South Carolina S 631: Kirby Elizabeth Self, Miss SC USA

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 631 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 28, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 631

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

Indicates Matter 
Stricken

Indicates New Matter

Amended

April 28, 2026

S. 631

Introduced 
by Senators Walker and Zell 

S. Printed 4/28/26--S.

Read the first time May 1, 2025

________

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 23-3-535, RELATING TO LIMITATIONS ON PLACES OF RESIDENCE OF CERTAIN SEX 
OFFENDERS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR A SEX OFFENDER TO RESIDE 
WITHIN ONE THOUSAND FEET OF A BUS STOP; AND TO PROVIDE THAT OWNERS OR RENTERS 
OF IMPACTED PROPERTY NOT BE REQUIRED TO RELOCATE IF THEY OWNED OR RENTED THE 
PROPERTY BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT.

 Amend Title To Conform

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-3-535 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
23-3-535. (A) As contained in this 
section:

 (1) 
"Children's recreational facility" means a facility owned and operated by a 
city, county, or special purpose district used for the purpose of recreational 
activity for children under the age of eighteen.

 (2) 
"Daycare center" means an arrangement where, at any one time, there are three 
or more preschool-age children, or nine or more school-age children receiving 
child care.

 (3) 
"School" does not include a home school or an institution of higher education.

 (4) 
"Within one thousand feet" means a measurement made in a straight line, without 
regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the 
property on which the sex offender resides to the nearest property line of the 
premises of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, school bus stop, or public playground, whichever is 
closer.

 (B) 
It is unlawful for a sex offender who has been convicted of any of the 
following offenses to reside within one thousand feet of a school, daycare 
center, children's recreational facility, park, school bus 
stop, or public playground:

 (1) 
criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first degree;

 (2) 
criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree;

 (3) 
assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct with a minor;

 (4) 
kidnapping a person under eighteen years of age; or

 (5) 
trafficking in persons of a person under eighteen years of age except when the 
court makes a finding on the record that the offense did not include a criminal 
sexual offense or an attempted criminal sexual offense.

 (C) 
This section does not apply to a sex offender who:

 (1) 
resided within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's 
recreational facility, park, school bus stop, or 
public playground before the effective date of this act;

 (2) 
resided within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's 
recreational facility, park, school bus stop, or 
public playground on property the sex offender owned before the sex offender 
was charged with any of the offenses enumerated in subsection (B);

 (3) 
resides within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's 
recreational facility, park, school bus stop, or 
public playground as a result of the establishment of a new school, daycare 
center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground;

 (4) 
resides in a jail, prison, detention facility, group home for persons under the 
age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Social Services, residential 
treatment facility for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control Department of Public Health, or other holding facility, 
including a mental health facility;

 (5) 
resides in a homeless shelter for no more than one year, a 
group home for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the 
Department of Social Services, or a residential treatment facility for persons 
under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of 
Public Health, Health and Environmental Control, 
and the site was purchased by the organization prior to the effective date of 
this act;

 (6) 
resides in a community residential care facility, as defined in Section 
44-7-130(6); or

 (7) 
resides in a nursing home, as defined in Section 44-7-130(13).

 (D) 
If upon registration of a sex offender, or at any other time, a local law 
enforcement agency determines that a sex offender is in violation of this 
section, then the local law enforcement agency 
must, within thirty days, notify the sex offender of the violation, provide the 
sex offender with a list of areas in which the sex offender is not permitted to 
reside, and notify the sex offender that the sex offender has thirty days to 
vacate the residence. If the sex offender fails to vacate the r