South Carolina Public Records Redaction (SB0126)

The state of South Carolina enacted the Judicial and Law Enforcement Personal Privacy Protection Act (SB0126), which required the redaction of complete defendant address information from public records, effective January 1, 2026.
 

What Does This Mean for You?

Our court researchers now have limited ability to confirm personal identifying information (PII). As a result, the following nine South Carolina counties can no longer validate potential criminal records through traditional clerk-assisted methods:

• Berkeley
• Chester
• Cherokee
• Greenville
• Jasper
• Lancaster
• Spartanburg
• Sumter
• Union
   

What Verified First is Doing:

Verified First will continue to serve clients to the best of our ability and maintain our standards for speed and accuracy. To avoid manual delays and keep your reports streamlined, we have implemented a behind-the-scenes verification process for these impacted counties.

When a county search in any of the nine jurisdictions listed above returns a potential record, Verified First will automatically run a South Carolina Statewide (SLED) search behind the scenes. This allows us to cross-reference the necessary PII to authenticate the identity of the search. We will then report any confirmed hits directly out of the original County Criminal Search. "Clear" searches will continue to process normally with no disruption to your workflow.

Please understand that while we are no longer adding a separate SLED report (or the associated service fee) to your orders, this internal verification process does impact billing and search requirements:

• Pass-Through Fees: If a SLED search is required behind the scenes for PII validation, a mandatory $26.00 pass-through fee will be added to the county search. If a candidate has multiple names (aliases) requiring validation, this $26.00 fee applies per name searched.
• Gender Requirements: SLED searches strictly require a candidate’s gender to proceed. If gender is not provided at the time of the request, the search will be placed in 'Needs Info' status. If the information is not received within five business days, the search will be closed as 'Unable to Perform.'

If you have any further questions, or need a product enabled on your account, 
please contact Verified First Client Services for assistance.

Call 844-709-2708 or email ClientServices@VerifiedFirst.com