Bill 3378

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               3378
Ratification Number:       237
Act Number                 156
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Sheriff to preserve and keep
                           records

(A156, R237, H3378)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-20, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE MAINTENANCE OF CERTAIN PUBLIC RECORDS IN SEPARATE BOOKS BY THE SHERIFF, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE SHERIFF TO MAINTAIN THESE RECORDS IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM OR TRANSFER THEM TO A MICROFILM SYSTEM WITH A SECOND OR BACK-UP COPY REQUIRED TO BE KEPT IN THE EVENT OF DESTRUCTION OR UNAVAILABILITY OF RECORDS INSTEAD OF THEM BEING KEPT IN SEPARATE BOOKS.

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

Sheriff to preserve and keep records

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-20 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 23-15-20. (A) The sheriff of every county shall keep and preserve as public records in his office the separate books mentioned in this section, of good material and strongly bound, each containing not less than eight quires of medium paper and labeled with its appropriate title, as follows:

(1) A 'Writ Book', in which the sheriff, immediately on the receipt of any writ of habeas corpus, citation, writ of capias ad respondendum, summons, subpoena writ, subpoena ticket, rule, interrogatories, notice to be served upon any person, subpoena ad respondendum, writ of ne exeat, injunction, warrant, attachment, or any other mesne process whatever, issuing from either the circuit or the probate court, shall make an entry of it, with the date, and endorse on the original the time of the entry in his office. The writ book must be laid off into separate and suitable columns in which the sheriff shall enter the names of the parties, the name of the attorney, the kind of process, the kind of action, or kind of offense, when entered, by whom served, how served, when served or other return, and the sheriff's costs. The sheriff shall make a true index in the book to all the entries in it.

(2) An 'Execution Book', in which the sheriff, immediately on the receipt of any fieri facias, capias satisfaciendum, attachment for not performing a decree, writ of habere facias possessionem, restitution, military or other execution, or any other final process which, according to law, may be lodged with him shall enter the same and endorse on the final process the time of entry in his office. The execution book must be laid off into separate and suitable columns in which the sheriff shall enter the kind of process, when lodged, the time of the original entry, the names of the parties, the debt and interest, and (underneath, in the same column) the attorney's, clerk's, sheriff's, and other costs, attorney's name, the amount received, date of levy or other return or disposition of the execution, and receipts of the plaintiff, attorney, clerk, sheriff, witnesses, or others entitled to costs or their agents or representatives. The sheriff shall make and keep correct and double indexes in this book of the cases entered in it, so that the name of each defendant in an execution may be entered in alphabetical order.

(3) A 'Sale Book', in which the sheriff shall enter all sales which he may make under any order, decree, execution, or final process of any of the courts of this State or any officer authorized by law to issue the process to the sheriffs of this State, and he shall transcribe in it all levies which he has made, specifying the property and the date of each levy, and all advertisements of property levied on. The parts of the book in which accounts of sale are kept must be divided into separate and suitable columns in which the sheriff shall enter the names of the parties, a description of the property sold, when sold, to whom sold, amount of sale and, if bond be taken, the names of the sureties to it and a statement of the time when due, and to what case or cases the proceeds of the sale have been applied or to whom paid. The sheriff shall make and keep correct and double indexes in this book of the cases entered in it.

(B) Any public records required to be kept by the sheriff in separate books under the provisions of this section may be maintained in a computer system or may be transferred to a microfilm system provided that a second or back-up copy of the records is maintained in the event of destruction or unavailability of the records maintained by the computer or microfilm system."

Time effective

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