H 4304

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
Bill 4304
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)
A bill
TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION
56-5-2790 SO AS TO MAKE VEHICLE OWNERs OR OPERATORs LIABLE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION FOR UNLAWFULLY OVERTAKING AND PASSING SCHOOL BUSES; BY ADDING SECTION
59-67-235 SO AS TO REQUIRE OPERATORS OF SCHOOL BUSES TO NOTIFY THE DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION WHEN VEHICLES DO NOT STOP WHEN THE  DRIVERS HAVE AMBER SIGNALS
ACTUATED; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 56-3-1335, RELATING TO SUSPENSION OF VEHICLE
REGISTRATIONS FOR FAILURE TO PAY TOLLS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF
MOTOR VEHICLES SHALL SUSPEND VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS FOR OUTSTANDING JUDGMENTS
FOR PASSING SCHOOL BUSES.
Be it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1.  Article 21, Chapter 5, Title 56 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:
    Section
56-5-2790. (A) When a vehicle
violates Section 56-5-2770, the vehicle owner or operator is jointly and
severally liable to the Department of Education to pay the administrative fees
and civil penalty as provided for in this section.
       (1)
The department or its authorized agent may assess and collect a civil penalty
of:
  (a)
not more than one hundred dollars for the first violation within a period of
one year; and
  (b)
not more than two hundred and fifty dollars for each subsequent violation
within a period of one year.
       (2)
Upon failure to pay the administrative fees and civil penalty to the department
within thirty days of the notice, the vehicle owner may be cited for failure to
pay a penalty pursuant to this subsection and, upon an adjudication of
liability, is subject to an additional civil penalty not to exceed five hundred
dollars for each violation.
  (a)
The department or its authorized agent shall send:
  (i)
a "First Notice to Pay Penalty" to the owner or operator of a vehicle that, on
one occasion in any twelve-month period, is identified as having been involved
in a violation. The first notice must require payment to the department of the
required penalty, plus an administrative fee, as provided for in item (2),
within thirty days of the mailing of the notice;
  (ii) a "Second Notice to Pay Penalty"
to the owner or operator of a vehicle that is identified as having been
involved in a second toll violation in a twelve-month period or who has failed
to respond to a "First Notice to Pay Penalty" notice within the required
period. The second notice must require payment to the department of the
required penalties, plus an administrative fee, as provided for in item (2)
within thirty days of the mailing of the notice; and
  (iii) a "Third Failure to Pay a
Penalty" citation to the owner or operator of a vehicle that is identified as
having been involved in a third violation in a twelve-month period or who has
failed to respond to a "Second Notice to Pay Penalty" notice within the
required period. Within thirty days, the citation requires payment to the
department of the unpaid penalties, plus an administrative fee of not more than
twenty-five dollars for each violation, or the recipient's appearance in
magistrates court of the county in which the violation occurred or the
municipal court of the city in which the violation occurred to contest the
citation.
  (b)
A first, second, or third "Failure to Pay a Penalty" citation constitutes the
summons and complaint for an action to recover the penalty and all applicable
fees allowed pursuant to this section.
       (3)
If a magistrate or municipal judge determines that the person or entity charged
with liability under this section is liable, then the magistrate or municipal
judge shall collect the unpaid penalty and administrative fee and forward them
to the department or its authorized agent. The magistrate or municipal judge
also may impose a civil penalty of up to fifty dollars for each violation, plus
court costs and attorney's fees. The civil penalty must be distributed in the
same manner as other fines and penalties collected by the magistrate.
  (a)
If the owner or operator fails to satisfy the judgement within thirty days,
then the court shall notify the department and the authorized agent, and the
department shall suspend the registration of the vehicle that was operated when
the penalty was not paid and deny the vehicle's registration or reregistration
pursuant to Section 56-3-1335.
  (b)
The suspension shall remain in effect until the judgment is satisfied and
evidence of its satisfaction has been presented to the department and the
authorized agent.
    (B)
The department shall send by first-class mail a notice and penalty as
prescribed in subsection (C) to the owner or operator of the vehicle identified
as being involved in the violation of Section 56-5-2770. If a vehicle is
registered in two or more names, the notices or citation must be mailed to the
first name listed on the registration records. A manual or automatic record of
the mailing of the notices or citation prepared in the ordinary course of
business is prima facie evidence of the mailing of the notices or citation.
    (C)
The notice and penalty required by this section must contain:
       (1)
a certificate, sworn to or affirmed by an agent of the department, or a
facsimile of it, that a violation of Section 56-5-2770 has occurred, based upon
inspection of photographs, microphotographs, videotape, or other recorded
images produced by a digital video-monitoring device mounted on a school bus,
and is prima facie evidence of the violation and is admissible in any
proceeding charging a violation pursuant to this section. The photograph,
microphotograph, videotape, or other recorded image evidencing a violation must
be available for inspection by the party charged and is admissible into
evidence in a proceeding to adjudicate liability for a violation;
       (2)
the name and address of the vehicle owner alleged to be liable for a violation
of Section 56-5-2770;
       (3)
the registration number of the vehicle involved in the violation;
       (4)
the location where the violation took place;
       (5)
the date and time of the violation;
       (6)
the identification number of the photo-monitoring system that recorded the
violation or other document locator number;
       (7)
information advising of the manner and time in which liability may be
contested;
       (8)
warning advising that failure to contest liability in the manner and time
provided in this section is an admission of liability; and
       (9)
information advising that failure to pay the penalty may result in the
suspension of vehicle registration as provided in subsection (A)(3).
    (D) A
vehicle owner who receives a notice or citation pursuant to this section shall
have the following valid defenses available:
       (1)
for a period during which the vehicle involved in the violation was reported to
a law enforcement division as having been stolen, a valid defense to an
allegation of liability for a failure to pay a penalty is that the vehicle had
been reported to a law enforcement division as stolen before the time the
violation occurred and had not been recovered by the time of the violation;
       (2)
for a period in which the vehicle involved in the violation was stolen but had
not been reported to a law enforcement division as having been stolen, a valid
defense to an allegation of liability for a violation pursuant to this section
is that the vehicle was reported as stolen within two hours after the discovery
of the theft by the owner. For purposes of asserting the defense provided by
this item, a certified copy of the police report on the stolen vehicle, sent by
first-class mail to the department, its agent, or the magistrates court or the
municipal court having jurisdiction over the citation within thirty days after
receipt of the notices or citation is sufficient;
       (3)
for a period in which the vehicle involved in the violation was leased to
another person or entity, then the lessor is not liable for the violation if
the lessor sends to the department or to the court having jurisdiction over the
citation a copy of the rental, lease, or another contract document covering the
vehicle on the date of the violation, with the name and address of the lessee
clearly legible, within thirty days after receiving the notices or citation;
  (a)
if the lessor complies with the provisions of this subitem, then the lessee of
the vehicle on the date of the violation is subject to liability for the
failure to pay the fees and penalties if the department or its agent mails a
notice of liability to the lessee within thirty days after receipt of a copy of
the rental, lease, or other contract document; and
  (b)
failure to send the information within the thirty-day period renders the lessor
liable for the unpaid penalties and any administrative fees or additional
penalties assessed pursuant to this section; and
       (4)
if the current owner of the vehicle was not the owner of the vehicle at the
time of the violation, then it is a valid defense to liability that the person
or entity who received the notice was not the owner of the vehicle at the time
of the violation.
    (E)
If an owner who pays the required fees, penalties, or both pursuant to this
section was not the operator of the vehicle at the time of the violation, the
owner may maintain an action for indemnification against the operator.
    (F)
An owner of a vehicle is not liable for a penalty imposed pursuant to this
section if the operator of the vehicle has been convicted of a violation of
Section 56-5-2770 for the same incident.
SECTION 2.  Article 1, Chapter 67, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:
    Section
59-67-235. The operator of a school bus shall report to the Department of
Education within twenty-four hours if a vehicle does not stop when the driver
has amber visual signals actuated pursuant to Section 56-5-2770. The operator shall
notify the department of an alleged violation and retrieve and properly store
the video from the bus for enforcement pursuant to Section 56-5-2790.
SECTION 3.  Section 56-3-1335 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:
    Section
56-3-1335. The Department of Motor Vehicles shall suspend a motor vehicle's
current registration and shall not register or reregister a motor vehicle that
was operated when its driver failed to pay a toll and whose owner has an
outstanding judgment for failure to pay a toll pursuant to Section 57-5-1495(E)
entered against him. The department also shall suspend a
motor vehicle's current registration and shall not register or reregister a
motor vehicle that was operated when its driver had an outstanding judgement
for passing a school bus in violation of Section 56-5-2770, and whose owner has
an outstanding judgment for failure to pay the penalty pursuant to Section
55-5-2790. The suspension or denial of registration or reregistration
shall remain in effect until the judgment is satisfied, evidence of the
satisfaction has been provided to the Department of Motor Vehicles, and a
reinstatement fee of fifty dollars has been paid. The reinstatement fee
collected must be placed by the Comptroller General into the State Highway Fund
as established by Section 57-11-20, to be distributed as provided in Section
11-43-167.
SECTION 4.  This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.
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This web page was last updated on April 30, 2025 at 04:00 PM