The bill H. 3796 aims to amend the South Carolina Code of Laws by adding Article 29 to Chapter 1, Title 1, which explicitly prohibits governmental entities from granting or recognizing legal personhood to various non-human entities. The bill defines key terms such as "body of water," "governmental entity," "human being," "land," and "legal personhood," establishing a clear framework for what constitutes legal rights and obligations under state law.

Specifically, the bill states that governmental entities, which include courts, the General Assembly, and other adjudicatory bodies, cannot recognize legal personhood in items such as artificial intelligence, inanimate objects, bodies of water, land, real property, atmospheric gases, astronomical objects, weather, plants, nonhuman animals, or any other entities that are not classified as human beings. This legislation is set to take effect upon approval by the Governor.