By Sam Spence, special to Statehouse Report | South Carolina is one step closer to having a hate crimes law after House members passed the legislation Wednesday.
By a count of 79-29, the bill passed with little debate. South Carolina is one of three states that does not differentiate during prosecution between crimes motivated by hate or bias. For years, activists and equal-rights advocates pushed the measure, but even after the 2015 Emanuel A.M.E Church killings by a white supremacist in a state with a long history of racism, the proposal never gained traction.
Only since nearby Georgia passed a similar law last year did the bill make progress in South Carolina. The state Chamber of Commerce this year also pushed the measure.
The bill, filed by Charleston Democratic state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, is named in honor of former S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the minister of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston who was killed during the church shooting.
The bill, as passed, increases penalties for people convicted of crimes motivated by the victim’s race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability. The bill is modeled after the Georgia legislation, but does not include reporting requirements that make up a large portion of that proposal.
At one point while the bill was in committee, protections for LGBTQ people were stripped from the proposal, but they were later added back.
The House bill now heads to the Senate, where it is eligible to be considered before the 2021-half of the two-year legislative session ends.
More coverage: The State | AP News
Sam Spence is editor of the Charleston City Paper, where this story first appeared.
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