S 0955 General Bill, By Ryberg and Wilson
 A Bill to amend Section 5-3-280, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
 relating to petitions for reduction of the corporate limits of a municipality,
 so as to reduce the number of signatures required to petition a municipality
 for reduction of its corporate limits.

   11/07/95  Senate Prefiled
   11/07/95  Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary
   01/09/96  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-72
   01/09/96  Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-72

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 5-3-280, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO PETITIONS FOR REDUCTION OF THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF A MUNICIPALITY, SO AS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF SIGNATURES REQUIRED TO PETITION A MUNICIPALITY FOR REDUCTION OF ITS CORPORATE LIMITS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 5-3-280 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 5-3-280. Whenever a petition is presented to a city or town council signed by a majority of the resident freeholders of a territory of the city or town asking for a reduction of the corporate limits of the city or town, the council shall order an election after not less than ten days' public advertisement. Such advertisement shall describe the territory that is proposed to be cut off. If a majority of the qualified electors of the territory requesting the reduction vote at such election in favor of the release of the territory, then the council shall issue an ordinance declaring the territory no longer a portion of the city or town and shall so notify the Secretary of State, furnishing him at the same time with the new boundaries of the town.

For the purpose of this section, `territory' means any geographic region as may be defined by boundaries of streets or property lines."

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.