South Carolina H 4583: A HOUSE RESOLUTION TO EXTEND THE PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE HAMMOND SCHOOL VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM OF RICHLAND COUNTY WITH THE TEAM, COACHES, AND SCHOOL OFFICIALS, AT A DATE AND TIME TO BE DETERMINED BY THE SPEAKER, FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING RECOGNIZED AND COMMENDED FOR CAPTURING THE 2017 SOUTH CAROLINA INDEPENDENT SCHOOL ASSOCIATION CLASS 3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE.

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4583 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4583

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS 
SO AS TO ENACT THE "SOUTH CAROLINA DATA CENTER RESPONSIBILITY ACT"; AND BY 
ADDING CHAPTER 81 TO TITLE 39 SO AS TO ENSURE THAT DATA CENTERS OPERATING IN 
SOUTH CAROLINA DO SO RESPONSIBLY, SUSTAINABLY, AND WITHOUT BURDENING TAXPAYERS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 
1. This act may 
be cited as the "South Carolina Data Center Responsibility Act."

SECTION 2. Title 39 of the S.C. Code is 
amended by adding:

CHAPTER 81

Data Centers

 Section 
39-81-100. For purposes of this chapter:

 (1) "Data center" means any facility 
over five thousand square feet that houses computer systems, servers, 
networking equipment, or storage systems, whether for commercial, governmental, 
or private use, and includes co-location centers and modular or containerized 
data units located on the same parcel.

 (2) "Energy independent" or "complete 
energy independence" means that one hundred percent of the facility's energy 
demand, including backup power, cooling, and ancillary load, is generated on site 
without any physical or contractual connection to state-funded utilities, 
public power grids, or off-site generation systems, except as required for 
emergency protection systems.

 (3) "Closed-loop water or liquid cooling 
system" means a sealed cooling process in which the same water or coolant 
circulates continuously without withdrawal from or discharge into municipal 
systems, groundwater sources, or surface waters, except for de minimis losses 
defined by regulation.

 (4) "Full-time employee" means a W-2 
employee of the operator who works a minimum of thirty-five hours per week on site 
at the facility and is not a temporary worker, independent contractor, or 
employee of a staffing agency.

 (5) "Facility floor space" means all 
interior square footage dedicated to computing equipment, cooling 
infrastructure, mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, and support systems, 
including mezzanines and conditioned auxiliary areas.

 Section 
39-81-110. (A) A data center must 
operate with complete energy independence.

 (B) A data center may not be 
physically interconnected to, receive power from, or participate in load-swap, 
demand-response, or standby agreements with state-funded utilities or any 
public power grid.

 (C) Backup generators must be part of 
the on-site energy system.

 (D) Fuel deliveries for generators may 
not constitute more than ten percent of annual energy consumption.

 Section 
39-81-120. (A) Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, a data center may not receive direct or indirect state 
or local taxpayer-funded incentives, grants, tax abatements, subsidies, utility 
rate reductions, or infrastructure improvements provided primarily for the 
benefit of the facility.

 (B) This prohibition applies 
regardless of whether benefits are provided to an affiliate, parent company, 
subsidiary, contractor, or related entity.

 (C) All permitting, infrastructure, 
and operational costs must be fully funded by the data center.

 Section 
39-81-130. (A) A data center must 
employ a closed-loop water or liquid cooling system resulting in zero net water 
withdrawal and zero wastewater discharge.

 (B) A facility may not extract 
groundwater, use municipal water for cooling, or employ evaporative or 
open-loop cooling systems.

 (C) A facility must submit annual 
closed-loop certification including third-party verification and documentation 
of water losses, chemical treatment processes, and fluid replacement volumes.

 Section 
39-81-140. (A) A company that 
operates a data center is strictly liable, without the need to prove 
negligence, for:

 (1) environmental damage including, 
but not limited to, contamination of the soil, water, air, or wildlife habitat; 
and

 (2) public health impacts arising 
directly or indirectly from the data center's operations.

 (B) Liability may not be transferred, 
indemnified, shielded, or assigned to third-party contractors, shell entities, 
or special purpose subsidiaries.

 (C) A company must maintain 
environmental bonding or liability insurance in an amount not less than fifty 
million dollars, or a greater amount set by regulation based on facility size.

 (D) Enforcement authority for this 
section is vested in the Department of Environmental Sciences (SCDES).

 Section 
39-81-150. (A) A data center must 
employ a minimum of one full-time, on-site employee for every one thousand 
square feet of facility floor space.

 (B) Remote workers, contract workers, 
temporary workers, or workers employed by another entity may not count toward 
the required ratio.

 (C) On-s