South Carolina H 3402: Student athletes

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3402 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3402

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 CHAPTER 
79 TO TITLE 39 BY ENACTING THE "SOUTH CAROLINA AGE-APPROPRIATE DESIGN CODE ACT" 
SO AS TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS, TO PROVIDE FOR INFORMATION FIDUCIARY, TO PROVIDE 
SCOPE AND EXCLUSIONS, TO PROVIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED ENTITIES, TO PROVIDE 
FOR PROHIBITIONS FOR COVERED ENTITIES, TO PROVIDE FOR DATA PRACTICES, TO 
PROVIDE FOR ENFORCEMENT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR LIMITATIONS.

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "South Carolina Age-Appropriate Design Code 
Act."

SECTION 2. Title 39 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 79

Age-Appropriate Design Code

 Section 
39-79-10. As used in this chapter:

 (1) 
"Affiliate" means legal entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under 
common control with, that other legal entity. For these purposes, "control" or 
"controlled" means ownership of, or the power to vote, more than fifty percent 
of the outstanding shares of any class of voting security of a covered entity, 
control in any manner over the election of a majority of the directors or of 
individuals exercising similar functions, or the power to exercise a 
controlling influence over the management of a covered entity.

 (2) 
"Age-appropriate" means a recognition of the distinct needs and diversities of 
children at different age ranges. To help support the design of online 
services, products, and features, covered entities should take into account the 
unique needs and diversities of different age ranges, including the following 
developmental stages: zero to five years of age or "preliterate and early 
literacy"; six to nine years of age or "core primary school years"; ten to 
twelve years of age or "transition years"; thirteen to fifteen years of age or 
"early teens"; and sixteen to seventeen years or age or "approaching 
adulthood."

 (3) 
"Best interests of children" means the use, by a covered entity, of the 
personal data of a child or the design of an online service, product, or 
feature in a way that:

 (a) 
will not benefit the covered entity to the detriment of the child; and

 (b) 
will not result in:

 (i) 
reasonably foreseeable and material, physical, or financial harm to the child;

 (ii) 
reasonably foreseeable and severe psychological or emotional harm to the child;

 (iii) 
a highly offensive intrusion on the reasonable privacy expectations of the 
child; or

 (iv) 
discrimination against the child based upon race, color, religion, national 
origin, disability, sex, or sexual orientation.

 (4) 
"Child" means a consumer who is under eighteen years of age.

 (5) 
"Collect" means buying, renting, gathering, obtaining, receiving, or accessing 
any personal data pertaining to a consumer by any means. This includes 
receiving data from the consumer, either actively or passively, or by observing 
the consumer's behavior.

 (6)(a) "Covered entity" means:

 (i) 
a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, 
association, or other legal entity that is organized or operated for the profit 
or financial benefit of its shareholders or other owners; and

 (ii) 
an affiliate of a covered entity that shares common branding with the covered 
entity. For purposes of this subsubitem, "common branding" means a shared name, 
service mark, or trademark that the average consumer would understand that two 
or more entities are commonly owned.

 (b) 
For purposes of this chapter, for a joint venture or partnership composed of 
covered entities in which each covered entity has at least a forty percent 
interest, the joint venture or partnership and each covered entity that 
composes the joint venture or partnership must be separately considered a 
single covered entity, except that personal data in the possession of each 
covered entity and disclosed to the joint venture or partnership may not be 
shared with the other covered entity.

 (7) 
"Consumer" means a natural person who is a South Carolina resident, however 
identified, including by any unique identifier.

 (8) 
"Dark pattern" means a user interface designed or manipulated with the purpose 
of subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision making, or choice.

 (9) 
"Data protection impact assessment" means a systematic survey to assess 
compliance with the duty to act in the best interests of children and includes 
a plan to ensure that all online products, services, or features provided by 
the covered entity are designed and offered in a manner consistent with the 
best interests of children reasonably likely to access the online product, 
service, or feature. Suc