By Kevin Dietrich

South Carolina lawmakers agreed on a compromise late Wednesday to address rising liquor liability costs, an issue that has wreaked havoc within the state’s food and hospitality industry.

H. 3430 represents a compromise between the Senate’s tort reform bill and the House’s liquor liability bill. It now goes to Gov. Henry McMaster, who is expected to sign it into law. Once that’s done, it would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

The bill allows businesses such as bars and pubs to reduce the required $1 million in liability coverage by taking steps such as requiring identification scanners that can verify the authenticity of IDs on alcohol sales after midnight, meeting employee training requirements and making use of a risk-mitigation program. 

Such action could enable establishments to see the amount of required liability insurance drop by $250,000 or more each year.

However, some say it’s not enough.

“It’s too little, too late,” said Carlin Thompson, owner of the New Brookland Tavern in Columbia. “This was a last-minute fix to try to get something done before the end of the session, but it’s not enough and even then it won’t go into effect until 2026.”

Phillip Blair, former co-owner of The Whig, a noted downtown Columbia bar, expressed his disdain for H. 3430 on social media.

“The liquor liability law is a complete dud, shame on anybody who votes to approve it,” he wrote on Facebook and X earlier this week.

Rising liquor liability insurance rates have hammered bars and other South Carolina establishments that sell alcohol, with some seeing annual premiums exceed $100,000 a year. A significant number of S.C. bars and other businesses have gone out of business in recent years as a result.

State Rep. Jay Kilmartin (R-Lexington) said last year that he had turned in his liquor license for his cigar store in Columbia because his liquor liability premiums rose from $1,500 a year to $28,000 annually.

Liquor liability premiums in the state began to skyrocket after passage of a 2017 law that required establishments that served alcohol for on-premises consumption past 5 p.m. to carry insurance with total coverage of at least $1 million.

The revised bill passed this week addressed liquor liability and the degree of responsibility that establishments can be held culpable when patrons cause injury or death after drinking alcohol. It also focuses on joint and several liability, a legal term for responsibility shared by two or more parties.

Under the 2017 law, individuals can recover the entire award for damages from a bar or restaurant if the establishment is found to be just 1 percent at fault for contributing to a drunk driving accident, according to the South Carolina law firm Burriss & Ridgeway's website.

That is no longer the case under H. 3430.

Another impact of the 2017 law was the dwindling number of insurers willing to write liquor liability coverage in the state. 

A S.C. Department of Insurance report released last year showed providers writing liquor liability insurance between 2017 and 2023 lost $1.77 for every $1 in premiums earned during the period. In the worst year, the industry lost about $2.60 per $1.00 of premiums earned, the report stated. 

Lawmakers could begin working to improve the availability of liquor liability insurance during next year’s session.