For purposes of this chapter:

(1) "Public body" means a department of the State; a state board, commission, committee, agency, or authority; a public or governmental body or political subdivision of the State, including counties, municipalities, school districts, or special purpose or public service districts; an organization, corporation, or agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds; or a quasi-governmental body of the State and its political subdivisions.

(2) "Employee" means an employee of a department of the State; a state board, commission, committee, agency, or authority; a public or governmental body or political subdivision of the State, including counties, municipalities, school districts, or special purpose or public service districts; an organization, corporation, or agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds; or a quasi-governmental body of the State and its political subdivisions. "Employee" does not include those persons enumerated within the provisions of Section 8-17-370.

(3) "Appropriate authority" means, respectively, the public body that employs the person making the report; or a federal, state, or local governmental body, agency, or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics, or wrongdoing. If a report is made to an entity other than the public body employing the person making the report, the employing public body must be notified as soon as practicable by the entity that received the report. The term includes, but it is not limited to, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Solicitor's Office, the State Ethics Commission, the State Auditor, the Legislative Audit Council, and the Office of Attorney General.

(4) "Report" means:

(a) a written or oral allegation of waste or wrongdoing that contains the following information:

(i) the date of disclosure;

(ii) the name of the employee making the report; and

(iii) the nature of the wrongdoing and the date or range of dates on which the wrongdoing allegedly occurred. A report must be made within one hundred eighty days of the date the reporting employee first learns of the alleged wrongdoing; or

(b) sworn testimony regarding wrongdoing, regardless of when the wrongdoing allegedly occurred, given to any standing committee, subcommittee of a standing committee, oversight committee, oversight subcommittee, or study committee of the Senate or the House of Representatives.

(5) "Wrongdoing" means action by a public body which results in substantial abuse, misuse, destruction, or loss of substantial public funds or public resources. "Wrongdoing" also includes an allegation that a public employee has intentionally violated federal or state statutory law or regulations or other political subdivision ordinances or regulations or a code of ethics, which violation is not merely technical or of a minimum nature.

HISTORY: 1988 Act No. 354, eff March 14, 1988; 1993 Act No. 164, Part II, Section 37A, eff June 21, 1993, and applies with respect to any personnel actions taken after that date; 2014 Act No. 121 (S.22), Pt IV, Section 6.B, eff January 1, 2015.