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CHAPTER 5, TITLE 56 OF THE 1976 CODE IS AMENDED BY ADDING SECTION 56-5-2943, TO PROVIDE THAT THE CLERK OF THE COURT OF THE COUNTY IN WHICH A PERSON IS CONVICTED OF A SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSE OF DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL, ANOTHER DRUG, OR A COMBINATION OF DRUGS OR SUBSTANCES WITHIN FIVE YEARS, MUST PUBLISH, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CONVICTED PERSON, A NOTICE OF THE PERSON'S CONVICTION AND HIS PICTURE IN THE MANNER LEGAL NOTICES ARE PUBLISHED IN THE COUNTY IN WHICH THE PERSON RESIDES OR, FOR NONRESIDENTS, IN THE COUNTY IN WHICH THE PERSON WAS CONVICTED.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Title 56 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 56-5-2943. (A) A person who is convicted of or pleads guilty or nolo contendere to a second or subsequent violation of Section 56-5-2930 or 56-5-2933 within five years, as measured from the dates of previous arrests for which convictions were obtained or pleas of nolo contendere were accepted, to the date of the current arrest for which a conviction is obtained or a plea of nolo contendere is accepted, shall cause the clerk of the court in the county of conviction, to publish a notice of the conviction. The notice of conviction must be published in the same manner as other legal notices in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the person resides or, in the case of nonresidents, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the person was convicted. The notice of conviction must be one column wide by two inches long and must contain the photograph taken by the arresting law enforcement agency at the time of arrest, name and address of the convicted person, and the date, time, place of arrest, and disposition of the case, and must be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the appropriate county in the second week following the conviction or as soon thereafter as publication may be made.
(B) The convicted person whose notice of conviction is published pursuant to this section must be assessed $25.00 for the cost of publication of the notice and the assessment must be imposed at the time of conviction in addition to any other fine imposed.
(C) The clerk of the court, the publisher of any newspaper which publishes a notice of conviction, and any other person involved in the publication of an erroneous notice of conviction shall be immune from civil or criminal liability for any erroneous publication, provided the publication was made in good faith."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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