South Carolina H 4001: Bill Fuller

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4001 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 13, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4001

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 PROHIBITION ON THE SALE OF 
ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS ON CERTAIN DAYS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN LOCAL 
GOVERNING BODIES MAY AUTHORIZE THE SALE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS ON SUNDAYS UNDER 
CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

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 this 
section.

 (B) The Department of Revenue may 
issue a permit to allow the sale of alcoholic liquors on Sunday between 1:00 
p.m. and 5:00 p.m. 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 permit fee must be waived if 
the applicant certifies to the department that the applicant is the owner of 
the retail premises in which the permit is sought, and the applicant does not 
have an ownership interest in other retail locations where a permit authorizing 
the Sunday sale of liquor may be issued. 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 Department of Revenue pursuant to the 
provisions of Section 61-6-2010(B).

 (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 
county or municipal 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 or municipal election officials by the State 
Election Commission. The names on the petition must be certified by the county 
or municipal election commission within sixty days after receiving the petition 
form. The referendum must be conducted at the next general election. The county 
or municipal 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 county or municipal 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 between 
1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. in compliance with the provisions of the Alcoholic 
Beverage Control Act?"

 (2) A referendum for this purpose may 
not be held by a county or municipality more often than once in forty-eight 
months by the same county or municipality initiating the referendum.

 (3) The conducting of a referendum by 
a county shall not affect the right of a municipality which is within that 
county to conduct a referendum within forty-eight months of the county 
referendum.

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

 (5) In addition to the petition method 
of calling the referendum provided for in item (1), a county or municipal 
governing body by ordinance al