South Carolina H 4560: Sex offender places of residence restrictions

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4560 Text of Previous Version (May. 08, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4560

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 23-3-535, RELATING TO LIMITATION ON PLACES OF RESIDENCE OF CERTAIN SEX 
OFFENDERS, EXCEPTIONS, VIOLATIONS, LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORDINANCES, AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS 
REQUIRED TO PROVIDE CERTAIN INFORMATION, SO AS TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF THE 
TERM "WITHIN ONE THOUSAND FEET" TO INCLUDE HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION-OWNED AND 
PROPERTY ASSOCIATION-OWNED AMENITY CENTERS, PARKS, AND PLAYGROUNDS, AND TO 
PROVIDE THAT A SEX OFFENDER MAY NOT RESIDE WITHIN ONE THOUSAND FEET OF THESE 
FACILITIES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

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, 
or public playground, including homeowner 
association-owned and property owner association-owned amenity centers, parks, 
and playgrounds 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, or public playground, including homeowner association-owned and property owner 
association-owned amenity centers, parks, and playgrounds:

 (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, or public playground, 
including homeowner association-owned and property owner association-owned amenity 
centers, parks, and playgrounds before the effective date of this act;

 (2) 
resided within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's 
recreational facility, park, or public playground, 
including homeowner association-owned and property owner association-owned amenity 
centers, parks, and playgrounds 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, or public playground, 
including homeowner association-owned and property owner association-owned amenity 
centers, parks, and playgrounds as a result of the establishment of a 
new school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public 
playground, including homeowner association-owned and 
property association-owned amenity centers, parks, and playgrounds;

 (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, 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 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