South Carolina has barred personal auto insurers from raising a first responder's premium over an on-duty crash the responder did not cause.
Governor's approval on May 15, 2026 made H. 3259 law, adding Section 38-77-128 to the South Carolina Code. The rule is short. When an insurer or agent sets a premium rate for a first responder's personal auto policy, the carrier cannot consider the responder's work-related driving record if the responder was found noncontributing on the collision report, or was involved in a collision while responding to an emergency call.
The carve-out is narrow. Off-duty driving still counts. At-fault on-duty crashes still count. Only two scenarios are protected: the responder was cleared on the report, or the crash happened during an emergency response. Everything else in the responder's record is still on the table for rating purposes.
The paperwork burden sits with the driver, not the carrier. Under subsection (B), the responder has to furnish a copy of the police incident report, investigative report, or Uniform Traffic Collision report to the insurance agent or insurer in a timely manner. Carriers do not have to chase the documents. Policyholders have to produce them. If the responder does not hand the report over, there is nothing in the statute that forces an insurer to apply the carve-out on the responder's say-so alone.
The protected class is wide. Subsection (C) covers law enforcement officers and firefighters employed by local, state, or federal government. It also extends to emergency medical technicians, paramedics, volunteer law enforcement officers, and volunteer firefighters engaged by local, state, or federal government. Volunteers are included. So are EMTs and paramedics. Federal employees working in South Carolina are in the same boat as their state and local counterparts.
For carriers writing personal auto in the state, the work falls on underwriting and rating. Noncontributing and emergency-response collisions now have to be screened out of the premium calculation once the insured supplies the supporting report. Agents become the intake point for that documentation, and the timing pressure baked into subsection (B) means handling those reports promptly is part of the new flow.
The bill cleared its first reading in the House on March 4, 2025, came out of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on April 16, 2025 under Ronnie Cromer's signature, and took effect on the Governor's approval.
