South Carolina S 1069: Charles P. Darby Jr.

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 1069 Text of Previous Version (Mar. 31, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 1069

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 SO AS TO ENACT 
THE "GUARANTEE BANKING ACT"; AND BY ADDING CHAPTER 47 TO TITLE 34 SO AS TO 
DEFINE TERMS RELATED TO GUARANTEE BANKING; TO PROHIBIT A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION 
FROM DISCRIMINATING AGAINST A PERSON; AND TO PROVIDE FOR FAIRNESS AND 
TRANSPARENCY IN BANKING.

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Guarantee Banking Act".

SECTION 2. Title 34 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 47

Guarantee Banking

 Section 
34-47-10. As used in this chapter:

 (1) 
"Adverse action" means a decision by a financial institution to 
directly or indirectly decline to provide full and equal enjoyment in the 
provision of covered financial services and includes refusing to provide, 
terminating, or restricting covered financial services.

 (2) 
"Discriminate in the provision of covered financial services" means 
taking an adverse action against a customer on the basis of one of the 
following:

 (a) 
any person's exercise of religion that is protected by the First Amendment to 
the United States Constitution, federal law, or the Constitution or laws of 
this State, including all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well 
as belief and affiliation;

 (b) 
any person's speech, expression, opinions, expressive activity, or association 
that is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, 
federal law, or the Constitution or laws of this State, including the lawful 
preservation of privacy regarding those activities, such as declining to 
disclose contributions or political activity beyond what is required by 
applicable state and federal law. This subitem does not include speech that the 
United States Supreme Court has expressly held is unprotected, such as 
obscenity, fraud, incitement, true threats, fighting words, or defamation;

 (c) 
any person's participation in lawful economic activity;

 (d) 
animus towards a person based on the factors in subitems (a), (b), or (c); and

 (e) 
a desire to, directly or indirectly, obtain a gain from or avoid a loss imposed 
on the covered financial institution by any person for the purpose of 
encouraging the covered financial institution to take an adverse action based 
on any of the factors in subitems (a), (b), or (c).

 (3)(a) "Financial institution" 
means:

 (i) 
a bank that has total assets over one hundred billion dollars; or

 (ii) 
a payment processor, credit card company, credit card network, payment network, 
payment service provider, or payment gateway that has processed more than one 
hundred billion dollars in transactions in the last calendar year.

 (b) 
A financial institution includes any parent company, holding company, 
affiliate, or subsidiary company, even if that company is also a financial 
institution.

 (4)(a) "Covered financial 
service" means:

 (i) 
depository accounts including, but not limited to, checking accounts, savings 
accounts, or NOW accounts;

 (ii) 
money transmission including, but not limited to, checking, payment services, 
ACH, or credit card networks; or

 (iii) 
credit including, but not limited to, personal loans, mortgages, business 
loans, or credit cards.

 (b) 
"Covered financial service" does not include the provision of 
insurance or the underwriting of or an investment in a security as defined by 
federal law.

 (5) 
"Person" means any individual, partnership, association, joint stock 
company, trust, corporation, nonprofit organization, or other business or legal 
entity.

 Section 
34-47-20. (A) If a financial 
institution takes an adverse action against a person, then that person may 
request a statement of specific reasons within ninety days after receiving 
notice of the refusal to provide service, restriction of service, or 
termination of service.

 (B) 
The person may request the statement from a customer service representative or 
designated account representative by phone, U.S. mail, or electronic mail.

 (C) 
Unless otherwise prohibited by federal law, the financial institution shall 
transmit the statement of specific reasons via U.S. mail and electronic mail, 
if known to the financial institution, within thirty days of receiving the 
person's request.

 (D) 
The statement must be specific and include a description of the principal 
reason for the adverse action. A statement that the adverse action was based on 
the institution's internal standards or policies or that the person failed to 
achieve a qualifying score on the institution's credit scoring system are 
insufficient. If any criteria listed in Section 34-47-10(2) factored into t