Handicapped parking

2025-2026 Bill 748: Handicapped parking - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 748
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Ott
Document Path: LC-0378CM26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Transportation
Summary: Handicapped parking
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
Transportation

1/13/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 40
)

1/13/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Transportation
(
Senate Journal-page 40
)

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

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING
SECTION
56-3-1910
, RELATING TO LICENSE PLATES FOR HANDICAPPED PERSONS, SO AS TO
REVISE THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM "HANDICAPPED" TO INCLUDE CERTAIN PREGNANT
WOMEN; AND BY AMENDING SECTION
56-3-1960
, RELATING TO THE ISSUANCE OF TEMPORARY
AND PERMANENT PARKING PLACARDS, SO AS TO PROVIDE placards issued to PREGNANT
WOMEN whose pregnancies are beyond their first trimesters expire twelve months
after the dates they are issued.

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

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
56-3-1910
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) As used in this article,
"handicapped" means a person who has one or more of the following conditions:

(
1)
an inability to ordinarily walk one hundred feet nonstop without aggravating an
existing medical condition, including the increase of pain;

(
2)
an inability to ordinarily walk without the use of, or assistance from a brace,
cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive
device;

(
3)
a restriction by lung disease to the extent that the person's forced expiratory
volume for one second when measured by spirometry is less than one liter, or
the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty mm/hg on room air at rest;

(
4)
requires use of portable oxygen;

(
5)
a cardiac condition to the extent that the person's functional limitations are
classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to standards
established by the American Heart Association. If the person's status improves
to a higher level, for example as a result of bypass surgery or transplantation,
he no longer meets this criteria;

(
6)
a substantial limitation in the ability to walk due to an arthritic,
neurological, or orthopedic condition, for example, coordination problems and
muscle spasticity due to conditions that include Parkinson's disease, cerebral
palsy, or multiple sclerosis;
or

(
7)
blindness
; or

(
8) a woman whose pregnancy is beyond the
first trimester
.

S
ECTION 2.
S
ection
56-3-1960
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) A person who is "handicapped" as
defined in Section
56-3-1910
may apply to the department for issuance of a
temporary or permanent placard. A person may be issued a temporary placard if
the condition causing his handicap is expected to last for at least four
months.
A placard issued to a woman whose pregnancy is
beyond the first trimester expires twelve months after the date it is issued.
No
applicant may be denied a placard if the applicant follows the procedures
established by the department and if the application is accompanied by a
certificate from a licensed physician that certifies that the individual is
handicapped and whether the handicap is temporary or permanent. The placards
must indicate that the person is qualified to use reserved handicapped parking
spaces. Applications for placards must be processed through and issued by the department's
headquarters. Only one placard may be issued to an applicant. The certification
procedure shall adhere to the requirements set forth in Section
56-3-1910
. In
conjunction with the issuance of a placard, applicants also must be issued a
placard registration certificate that must be carried at all times in the
vehicle driven by or transporting the handicapped individual. The certificate
will display the name of the individual to which the placard was issued. A
placard only can be displayed on a vehicle driven by or transporting the
disabled individual whose name appears on the placard registration certificate.
The department shall charge a fee of one dollar for a placard. An agency,
organization, or facility that transports a disabled or handicapped person may
receive a placard for each vehicle registered upon proper application and the
payment of the appropriate fees.

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

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This web page was last updated on January 13, 2026 at 1:09 PM