Fluoride Ban

2025-2026 Bill 743: Fluoride Ban - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 743
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Kennedy
Document Path: SR-0426KM26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate
Summary: Fluoride Ban
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/10/2025

Senate

Prefiled

12/10/2025

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Medical Affairs

1/13/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 39
)

1/13/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Medical Affairs
(
Senate Journal-page 39
)

1/14/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
12/10/2025
01/14/2026

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
44-55-20
, RELATING TO WATER, SEWAGE, WASTE DISPOSAL DEFINITIONS, SO AS
TO DEFINE "FLUORIDE"; AND BY ADDING SECTION
44-55-35
SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE
ADDITION OF FLUORIDE TO A PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM OR TO WATER THAT WILL BE
INTRODUCED INTO A PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.

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

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
44-55-20
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
44-55-20
.
A
s used in this article:

(
1)
"Board" means the South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control
which is charged with responsibility for implementation of the Safe Drinking
Water Act.

(
2)
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department or his authorized
agent.

(
3)
"Community water systems" means a public water system which serves at least
fifteen service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at
least twenty-five year-round residents. This may include, but is not limited
to, subdivisions, municipalities, mobile home parks, and apartments.

(
4)
"Construction permit" means a permit issued by the department authorizing the
construction of a new public water system or the expansion or modification of
an existing public water system.

(
5)
"Contamination" means the adulteration or alteration of the quality of the
water of a public water system by the addition or deletion of any substance,
matter, or constituent except as authorized pursuant to this article.

(
6)
"Cross-connection" means any actual or potential connection or structural
arrangement between a public water system and any other source or system
through which it is possible to introduce into any part of the potable system
any used water, industrial fluid, gas or substance other than the intended
potable water with which the system is supplied. Bypass arrangements, jumper
connections, removable sections, swivel or changeover devices, and other
temporary or permanent devices through which or because of which backflow can
or may occur are considered to be cross-connections.

(
7)
"Department" means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control, including personnel authorized and empowered to act on behalf of the
department or board.

(
8) "Fluoride" means a chemical
compound that contains the fluoride ion and is used to fluoridate drinking
water, including:

(
a) fluorosilicic acid;

(
b) sodium fluorosilicate; or

(
c) sodium fluoride.

(8)
(
9)
"Human consumption" means water used for drinking,
bathing, cooking, dish washing, and maintaining oral hygiene or other similar
uses.

(9)
(
10)
"Noncommunity water system" means a public water
system which serves at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves an
average of at least twenty-five individuals daily at least sixty days out of
the year and does not meet the definition of a community water system.

(10)
(
11)
"Nontransient noncommunity water system" means a
public water system that is not a community water system and that regularly
serves at least twenty-five of the same persons over six months per year.

(11)
(
12)
"Operating permit" means a permit issued by the
department that outlines the requirements and conditions under which a person
must operate a public water system.

(12)
(
13)
"Person" means an individual, partnership,
copartnership, cooperative, firm, company, public or private corporation,
political subdivision, government agency, trust, estate, joint structure
company, or any other legal entity or its legal representative, agent, or
assigns.

(13)
(
14)
"Public water system" means:

(
a)
any publicly or privately owned waterworks system which provides water, whether
bottled, piped, or delivered through some other constructed conveyance for
human consumption, including the source of supply whether the source of supply
is of surface or subsurface origin;

(
b)
all structures and appurtenances used for the collection, treatment, storage,
or distribution of water delivered to point of meter of consumer or owner
connection;

(
c)
any part or portion of the system, including any water treatment facility,
which in any way alters the physical, chemical, radiological, or
bacteriological characteristics of the water; however, a public water system
does not include a water system serving a single private residence or dwelling.
A separately owned system with its source of supply from another waterworks
system must be a separate public water system. A connection to a system that
delivers water by a constructed conveyance other than a pipe must not be
considered a connection if:

(
i)
the water is used exclusively for purposes other than residential uses
consisting of drinking, bathing, and cooking or other similar uses;

(
ii)
the department determines that alternative water to achieve the equivalent
level of public health protection provided by the applicable State Primary
Drinking Water Regulations is provided for residential or similar uses for
drinking and cooking; or

(
iii)
the department determines that the water provided for residential or similar
uses for drinking, cooking, and bathing is centrally treated or treated at the
point of entry by the provider, a pass-through entity, or the user to achieve
the equivalent level of protection provided by the applicable State Primary
Drinking Water Regulations.

(14)
(
15)
"State water system" means any water system that
serves less than fifteen service connections or regularly serves an average of
less than twenty-five individuals daily.

(15)
(
16)
"Transient noncommunity water system" means a
noncommunity water system that does not regularly serve at least twenty-five of
the same persons over six months a year.

(16)
(
17)
"Well" means a bored, drilled or driven shaft, or a
dug hole, whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension, from which
water is extracted or injected. This includes, but is not limited to, wells
used for water supply for irrigation, industrial and manufacturing processes,
or drinking water, wells used for underground injection of waste for disposal,
storage, or drainage disposal, wells used in mineral or geothermal recovery,
and any other special process wells.

(17)
(
18)
"Well driller" means an individual, corporation,
partnership, association, political subdivision, or public agency of this State
who is licensed with the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and
Regulation for constructing wells and is in immediate supervision of and
responsible for the construction, development, drilling, testing, maintenance,
repair, or abandonment of any well as defined by this chapter. This term does
include owners constructing or abandoning wells on their own property for their
own personal use only, except that these owners are not required to be licensed
by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for construction wells.

S
ECTION 2.
C
hapter 55, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is amended by
adding:

S
ection
44-55-35
.
(
A) Fluoride may not be
added to a public water system or to water that will be introduced into a
public water system.

(
B) A
political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance that requires or
permits the addition of fluoride to a public water system or to water that will
be introduced into a public water system.

(
C)
Licensed bottled water class operators may not add fluoride to the water that
they provide for human consumption. Bottled water imported into the State for
sale may not contain fluoride.

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

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 14, 2026 at 5:50 PM