LexisNexis.
Some public library systems in South Carolina offer public access to Westlaw for its members. The University of South Carolina subscribes to NexisUni™ (formerly LexisNexis Academic).
With access to Westlaw or NexisUni, you can search for South Carolina regulations by citation, using the table of contents, and by keyword search. South Carolina regulations in Westlaw are annotated and include an index like the print regulations (published by West).
Supplements to the South Carolina Code of Regulations are published once a year, so an agency could amend or repeal a regulation or adopt a new regulation before a new supplement or hardbound volume is printed.
Pursuant to the South Carolina Administrative Procedures Act, the South Carolina Administrative Law Court (ALC) presides over contested cases involving the executive branch of South Carolina government and hears appeals from final decisions of certain (not all) South Carolina state agencies, as prescribed by state law.
From the South Carolina ALC's website you can browse or search ALC decisions and limit your search by agency, judge, date, party name, case type, and keywords.
Within the Administrative Law Court, the Office of Motor Vehicle Hearings (OMVH) presides over hearings for persons affected by an action or proposed action of the SC Department of Motor Vehicles. Office of Motor Vehicles Hearing decisions are included in the database of searchable Administrative Law Court decisions.