South Carolina H 4927: Persistent Domestic Violence Offender Registry

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4927 Text of Previous Version (Jan. 14, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4927

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 BY ADDING ARTICLE 
18 TO CHAPTER 3, TITLE 23 SO AS TO DIRECT THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION TO 
CREATE AND ADMINISTER THE "PERSISTENT Criminal DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENDER 
REGISTRY."

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 3, Title 23 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 18

Persistent Criminal Domestic Violence Offender Registry

 Section 
23-3-1600. (A) To provide a 
statewide registry of offenders who have repeatedly committed offenses of criminal 
domestic violence pursuant to Article 1, Chapter 25, Title 16, the State Law 
Enforcement Division (SLED) is directed to create and administer the "Persistent 
Criminal Domestic Violence Offender Registry." As contained in this article, 
"persistent criminal domestic violence offender" means a person who has committed 
a second or subsequent criminal domestic violence offense.

 (B) Upon 
the conviction of a person for a second or subsequent criminal domestic 
violence offense, the clerk of court shall submit a copy of the conviction to 
SLED to be placed in the registry. SLED shall maintain this registry based upon 
information supplied to it by the court clerks and information available to 
SLED from the Department of Corrections and local law enforcement agencies. 
SLED shall make the registry available for public inquiry on its website.

 (C) The 
registry shall consist of the persistent domestic violence offender's name, 
date of birth, conviction dates, counties of convictions, and a current 
photograph of the persistent criminal domestic violence offender. If available, 
the clerk of court shall provide SLED with a copy of the persistent criminal domestic 
violence offender's driver's license number, or other state or federal 
identification, and any other identifying data as SLED determines is necessary 
to properly identify the persistent criminal domestic violence offender and 
exclude innocent persons. However, the registry that is available for public 
inquiry must not include the persistent criminal domestic violence offender's 
address, social security number, driver's license number, or any other state or 
federal identification number.

 (D) 
An offender required to register under this article must be assessed a 
one-hundred-dollar-registration fee which must be paid to the clerk of the 
court imposing the sentence, who shall:

 (1) 
retain fifty dollars of the fee for administrative purposes; and

 (2) 
remit one hundred dollars of the fee to SLED to maintain the registry.

 (E) 
SLED shall remove from the registry the name and other identifying information 
of a persistent criminal domestic violence offender required to register under 
this article:

 (1) 
two years after the date of the most recent conviction for a criminal domestic 
violence offense if the offender has one prior conviction for criminal domestic 
violence;

 (2) 
five years after the date of the most recent conviction for a criminal domestic 
violence offense if the offender has two prior convictions for criminal 
domestic violence; or

 (3) 
ten years after the date of the most recent conviction of a criminal domestic 
violence offense if the offender has three or more prior convictions for 
criminal domestic violence.

 (F) 
This article applies only to persons convicted of second or subsequent criminal 
domestic violence offenses on or after January 1, 2027.

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on January 14, 2026 at 03:42 PM