Before a regulation can be made,
After all of this statutory authority is in place, an agency can then make regulations that are within the agency's area of expertise as defined by statute, and those regulations will have the force of law.
For these reasons, you will find that the process of researching regulations will often require researching statutes as well.
When researching online, a statute created by the legislature can look very similar to a regulation created by an agency, so be careful to distinguish at all times whether you are looking at the Code of Laws (statutes) or the Code of Regulations.
After the South Carolina legislature (also known as the General Assembly) has created a state agency, and has given the agency power to write regulations, then the agency's process of making regulations is known as the regulatory process.
A course in administrative law will interest those who want to know details about temporary regulations, emergency regulations, and so on. However, the basic outline below of South Carolina's typical regulatory process is enough for LRAW purposes.
All South Carolina regulations that are currently in effect are organized by agency and arranged by chapters and sections (i.e., codified) in the South Carolina Code of Regulations.
In print, the red SC Code of Regulations is typically shelved immediately after the blue SC Code of Laws, both of which are considered part of the South Carolina Code Annotated.
To find an example of a South Carolina regulation: go to scstatehouse.gov. Under "South Carolina Law," click on "Code of Regulations."
Scroll down, noticing how the Code of Regulations is organized with each agency having its own chapter, including, for example:
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CHAPTER 44 - SOUTH CAROLINA LOTTERY COMMISSION
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To see the full text of the regulations the Lottery Commission has made, you'll need to choose either the Word or PDF version. Either way, Chapter 44 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations begins like this:
To see where the above example regulation (S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 44-10) was published as a final regulation in the State Register (as cited in the History line): go to scstatehouse.gov. Under "South Carolina Law," click on "State Register."
Scroll down, noticing how the State Register is organized with a Volume every year, and with an Issue every month, including, for example:
Click on "June 28," and download the PDF titled "SR 26-6."
The title of the PDF indicates that it is State Register Volume 26, Issue 6, which matches the History line from S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 44-10 as we found it in the Code of Regulations. (HISTORY: Added by State Register Volume 26, Issue No. 6, Part 2, eff June 28, 2002.)
On page 8 of the PDF, the Table of Contents lists all final regulations being published on June 28, 2002 by all South Carolina agencies, including the Lottery Commission final regulations.
Scrolling in the PDF to where the final regulation is printed (pagination is often imperfect, so ctrl+f or cmd+f may be helpful), there is:
Scroll down to the bottom of a regulation to find its History line.
On Westlaw, if you look up S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 7-401 and scroll to the bottom of the regulatory text, the History line shows this regulation was first made effective on June 27, 2003, and that an amendment was made to it, effective July 23, 2010.
Scroll down to the bottom of a regulation to find the History line.
On Lexis, if you look up S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 7-401, you'll find the History line below the regulation.
There is enough information in the History line to help you find the specific issue of the State Register in which a regulation was first made effective, or the issue in which an amendment to a regulation was made effective.
For example, if you needed to know what S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 7-401 said in 2009 (after it was made a rule in 2003 and before it was amended in 2010), you could find out by looking up State Register Volume 27, Issue No. 6, Part 2.
The SC State Register is available on Westlaw, where it is called "South Carolina Proposed & Adopted Regulations - All," but its coverage begins with January 1, 2006. If you are looking for State Register Volume 27, Issue No. 6, Part 2, effective June 27, 2003, you won't find it on Westlaw.
The SC State Register is available on Lexis, where it is called "SC - South Carolina Register." Its coverage begins in 2000.
If you are looking for State Register Volume 27, Issue No. 6, Part 2, effective June 27, 2003, you can search for "7-401" because a final regulation in the State Register will likely contain a reference to where in the SC Code of Regulations it will be codified.
Then you can use the Timeline filter on the left to narrow to 2003.
The result is the final regulation as it read from its effective date on June 27, 2003 until it was amended in July 2010. In other words, this is how R. 7-401 read in 2009.
Regulations can be annotated, just as statutes can. Annotations provide:
Annotated versions of the South Carolina Code of Regulations are found:
The un-annotated text of the South Carolina Code of Regulations is available:
The South Carolina State Register is available:
You can find other states' regulations on Westlaw and Lexis organized in a similar way to South Carolina regulations--in an administrative code like our South Carolina Code of Regulations, and in a state register like our South Carolina State Register.
Links to administrative codes and state registers of all states (free versions) are provided by the National Association of Secretaries of State, as well as in Cornell's Listing by Jurisdiction, and in FindLaw's Cases and Codes.
For additional help navigating another state's regulations, you may want to search for the keywords "administrative law research guide" in a search engine, like Google, and the name of the state. Law librarians work hard to provide introductory guides to researching their own state's regulations, as in these examples from North Carolina and Georgia.