1. (A) Every local school district in the State shall implement and enforce a written policy prohibiting at all times the use of any tobacco product by any person in school buildings, in school facilities, on school campuses, and in or on any other school property owned or operated by the local school administrative unit. The policy also must prohibit the use of any tobacco product by persons attending a school-sponsored event at a location not listed in this subsection when in the presence of students or school personnel or in an area where smoking or other tobacco use is otherwise prohibited by law.

2. (B) The policy must include at least all of the following elements:

   1. (1) adequate notice to students, parents or guardians, the public, and school personnel of the policy;
   2. (2) posting of signs prohibiting at all times the use of tobacco products by any person in and on school property; and
   3. (3) requirements that school personnel enforce the policy, including appropriate disciplinary action.

3. (C) Disciplinary actions for violating the policy may include, but not be limited to:

   1. (1) for students: administrator and parent or legal guardian conference, mandatory enrollment in tobacco prevention education or cessation programs, community service, in-school suspension, suspension for extracurricular activities, or out-of-school suspension;
   2. (2) for staff: verbal reprimand, written notification in personnel file, mandatory enrollment in tobacco prevention education, voluntary enrollment in cessation programs, or suspension;
   3. (3) for contract or other workers: verbal reprimand, notification to contract employer, or removal from district property; and
   4. (4) for visitors: verbal request to leave district property or prosecution for disorderly conduct for repeated offenses.
4. (D) The local school district shall collaborate with the Department of Health and Environmental Control, the Office of Substance Use Services, and the South Carolina Department of Education, as appropriate, to implement the policy, including as part of tobacco education and cessation programs and substance use prevention efforts.
5. (E) The policy may permit tobacco products to be included in instructional or research activities in public school buildings if the activity is conducted or supervised by the faculty member overseeing the instruction or research and the activity does not include smoking, chewing, inhaling, or otherwise ingesting the tobacco product.
6. (F) For purposes of this section "tobacco product" has the same meaning as defined in Section 16-17-501.

HISTORY: 2019 Act No. 25 (H.3420), SECTION 3, eff April 26, 2019; 2023 Act No. 38 (H.3681), SECTION 11, eff August 14, 2023.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, certain references in the S.C. Code to the State Department of Mental Health, South Carolina Mental Health Commission, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Commission, Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and other related terms were changed to reflect the restructuring of these agencies into component offices under the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, pursuant to 2025 Act No. 3, SECTION 18.

Editor's Note

2023 Act No. 38, SECTIONS 1, 3 to 4, and 13, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'Omnibus Tobacco Enforcement Act of 2023'."

"SECTION 3. Laws, ordinances, or rules enacted by political subdivisions of this State prior to December 31, 2020, pertaining to ingredients, flavors, or licensing, related to the sale of cigarettes, electronic smoking devices, e-liquid, vapor products, tobacco products, or any other products containing nicotine that can be ingested into the body by chewing, smoking, absorbing, dissolving, inhaling, or by any means, and municipal code amendments to said laws, ordinances, or rules, are exempt from the preemption imposed by this act. Nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere with a political subdivision's authority to determine its own public-use policies relating to any of the products referenced in this act.

"SECTION 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere with a political subdivision's authority under Chapter 29, Title 6, including, without limitation, with respect to land use regulation, land development regulation, zoning, or permitting."

"SECTION 13. This act takes effect ninety days after approval by the Governor except SECTION 2, SECTION 3, and SECTION 4 which take effect upon approval by the Governor."

Effect of Amendment

2023 Act No. 38, SECTION 11, in (A), in the first sentence, substituted "Every local school district in the State shall implement" for "By August 1, 2019, every local school district in the State shall adopt, implement," and deleted "or alternative nicotine product" following "tobacco product", and in the second sentence, deleted "or alternative nicotine product" following "tobacco product"; in (B)(2) deleted "or alternative nicotine products" following "tobacco products"; in (E), deleted "or alternative nicotine products" following "tobacco products" and deleted "or alternative nicotine product" following "tobacco product"; and rewrote (F).