Greenwood County, SC Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Greenwood County Code § 11-2-1 makes it an offense, punishable as provided in Title 12 of the county code, for any person to smoke or carry a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or similar device on property owned by Greenwood County, in a building owned or leased by the county, or in a county-owned or leased vehicle. Section 11-2-2 carves out four exceptions where the county council "strongly encourages" but does not require abstaining from smoking: any road or highway owned by the county, the bed or waters of Lake Greenwood, a manufacturing facility titled to the county as part of an economic-development arrangement pending reconveyance, and any other place the council designates by resolution.

Section 11-2-3 frames the chapter as a health-and-courtesy policy limited to county-owned or leased properties and vehicles; it does not reach privately owned workplaces, restaurants, or outdoor venues elsewhere in the unincorporated county. Because the offense is created under the "punishable as provided in title 12" formula, Title 12, Chapter 1 controls the penalty: § 12-1-1 classifies the conduct as either a criminal violation or, where a criminal penalty would exceed the county's constitutional authority under Article VIII, § 14, a civil infraction, and § 12-1-2 makes each day of a continuing violation a separate offense.

Section 12-1-3 caps the fine or imprisonment at whatever maximum state law allows for a county-created offense of that type. The ordinance was adopted by Ordinance No. 2009-16, § 1, October 20, 2009.