The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- South Carolina
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Op. S.C. Att'y Gen. (Apr. 13, 2020) (to Rep. Magnuson)
- Issued
- 2020-04-13 Apr. 13, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-04-13
- End
- n/a (advisory opinion) (read as 2021-06-30)
- In force
- Apr. 13, 2020 to June 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q2
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationOther
- Addressees
- the Governor; persons generally subject to the emergency declarations and orders
- Character
- agency interpretation
- Collection
- Standing duties: South Carolina DUT-SC
Operative words
The General Assembly has delegated broad emergency powers to the Governor, pursuant to § 25-1-440 to manage the State's response to a declared emergency.... In that vein, the Legislature has delegated enormous authority to the Governor pursuant to § 25-1-440.
Penalty
n/a (opinion confirming the validity of the emergency declarations that carried the § 16-7-10 penalty)
What it required
The Attorney General confirmed that the Governor's successive fifteen-day COVID-19 emergency declarations rested on 'broad' and 'enormous' delegated authority, that § 25-1-440 makes the Governor 'responsible for the safety, security and welfare of the State' during an emergency, and that 'a court will presume any declaration of emergency, whether original or new, and the powers exercised thereunder, to be valid.' Character as recorded: agency_interpretation (Attorney General opinion; order_penalty layer).
Retrieval noteSix-page opinion with a text layer, read in full. The opinion quotes § 25-1-440(a)(1)-(2) and reasons, on the authority of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Worthington v. Fauver, that legislative acquiescence in successive declarations is a form of consent, while stressing that 'the ultimate police power resides in the hands of the General Assembly.' The Governor's declarations ran in fifteen-day terms from March 13, 2020 to June 6-7, 2021 (Exs. SC-001, SC-036, SC-037).