(A) Agencies shall insure state-owned vehicles through the State Fiscal Accountability Authority or shall absorb the cost of accident repairs within the agency budget.

(B) State employees who, while driving state-owned vehicles on official business, are involved in accidents resulting in damages to the vehicles may not be held liable to the State for the cost of repairs, except in the following cases:

(1) If the operator was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs at the time of the accident and the Accident Review Board determines that the operator's impaired condition substantially was the cause of the accident, the operator may be assessed up to the full cost of repairs; and

(2) In all other cases, the employee operator may be assessed for an amount not to exceed two hundred dollars for each occurrence if he is found to be at fault in the accident after a review of records conducted by a duly appointed Accident Review Board.

(C) Employees subjected to these assessments may appeal the assessment to the following bodies, in the following order:

(1) Agency Accident Review Board;

(2) Agency Executive Director or governing board or commission;

(3) State Motor Vehicle Management Council; and

(4) State Fiscal Accountability Authority.

HISTORY: 1995 Act No. 145, Part II, Section 17.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, Section 5(D)(1), effective July 1, 2015.