A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 14-5-610, RELATING TO THE DIVISION OF THE STATE INTO SIXTEEN JUDICIAL CIRCUITS AND THE NUMBER OF JUDGES TO BE ELECTED FROM EACH CIRCUIT, SO AS TO INCREASE BY THREE THE NUMBER OF CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES IN CERTAIN CIRCUITS.

 

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

 

SECTION 1.  Section 14-5-610 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 14-5-610.  (A) The State is divided into sixteen judicial circuits as follows:

       (1) The first circuit is composed of the counties of Calhoun, Dorchester, and Orangeburg.

       (2) The second circuit is composed of the counties of Aiken, Bamberg, and Barnwell.

       (3) The third circuit is composed of the counties of Clarendon, Lee, Sumter, and Williamsburg.

       (4) The fourth circuit is composed of the counties of Chesterfield, Darlington, Marlboro, and Dillon.

       (5) The fifth circuit is composed of the counties of Kershaw and Richland.

       (6) The sixth circuit is composed of the counties of Chester, Lancaster, and Fairfield.

       (7) The seventh circuit is composed of the counties of Cherokee and Spartanburg.

       (8) The eighth circuit is composed of the counties of Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, and Newberry.

       (9) The ninth circuit is composed of the counties of Charleston and Berkeley.

       (10) The tenth circuit is composed of the counties of Anderson and Oconee.

       (11) The eleventh circuit is composed of the counties of Lexington, McCormick, Saluda, and Edgefield.

       (12) The twelfth circuit is composed of the counties of Florence and Marion.

       (13) The thirteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Greenville and Pickens.

       (14) The fourteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Allendale, Hampton, Colleton, Jasper, and Beaufort.

       (15) The fifteenth circuit is composed of the counties of Georgetown and Horry.

       (16) The sixteenth circuit is composed of the counties of York and Union.

    (B) One judgeTwo judges must be elected from the sixth circuit.  Two judges must be elected from the first, second, fourth, eighth, tenth, and sixteenth circuits.  Three judges must be elected from the third, seventh, eleventh, twelfth, and fourteenth, and fifteenth circuits. Four judges must be elected from the fifteenth circuit. Five judges must be elected from the fifth, ninth, and thirteenth circuits.  Six judges must be elected from the fifth circuit.

    (C) In addition to the above judges authorized by this section, there must be seven additional circuit judges elected by the General Assembly from the State at large for terms of office of six years.  These additional judges must be elected without regard to county or circuit of residence.  Each office of the at-large judges is a separate office and is assigned numerical designations of Seat No. 1 through Seat No. 7, respectively.

 

SECTION 2.  The additional circuit court judge added in the fifth judicial circuit by this act must be a resident judge in Kershaw County.

 

SECTION 3.  The Judicial Merit Selection Commission shall begin the process of nominating candidates for the judicial offices authorized by the provisions of SECTION 1.  The General Assembly then shall elect these judges from the nominees of the commission; except that, the nominating process may not begin until funding for the additional judges is provided in the general appropriations act.

 

SECTION 4.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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