Sex Offender Child Protection Act

2025-2026 Bill 4683: Sex Offender Child Protection Act - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4683
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Rankin, C. Mitchell, Edgerton, Teeple, Hartnett and Lastinger
Document Path: LC-0321CM26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House
Summary: Sex Offender Child Protection Act
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/16/2025

House

Prefiled

12/16/2025

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 56
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 56
)

2/26/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Teeple,
Hartnett

3/4/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Lastinger

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/17/2025

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 "CHILDREN'S RECREATIONAL FACILITY," TO PROVIDE
ADDITIONAL OFFENSES THAT PRECLUDE SEX OFFENDERS FROM RESIDING NEAR SCHOOLS,
DAYCARE CENTERS, OR RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, TO PROVIDE CERTAIN SEX OFFENDERS
MAY NOT OWN, OPERATE, OR BE EMPLOYED IN CERTAIN BUSINESSES OR ORGANIZATIONS
THAT PROVIDE SERVICES TO MINORS OR ALLOW UNSUPERVISED ACCESS TO MINORS, AND TO
PROVIDE SLED MUST NOTIFY ALL REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS OF THE PROVISIONS
CONTAINED IN THIS ACT.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
23-3-535
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
23-3-535
.
(
A) As contained in this
section:

(
1)
"Children's recreational facility" means a facility
or
community playground
owned and operated by a city, county,
or
special purpose district
, or any
homeowners association
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
childcare.

(
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, whichever is closer.

(
B)
It is unlawful for a sex offender who has been convicted of any of the
following offenses
, or of any similar offense in any
comparable court in the United States, a foreign country, or a federal court,

to reside within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's recreational
facility, park, or public playground
, or to own, operate,
or be employed in a business or organization that provides services,
instruction, supervision, or activities primarily for minors, or in any setting
where he has unsupervised access to children under the age of eighteen
:

(
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 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 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 as a result of the establishment of a new
school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public
playground;

(
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)
If upon registration of a sex offender, or at any other time, a local law
enforcement agency determines that a sex offender is in violation of this
section, the local law enforcement agency must, within thirty days, notify the
sex offender of the violation, provide the sex offender with a list of areas in
which the sex offender is not permitted to reside, and notify the sex offender
that the sex offender has thirty days to vacate the residence. If the sex
offender fails to vacate the residence within thirty days, the sex offender
must be punished as follows:

(
1)
for a first offense, the sex offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, must be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or fined not more
than five hundred dollars, or both;

(
2)
for a second offense, the sex offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, must be imprisoned not more than three years, or fined not more
than one thousand dollars, or both;

(
3)
for a third or subsequent offense, the sex offender is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined not
more than five thousand dollars, or both.

(
E) A
local government may not enact an ordinance that:

(
1)
contains penalties that exceed or are less lenient than the penalties contained
in this section; or

(
2)
expands or contracts the boundaries of areas in which a sex offender may or may
not reside as contained in subsection (B).

(
F)
(
1) At the beginning of each school
year, each school district must provide:

(
a)
the names and addresses of every sex offender who resides within one thousand
feet of a school bus stop within the school district to the parents or
guardians of a student who boards or disembarks a school bus at a stop covered
by this subsection; or

(
b)
the hyperlink to the sex offender registry web site on the school district's
web site for the purpose of gathering this information.

(
2)
Local law enforcement agencies must check the school districts' web sites to
determine if each school district has complied with this subsection. If a
hyperlink does not appear on a school district web site, the local law
enforcement agency must contact the school district to confirm that the school
district has provided the parents or guardians with the names and addresses of
every sex offender who resides within one thousand feet of a school bus stop
within the school district. If the local law enforcement agency determines that
this information has not been provided, the local law enforcement agency must
inform the school district that it is in violation of this subsection. If the
school district does not comply within thirty days after notice of its
violation, the school district is subject to equitable injunctive relief and,
if the plaintiff prevails, the district shall pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees
and costs.

S
ECTION 2. No
later than one year after the effective date of this act, SLED must notify all
registered sex offenders in this State of the provisions contained in this act.

S
ECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 2:39 PM