South Carolina H 3452: Celebrate Freedom Week

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3452 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3452

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 61-6-4160, RELATING TO THE SALE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS ON CERTAIN DAYS, 
SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE SALE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS ON SUNDAY MAY BE AUTHORIZED 
BY REFERENDUM.

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

SECTION 1. Section 61-6-4160 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
61-6-4160. (A) It is unlawful to sell alcoholic liquors on Sunday except as authorized by law, on Christmas Day, or during periods proclaimed by the Governor in the 
interest of law and order or public morals and decorum. Full authority to 
proclaim these periods is conferred upon the Governor in addition to all his 
other powers. It is unlawful for a retail dealer to sell 
alcoholic liquors on Sunday except as authorized and provided for in 
subsections (B) and (C).

 (B) The Department of Revenue may 
issue a permit to allow the sale of alcoholic liquors on Sunday by a licensed 
retail dealer in a county or municipality that authorizes the sale of alcoholic 
liquors on Sunday in the manner provided in subsection (C). The department 
shall charge a nonrefundable filing fee of one hundred dollars for processing 
each application. The department shall charge for an annual fifty-two week 
permit a nonrefundable fee of three thousand dollars per year. However, the 
fifty-two-week permit must not extend beyond the expiration date of the 
biennial license issued pursuant to this chapter. If the expiration date is 
less than fifty-two weeks from the date of the application for the fifty-two-week 
permit, the department must prorate the three thousand dollar fee on a monthly 
basis. The department in its sole discretion shall specify the terms and 
conditions of the permit. The filing and permit fees must be distributed by the 
State Treasurer to the municipality or county in which the retailer who paid 
the fee is located.

 (C)(1) A permit authorized by this 
section may be issued only in those counties or municipalities where a majority 
of the qualified electors voting in a referendum vote in favor of the issuance 
of the permit. The county or municipal election commission, as the case may be, 
shall conduct a referendum upon petition of at least ten percent but not more 
than seven thousand five hundred qualified electors of the county or 
municipality, as the case may be. The petition form must be submitted to the 
election commission not less than one hundred twenty days before the date of 
the referendum. The names on the petition must be on the petition form provided 
to county election officials by the State Election Commission. The names on the 
petition must be certified by the election commission within sixty days after 
receiving the petition form. The referendum must be conducted at the next 
general election. The election commission shall cause a notice to be published 
in a newspaper circulated in the county or municipality, as the case may be, at 
least seven days before the referendum. The state election laws must apply to 
the referendum, mutatis mutandis. The election commission shall publish the 
results of the referendum and certify them to the South Carolina Department of 
Revenue. The question on the ballot must be:

 "Shall 
the South Carolina Department of Revenue be authorized to issue permits to 
licensed retail dealers in this (county) (municipality) to allow for the sale 
of alcoholic liquors on Sunday in compliance with the provisions of the 
Alcoholic Beverage Control Act?"

 (2) A referendum for this purpose may 
not be held more often than once in forty-eight months.

 (3) The expenses for this purpose must 
be paid by the county or municipality conducting the referendum.

 (4) In addition to the petition method 
of calling the referendum provided for in this subsection, a county or 
municipal governing body by ordinance also may call the referendum. Upon 
receipt of a copy of the ordinance filed with the county or municipal election 
commission at least sixty days before the date of the next general election, 
the commission shall conduct the referendum in the manner provided in this 
section at that general election. The provisions of this item are in addition 
to the authority of a municipal governing body to call for a referendum under 
the circumstances enumerated in subsection (C)(1).

 (D)(1) The municipal governing body may 
order a referendum on the question of the issuance of permits to allow the sale 
of alcoholic liquors in the following circumstances:

 (a) parts of the municipality are 
located in more than one county;

 (b) as a result of a favorable vote in 
a county referen