Additional circuit court judges

2025-2026 Bill 4711: Additional circuit court judges - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 4711
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Caskey, W. Newton, B. Newton, Pope and Oremus
Document Path: LC-0172AHB26.docx
Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Additional circuit court judges
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 63
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 63
)

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
14-5-610
, RELATING TO THE DIVISION OF THE STATE INTO SIXTEEN JUDICIAL
CIRCUITS AND THE NUMBER OF JUDGES TO BE ELECTED FROM EACH CIRCUIT, SO AS TO
INCREASE BY THREE THE NUMBER OF CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES IN CERTAIN CIRCUITS.

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

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
14-5-610
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
14-5-610
.
(
A) The State is divided
into sixteen judicial circuits as follows:

(
1)
The first circuit is composed of the counties of Calhoun, Dorchester, and
Orangeburg.

(
2)
The second circuit is composed of the counties of Aiken, Bamberg, and Barnwell.

(
3)
The third circuit is composed of the counties of Clarendon, Lee, Sumter, and
Williamsburg.

(
4)
The fourth circuit is composed of the counties of Chesterfield, Darlington,
Marlboro, and Dillon.

(
5)
The fifth circuit is composed of the counties of Kershaw and Richland.

(
6)
The sixth circuit is composed of the counties of Chester, Lancaster, and
Fairfield.

(
7)
The seventh circuit is composed of the counties of Cherokee and Spartanburg.

(
8)
The eighth circuit is composed of the counties of Abbeville, Greenwood,
Laurens, and Newberry.

(
9)
The ninth circuit is composed of the counties of Charleston and Berkeley.

(
10)
The tenth circuit is composed of the counties of Anderson and Oconee.

(
11)
The eleventh circuit is composed of the counties of Lexington, McCormick,
Saluda, and Edgefield.

(
12)
The twelfth circuit is composed of the counties of Florence and Marion.

(
13)
The thirteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Greenville and Pickens.

(
14)
The fourteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Allendale, Hampton,
Colleton, Jasper, and Beaufort.

(
15)
The fifteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Georgetown and Horry.

(
16)
The sixteenth circuit is composed of the counties of York and Union.

(
B)
One judge
Two judges
must be
elected from the sixth circuit. Two judges must be elected from the first,
second, fourth, eighth, tenth, and sixteenth circuits. Three judges must be
elected from the third, seventh, eleventh, twelfth,
and
fourteenth
, and fifteenth
circuits.
Four
judges must be elected from the fifteenth circuit.
Five judges must be
elected from the
fifth,
ninth
,

and thirteenth circuits.
Six judges must be elected from
the fifth circuit.

(
C)
In addition to the above judges authorized by this section, there must be seven
additional circuit judges elected by the General Assembly from the State at
large for terms of office of six years. These additional judges must be
elected without regard to county or circuit of residence. Each office of the
at-large judges is a separate office and is assigned numerical designations of
Seat No. 1 through Seat No. 7, respectively.

S
ECTION 2. The
additional circuit court judge added in the fifth judicial circuit by this act
must be a resident judge in Kershaw County.

S
ECTION 3. The
Judicial Merit Selection Commission shall begin the process of nominating
candidates for the judicial offices authorized by the provisions of SECTION 1.
The General Assembly then shall elect these judges from the nominees of the
commission; except that, the nominating process may not begin until funding for
the additional judges is provided in the general appropriations act.

S
ECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 2:44 PM