The legislature is constantly passing acts that create or amend South Carolina's statutes which, in turn, requires a system for updating the published material to keep it current. Each hardbound volume of the South Carolina Code Annotated is updated annually by either a supplement inserted in the back of the book called a pocket part or a separate softbound supplement shelved next to the hardbound volume.
Supplements include any amendments or repeals of statutes as well as additional research materials and cases decided since the hardbound volume was last revised. Supplements also contain new laws that do not yet appear in the hardbound volumes.
Because supplements to the print South Carolina Code Annotated are published only once a year, the South Carolina General Assembly could amend or repeal a statute before a new supplement or hardbound volume is printed.
The unannotated South Carolina Code is updated on the South Carolina Legislature website about once a year, at the end of each legislative session. That means there could be a months-long delay between the time a statute is amended or repealed and the time that amendment or repeal is reflected in the South Carolina Code on the South Carolina Legislature website.
Like in print (as seen in SC Statutory History), the history line at the end of each statute on the South Carolina Legislature website states when the most recent change was made to that statute. For example, the Payment of Wages statute below from the South Carolina Legislature website tells you that the statute was last amended in 1990.
However, if the General Assembly passed a law affecting this statute after the date that the South Carolina Code was last updated on South Carolina Legislature website, that most recent change will not appear on the website yet.
In order to check that there have not been any subsequent changes affecting a particular code section, you may use the South Carolina Legislature website to view a list of acts that have not yet been codified.
Even though Westlaw and Lexis do not contain official versions of the South Carolina Code, they are likely to have more timely updates, with more recent acts already codified in them, compared to the official print version.
Citators track statutes for amendments or repeal and provide secondary sources and cases that cite each statute. KeyCite® is the citator for Westlaw. Shepard's® is the citator for Lexis.
For example, the red flag in the Westlaw image below alerted researchers when the South Carolina General Assembly passed an Act amending the law prohibiting persons convicted of domestic violence from possessing a firearm. The 2015 amendment re-wrote section 16-25-30 of the South Carolina Code Annotated.
The image below of the same South Carolina firearm possession statute in Lexis includes a red triangle symbol next to Legislative Alert Service in the Shepard's® box.
