Sales Tax Exemption

2025-2026 Bill 5208: Sales Tax Exemption

South Carolina General Assembly

126th Session, 2025-2026

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A217, R216, H5208

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill

Sponsors: Reps. B. Newton and Moss

Companion/Similar bill(s): 1004

Document Path: LC-0444DG26.docx

Introduced in the House on February 18, 2026

Introduced in the Senate on April 28, 2026

Governor's Action: May 19, 2026, Signed

Summary: Sales Tax Exemption

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

2/18/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 50
)

2/18/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Ways and Means
(
House Journal-page 50
)

4/21/2026

House

Committee report: Favorable
Ways and Means
(
House Journal-page 6
)

4/23/2026

House

Requests for debate-Rep(s). Cromer

4/23/2026

House

Read second time (
House Journal-page 22
)

4/23/2026

House

Roll call Yeas-109 Nays-0 (
House Journal-page 22
)

4/23/2026

House

Unanimous consent for third reading on next
legislative day (
House Journal-page 23
)

4/24/2026

House

Read third time and sent to Senate (
House Journal-page 2
)

4/28/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 11
)

4/28/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Finance
(
Senate Journal-page 11
)

5/5/2026

Senate

Committee report: Favorable
Finance
(
Senate Journal-page 14
)

5/7/2026

Senate

Read second time (
Senate Journal-page 62
)

5/7/2026

Senate

Roll call Ayes-46 Nays-0 (
Senate Journal-page 62
)

5/12/2026

Senate

Read third time and enrolled (
Senate Journal-page 26
)

5/14/2026

Ratified R 216

5/19/2026

Signed By Governor

6/5/2026

Effective date 05/19/26

6/3/2026

Act No. 217

View the latest
legislative information
at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

02/18/2026
04/21/2026
05/05/2026

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

NOTE: THIS IS A TEMPORARY VERSION. THIS DOCUMENT WILL REMAIN IN THIS VERSION UNTIL FINAL APPROVAL BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

(A217, R216, H5208)

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 12-36-2120, RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM SALES TAX, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN UNPREPARED FOODS, THAT MAY BE PURCHASED WITH FOOD COUPONS WHICH ARE EXEMPT FROM TAXES, ARE NOT LIMITED TO CERTAIN FEDERAL REGULATIONS.

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

Sales tax exemption

SECTION 1. Section 12-36-2120(75) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(75) unprepared food that lawfully may be purchased with United States Department of Agriculture food coupons, without regard to any demonstration project pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture regulations that would limit the use of food coupons on otherwise eligible items for a limited period of time. However, the exemption allowed by this item applies only to the state sales and use tax imposed pursuant to this chapter;

Time effective

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

Ratified the 14th day of May, 2026.

Approved the 19th day of May, 2026.

__________

This web page was last updated on
June 3, 2026 at 11:54 AM