The General Assembly finds that it is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in the formulation of public policy. Toward this end, provisions of this chapter must be construed so as to make it possible for citizens, or their representatives, to learn and report fully the activities of their public officials at a minimum cost or delay to the persons seeking access to public documents or meetings.
S.C. Code Ann. § 30-4-15
Findings and purpose
Known as the Freedom of Information Act
The act spans §§ 30–30 (17 sections).
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Campbell v. Marion County Hospital District (2003)
Most recently applied in Pope v. Wilson (June 2019)
1987 Act No. 118, SECTION 1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.