South Carolina H 4661: Cathy Ruff, retirement

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4661 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4661

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 ARTICLE 
10 TO CHAPTER 11, TITLE 16, SO AS TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS, TO PROHIBIT PERSONS 
FROM ENTERING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION, AND TO 
PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS; AND BY ADDING SECTION 16-11-745 SO AS TO 
PROHIBIT PERSONS FROM THREATENING INDIVIDUALS WITH THE INTENT TO OBSTRUCT THE 
OPERATION OF AN ELECTRIC UTILITY SYSTEM.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Title 16 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 10

Critical Infrastructure Protection

 Section 
16-11-1010. As used in this article:

 (1) 
"Critical infrastructure" means a system or asset, whether physical or virtual, 
so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of the system 
or asset would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic 
security, national public health, or national public safety.

 (2) 
"Critical infrastructure facility" means a facility that contains critical 
infrastructure. This includes, but is not limited to:

 (a) 
a chemical, polymer, or rubber manufacturing facility;

 (b) 
any plant, facility, assets, or equipment utilized for the generation, 
transmission, distribution, or storage of electricity;

 (c) 
any plant, facility, assets, or equipment utilized for natural gas terminals, 
compressor, treatment, distribution, or storage;

 (d) 
any plant, facility, assets, or equipment utilized for fuel or oil storage, 
distribution, or refinery;

 (e) 
a mining operation or infrastructure;

 (f) 
a transportation facility such as a port, airport, railroad operating facility, 
or trucking terminal;

 (g) 
a wireline or wireless communications infrastructure;

 (h) 
a steelmaking facility that uses an electric arc furnace;

 (i) 
a dam that is regulated by state or federal government.

 (3) 
"Critical infrastructure property" means any real or personal property 
necessary to the operation of a critical infrastructure facility. This includes, 
but is not limited to, any equipment, commodity, hardware, software, or other 
digital or electronic property.

 (4) 
"Fraudulent document for identification purposes" means a document that is 
presented as being a bona fide document that provides personal identification 
information but which, in fact, is false, forged, altered, or counterfeit.

 (5) 
"Person" means an individual, trust, estate, corporation, partnership, limited 
partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, or 
unincorporated nonprofit association having a separate legal existence under 
state law.

 (6) 
"Unmanned aircraft system" means a powered, aerial vehicle that does not carry 
a human operator, uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, may fly 
autonomously through an onboard computer or be piloted remotely, and may be 
expendable or recoverable. "Unmanned aircraft system" does not include a 
satellite orbiting the Earth or a spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere and may 
not be construed to implicate the provider of a telecommunications link between 
an owner or operator of an unmanned aircraft system and the unmanned aircraft 
system.

 Section 
16-11-1020. (A) It is unlawful 
for a person to enter a critical infrastructure facility without authorization if 
the person:

 (1) 
intentionally enters without authority into any structure or onto any premises 
belonging to another that constitutes in whole or in part a critical 
infrastructure facility that is completely enclosed by any type of physical 
barrier or is clearly marked with a sign or signs that are posted in a 
conspicuous manner and indicate that unauthorized entry is forbidden;

 (2) 
uses or attempts to use a fraudulent document for identification for the 
purpose of entering a critical infrastructure facility;

 (3) 
remains on the premises of a critical infrastructure facility after having been 
forbidden to do so, either orally or in writing, by any owner, lessee, or 
custodian of the property or by any other authorized person; or

 (4) 
intentionally enters a restricted area of a critical infrastructure facility 
which is marked as a restricted or limited access area that is completely 
enclosed by any type of physical barrier when the person is not authorized to 
enter the restricted or limited access area.

 (B) 
A person who violates the provisions of subsection (A) is guilty of a Class D 
felony, and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than fifteen 
years.

 Section 
16-11-1030. (A) If, during the 
commission of the crime of unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure 
facility, the person i