Certificate of Need

2025-2026 Bill 4799: Certificate of Need

South Carolina General Assembly

126th Session, 2025-2026

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This Bill
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A153, R203, H4799

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill

Sponsors: Reps. Lawson, B.L. Cox, C. Mitchell, Pope, Govan, Lastinger, Caskey, M.M. Smith, Williams, Gilliard and Waters

Companion/Similar bill(s): 693

Document Path: LC-0348VR26.docx

Introduced in the House on January 13, 2026

Introduced in the Senate on March 31, 2026

Last Amended on March 26, 2026

Currently residing in the Senate

Governor's Action: May 15, 2026, Signed

Summary: Certificate of Need

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
Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs

1/13/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 94
)

1/13/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs
(
House Journal-page 94
)

1/20/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Govan

3/25/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Lastinger

3/25/2026

House

Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs
(
House Journal-page 4
)

3/26/2026

House

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Caskey,
M.M. Smith, Williams, Gilliard, Waters

3/26/2026

House

Amended (
House Journal-page 47
)

3/26/2026

House

Read second time (
House Journal-page 47
)

3/26/2026

House

Roll call Yeas-105 Nays-0 (
House Journal-page 48
)

3/26/2026

House

Unanimous consent for third reading on next
legislative day (
House Journal-page 50
)

3/27/2026

House

Read third time and sent to Senate (
House Journal-page 3
)

3/31/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

3/31/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 13
)

3/31/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Medical Affairs
(
Senate Journal-page 13
)

4/30/2026

Senate

Committee report: Favorable
Medical Affairs
(
Senate Journal-page 10
)

5/5/2026

Senate

Read second time (
Senate Journal-page 63
)

5/5/2026

Senate

Roll call Ayes-46 Nays-0 (
Senate Journal-page 63
)

5/6/2026

Senate

Read third time and enrolled (
Senate Journal-page 84
)

5/14/2026

Ratified R 203

5/15/2026

Signed By Governor

5/26/2026

Effective date 05/15/26

5/26/2026

Act No. 153

View the latest
legislative information
at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/17/2025
03/25/2026
03/26/2026
03/31/2026
04/30/2026

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A153, R203, H4799)

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 44-7-170, RELATING TO CERTIFICATE OF NEED EXEMPTIONS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT VETERANS' HOMES OWNED OR OPERATED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS DO NOT REQUIRE A CERTIFICATE OF NEED.

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

Certificate of Need exemptions

SECTION 1. Section 44-7-170(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(B) This article does not apply to:

(1) construction of a new hospital with up to fifty beds in any county currently without a hospital;

(2) hospitals owned by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and operated by the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, except an addition of one or more beds to the total number of beds of the predecessor departments' health care facilities existing on July 1, 1988;

(3) any federal hospital sponsored and operated by this State;

(4) hospitals owned and operated by the federal government;

(5) veterans' homes owned and operated by the South Carolina Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Ratified the 14th day of May, 2026.

Approved the 15th day of May, 2026.

__________

This web page was last updated on
June 11, 2026 at 3:01 PM