S.C. Code Ann. § 2-17-90 – Acts prohibited of lobbyists' principals; acts prohibited of public officials and employees; exceptions; disclosure requirements

(A) Except as otherwise provided under Section 2-17-100, no lobbyist's principal may offer, solicit, facilitate, or provide to a public official or public employee, and no public official or public employee may accept lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, beverages, or an invitation to a function paid for by a lobbyist's principal, except for:
1. (1) as to members of the General Assembly, a function to which a member of the General Assembly is invited if the entire membership of the House, the Senate, or the General Assembly is invited, or one of the committees, subcommittees, joint committees, legislative caucuses, or county legislative delegations of the General Assembly of which the legislator is a member is invited. However, the Speaker of the House and Speaker Pro Tempore of the House may be included in an invitation to one of the above groups;
2. (2) as to a public official of a state agency, board, or commission, a function to which an official of a state agency, board, or commission is invited if the entire board or commission of which the public official is a member is invited;
3. (3) as to public employees, except for public employees of any statewide constitutional officer, a function to which a public employee is invited if a public official of the agency or department by which the public employee is employed also is invited under another provision of this section;
4. (4) as to public employees of any statewide constitutional officer, a function to which all statewide constitutional officers are invited;
5. (5) as to statewide constitutional officers, a function to which a statewide constitutional officer is invited;
6. (6) as to public officials or public employees, activities reasonably and directly related to state or local economic development efforts. However, the public official or public employee first must obtain prior written approval from:
  1. (a) the Governor, in the case of any of his employees or of any public officials of any state agencies or any of their employees which are not listed in a subitem below;
  2. (b) any statewide constitutional officer, in the case of himself or any of his employees;
  3. (c) the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, in the case of any member of the Senate or its employees; or
  4. (d) the Speaker of the House, in the case of a member of the House of Representatives or its employees.
(B) No lobbyist's principal or person acting on behalf of a lobbyist's principal may provide to a public official or a public employee pursuant to subsections (A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(3), (A)(4), or (A)(5) the value of lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, or beverages exceeding twenty-five dollars in a day and two hundred dollars in a calendar year per public official or public employee.
(C) Except as otherwise provided by subsection (E), any public official or any public employee who is required to file a statement of economic interests under Section 8-13-1110 and who accepts lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, or beverages under subsection (A) or (G) must report on his statement of economic interests pursuant to Section 8-13-1120 the value of anything received.
(D) Except as otherwise provided by subsection (E), a lobbyist's principal extending an invitation under subsection (A) must report all expenses as required by Section 2-17-35.
(E) If the disclosure required by subsection (C) or (D) would compromise the confidentiality of a state or local economic development project and the approving official under subsection (A)(6) has indicated in the prior written approval that disclosure of that information would jeopardize the negotiations in an economic development project, then the approving official must forward a confidential copy of the prior written approval to the lobbyist's principal involved and the State Ethics Commission. The public official must disclose only the value of the thing of value received with a notation "for economic development-confidential" on the forms required by Sections 8-13-1110 and 8-13-1120. The lobbyist's principal must not disclose any information identifying the recipient or details of the expenditure on the form required by Section 2-17-35. The public official and the lobbyist's principal must report all required information on forms developed by the State Ethics Commission for the reporting of information under this subsection. These forms must be marked "confidential" and must not be a part of the public record until such time as the approving official determines that public disclosure is appropriate.
(F) The provisions of this section do not apply to a public official or a public employee who pays for his lodging, transportation, entertainment, meals, food, or beverages at a function to which he has been invited by a lobbyist's principal or to a public official or a public employee who pays the face value of a ticket to attend a ticketed event sponsored by a lobbyist's principal when the ticketed event is open to the general public.
(G) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, a public official or public employee may accept lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, beverages, or an invitation to a function paid for by a lobbyist's principal if it is provided to the public official or public employee solely on the basis that the spouse of the public official or public employee is an official or employee of the providing lobbyist's principal and the spouse's receipt of the lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, beverages, or invitation is purely incidental to the spouse's office or employment with the lobbyist's principal and the public official or public employee is receiving it only as the spouse of an official or employee of the providing lobbyist's principal.
ETHICS COMMISSION OPINIONS
1. In General
Non-profit trade association's ad hoc espousal of position on legislation or other official State action does not constitute lobbying, and neither association nor its board members or officers are lobbyists or lobbyist's principals within meaning of Ethics Reform Act. Op. S.C. St. Ethics Comm., SEC AO94-005, August 18, 1993.
State University that is lobbyist's principal generally may not provide to legislator lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals, beverages or invitation to function paid for by University even if it is provided solely because legislator's spouse is member of University's Board of Trustees. Op. S.C. St. Ethics Comm., SEC AO94-006, September 15, 1993.
Pursuant to Section 2-17-90(A)(5), lobbyist's principal may invite individual constitutional officer to function and provide officer with lodging, transportation, entertainment, food, meals or beverages so long as value of what is provided does not exceed $25 in a day and $200 in calendar year. Op. S.C. St. Ethics Comm., SEC AO94-015, January 19, 1994.