Mandatory Background Checks in Youth Sports

2025-2026 Bill 809: Mandatory Background Checks in Youth Sports - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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S. 809
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Corbin
Document Path: SR-0083CEM26.docx
Introduced in the Senate on January 14, 2026
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on
Family and Veterans' Services
Summary: Mandatory Background Checks in Youth Sports
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

1/14/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 12
)

1/14/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Family and Veterans' Services
(
Senate Journal-page 12
)

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

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER
2 TO TITLE 63, SO AS TO REQUIRE YOUTH SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS TO REQUIRE ALL
COACHES TO UNDERGO A BACKGROUND CHECK.

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

S
ECTION 1.
T
itle 63 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

C
HAPTER 2

B
ackground Checks for Youth Sports

S
ection
63-2-10
.
(
A) As used in this chapter:

(
1) "Youth
sports organization" means a private for-profit or not-for-profit organization
that, as part of its core function, provides persons who are less than eighteen
years of age the opportunity to participate in scheduled competitive or
recreational sporting activities.

(
2) "Coach"
means a person employed or volunteering as a coach, manager, or supervisor of a
youth athletic activity but does not include occasional assistance with or
support of the youth athletic activity by a person, including the action of
other volunteers or employees of the youth sports organization in a passing,
general, or nominal manner.

(
B) A youth
sports organization must require all coaches to undergo a state
fingerprint-based background check to be conducted by the State Law Enforcement
Division to determine any state criminal history and a fingerprint-based
background check to be conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to
determine any other criminal history. Additionally, the persons described in
this section must also undergo a check of the State Central Registry of Child
Abuse and Neglect, DSS department records, the equivalent registry system for
each state in which the person has resided for five years preceding an
application for employment or as a volunteer, the National Sex Offender Public
Website, and the state sex offender registry.

(
C) The
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
are authorized to retain and store fingerprints for further use in the
identification of persons including, but not limited to, use in identifying
unsolved latent prints. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation are authorized to provide the youth sports
organization with current and future information regarding the fingerprints
stored, including arrests, convictions, dispositions, warrants, and other
information available to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, such as civil and criminal information.

(
D) Costs
for Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint-based background checks
required for prospective coaches of a youth sports organization must be paid by
the individual or entity requesting the background checks.

(
E) The
youth sports organization may consider all information available, including the
person's pardoned convictions or pleas and the circumstances surrounding them,
to determine whether the person is unfit or otherwise unsuited for coaching in
the youth sports organization.

S
ECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on January 14, 2026 at 1:51 PM