Who makes DUI laws in South Carolina? The General Assembly does. Lawmakers write the statutes in Title 56 of the S.C. Code that define the offense, set the penalties and control license suspensions. Counties and cities can't create their own DUI crime. Courts interpret those statutes, and police and prosecutors enforce them.
Who makes DUI laws in South Carolina: the General Assembly
Start with the document. Section 56-5-2930 of the South Carolina Code of Laws is the one most people mean when they say "the DUI law." It makes it unlawful to drive under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both to the point that your faculties are materially and appreciably impaired.
That section doesn't stand alone. Section 56-5-2933 creates a separate offense for driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more. Section 56-5-2945 covers felony DUI, when impaired driving causes great bodily injury or death. And Section 56-5-2950, the implied consent law, treats every licensed driver as having agreed to a breath or blood test.
Every one of those lines came from the General Assembly: 46 senators and 124 House members meeting in Columbia. Changing any of them takes a bill, three readings in each chamber and the governor's signature, or a two-thirds vote in both chambers to override a veto. Our State Government section explains how the South Carolina legislature works from committee to roll call.
Here's a concrete example. In 2014, lawmakers passed what's known as Emma's Law, named for a six-year-old girl killed by a drunk driver in 2012. It extended ignition interlock requirements to first-time offenders whose alcohol concentration tested at 0.15 or higher. No county council or city hall could have made that change. It took a statute.
What counties and cities can and can't do
This is where a lot of local arguments go sideways. South Carolina gave counties and cities real authority under the Home Rule Act of 1975. But the state constitution draws a hard line. Article VIII, Section 14 bars local governments from setting aside general law on a short list of subjects, and criminal laws and their penalties are on that list.
So Horry County Council can't write a stricter DUI penalty for the Grand Strand. Myrtle Beach City Council can't lower the 0.08 limit inside city limits. What local governments can do is shape how state law gets enforced, mostly through money and staffing.
| Decision | Who has authority | Where to find the record |
|---|---|---|
| Defining DUI and setting penalties | General Assembly | S.C. Code, Title 56, Chapter 5 |
| Funding and staffing county police | Horry County Council | Annual county budget ordinance |
| Funding city police and municipal courts | City councils in Myrtle Beach, Conway and other towns | Municipal budgets and council minutes |
| Statewide highway enforcement | S.C. Highway Patrol, under the Department of Public Safety | State budget and agency reports |
| Administrative license suspensions | S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles | S.C. Code § 56-5-2951 |
| Interpreting the statutes | State trial and appellate courts | Published opinions |
Those budget votes matter. A county that funds more traffic officers may well see more DUI arrests even though the law itself hasn't changed. That's a local policy choice, and it shows up in public budget documents, not in the criminal code. Our Local Government coverage follows Horry County and city council budgets for exactly that reason.
Courts interpret the law. They don't write it.
Once a charge is filed, the case moves to the judicial branch. Many first-offense DUI cases are heard in magistrate or municipal court, the state's summary courts. More serious charges, including felony DUI, go to circuit court. Appeals go to the S.C. Court of Appeals and, above it, the S.C. Supreme Court, whose opinions are posted by the South Carolina Judicial Branch.
Judges don't create new DUI crimes. But their rulings decide what the statute means in practice. Take Section 56-5-2953, which requires officers to video record the stop and the breath test. The statute sets out what must be recorded and when missing footage can lead to dismissal. Appellate courts have then decided, case by case, how strictly to read those rules.
A county council can change how many officers are on the road Friday night. It can't change what counts as a crime once they pull someone over.
The license case runs on its own track
A DUI arrest usually starts two cases, not one. The criminal case goes to court. Separately, Section 56-5-2951 lets the Department of Motor Vehicles suspend a license after a test refusal or a result of 0.15 or more. Drivers contest that suspension before the Office of Motor Vehicle Hearings, part of the Administrative Law Court. Same arrest, two agencies, two sets of rules.
Who makes DUI laws in South Carolina, and who represents drivers
Understanding who makes the law is different from understanding who helps an individual work through a case under that law.
South Carolina DUI statutes are matters of state law, while county governments and municipalities have their own defined responsibilities within the broader legal and administrative system. A private defense lawyer operates in a different role altogether: representing an individual client within that legal framework.
For example, Johnny Gardner Law publicly identifies its practice as DUI defense in Conway and across Horry County. A person researching a Grand Strand DUI lawyer is therefore looking for private legal representation, not a government policymaker or a source of binding law.
That distinction matters. Legislatures create statutes. Courts interpret them. Law-enforcement agencies enforce them. Attorneys represent clients within that system.
None of those four roles can do another's job. A defense attorney can argue what Section 56-5-2930 means in one case. Only the General Assembly can rewrite it for everyone.
How to check a DUI bill before arguing about it
DUI bills come up in Columbia most sessions, and the debate around them often outruns the text. Before I weigh anyone's claim about a DUI bill, I pull the bill itself from scstatehouse.gov. Here's the order I use:
- Read the current version. The bill filed in January isn't always the bill that gets a vote. Amendments in the Senate or House Judiciary Committee can change it a lot.
- Check which code section it amends. If it doesn't touch Title 56, Chapter 5, it may not change DUI law at all.
- Find the fiscal impact statement. The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office estimates what a bill would cost state and local governments.
- Look at the roll-call votes. They're public, and they show who voted for the final version, not just who talked about it.
- Separate the text from the talking points. A press release says what a sponsor hopes a bill will do. The bill says what it does.
In my experience, most fights over DUI policy are real disagreements about trade-offs: public safety, due process, cost and fairness to first-time offenders. Those are fair things to argue about. They're easier to argue about once everyone has read the same page. You'll find more explainers like this one in Civic Ground, our civic explainer blog, and statewide context in South Carolina Politics.