South Carolina S 395: Marriage; minimum age

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 395 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 26, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 395

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 AMENDING 
SECTION 32-2-10, RELATING TO HOLD HARMLESS CLAUSES IN CERTAIN CONSTRUCTION 
CONTRACTS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN INDEMNIFICATION PROVISIONS IN 
CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENTS AND DESIGN PROFESSIONAL AGREEMENTS ARE UNENFORCEABLE IN 
SOUTH CAROLINA AND TO DEFINE TERMS RELATED TO HOLD HARMLESS CLAUSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 32-2-10 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
32-2-10. (A) For the purposes of this section:

 (1) "Construction agreement" means a 
promise, agreement, or contract concerning the design, planning, construction, 
alteration, repair, or maintenance of a building, structure, highway, road, 
appurtenance, or appliance, including moving, demolition, and excavation. A 
construction agreement may be a public or private agreement.

 (2) "Defend" means to pay for or furnish 
counsel at a promisor's expense to shield a promisee or promisee's derivative 
parties from claims brought against the promisee or the promisee's derivative 
parties by a third party in a court or tribunal, including forms of alternative 
dispute resolution required by law or contract, before a final determination of 
fault is reached.

 (3) "Derivative parties" means a party's 
subcontractors, agents, employees, or other persons or entities for which the 
party may be liable or responsible as a result of any statutory duty, tort, or 
contractual duty.

 (4) "Design professional" means a person 
licensed or registered pursuant to the provisions of Title 40 as an architect, 
a landscape architect, an engineer, or a surveyor.

 (5) "Design professional agreement" 
means any promise, agreement, or contract entered into with a design 
professional or firm for design professional services.

 (6) "Design professional services" means 
work or a service performed by a design professional licensed or registered 
pursuant to the provisions of Title 40.

 (7) "Fault" means:

 (a) a breach of contract;

 (b) a negligent, reckless, or 
intentional act or omission constituting a tort under applicable statutes or 
common law; or

 (c) a violation of applicable statutes 
or regulations.

 (8) "Firm" means a business entity 
functioning as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability 
partnership, professional association, professional corporation, limited 
liability company, joint venture, or other legally constituted organization 
that offers or provides design services. For the purposes of this section, this 
term includes, but is not limited to, a firm through which the practice of 
providing design services requires a certificate of authorization.

 (9) "Subcontractor" means a person or 
entity providing labor or material through a promisor for use on a project at 
issue in a construction agreement or design professional agreement.

 (10) "Proximate cause" means the result 
of a direct action and cause of loss of property that sets in motion a chain of 
events that is unbroken and causes damage, injury, and destruction with no 
other interference. The loss is the result of one event.

 (B) Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, provisions in, a promise or agreement or in 
connection with, a construction agreement, the design professional agreement, planning, construction, alteration, repair or maintenance of a 
building, structure, highway, road, appurtenance or appliance, including 
moving, demolition and excavating, purporting to indemnify the promisee, its 
independent contractors, agents, employees, or indemnitees or the promisee's derivative parties against liability 
for damages arising out of bodily injury or property damage proximately caused 
by or resulting from the sole negligence of the promisee, 
its independent contractors, agents, employees, or indemnitees or the promissee's derivative parties is against public 
policy and unenforceable. Nothing contained in this section 
subsection shall affectprohibit a promise or agreement whereby the promisor 
shall indemnify or hold harmless the promisee or the promisee's independent contractors, agents, employees or indemnitees derivative parties against liability for damages 
resulting from the sole negligence, in whole or in part, of the promisor, its agents, or its employees. The provisions of this section shall not affect any insurance 
contract or workers' compensation agreements; nor shall it apply to any 
electric utility, electric cooperative, common carriers by rail and their 
corporate affiliates or the South Carolina Public Service Authority.

 (C) Provisions in, or in connection 
with, a construction agreement or d