By JEFFREY COLLINS
The Associated Press
COLOMBIA – A bill that would make South Carolina the 48th state in the country to pass a hate crime law began its journey across the state on Tuesday.
The proposal to allow tougher sentences for murders, assaults, harassment, vandalism and other crimes motivated by hatred of race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or someone’s disability is one of the main legislative goals for large companies in the state this year.
Several business leaders testified in a House subcommittee they heard on Tuesday in favor of the project, along with others who argued that South Carolina could make the proposal a lasting memorial to the nine members of the Black Church killed in a racist massacre in a Charleston church in 2015.
Three opponents of the project were from Baptist groups, most concerned that the proposal could be turned against them if they spoke out against homosexuality, abortion or other issues important to their beliefs and they could be accused of persecution or other crimes.
“We must protect speech,” said Mitch Prosser, vice president of the Palmetto Family Council.
But defenders pointed out that the bill does not add any new crimes. Instead, it would result in five years in prison for someone convicted of a violent crime fueled by hatred, three years for harassment or harassment and an extra year behind bars for vandalism.
Deputy Will Wheeler, D-Lee, who represents District 50, including part of Kershaw, Lee and Sumter counties, asked Prosser if his group was currently fighting persecution laws, since the hate crime project did not change it.
“Have you all voiced any objections to this section of code at any point in the past 10 or 20 years?” said Wheeler, D-Bishopville.
Prosser said no, but they fear that a hate crime bill could reach the point where someone offended by singing “Amazing Grace” in a vigil for victims of violence could end up on the wrong side of the law.
The five-member subcommittee has only one black member, but more than a dozen African-American lawmakers attended the meeting to hear the testimony.
The subcommittee is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday. House Speaker Jay Lucas made the hate crime proposal a key part of a deep dive that asked representatives to take criminal justice issues into account after a summer of racial strife. The Republican president is one of the nearly 30 bipartisan sponsors of the bill.
Arkansas and Wyoming are the only other states without hate crime bills. Georgia approved a similar proposal in June after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was chased and shot to death while running near Brunswick, Georgia.
Senate majority leader Shane Massey said his caucus did not speak about the bill while it is in the House. Republican Governor Henry McMaster said he wanted to wait and see what passed.
Only one member of the police spoke. Richland County sheriff Leon Lott asked lawmakers to pass a hate crime law, telling them about a recent series of 17 robberies over three weeks that targeted Hispanics, terrorizing their community.
“We got his text messages that said, ‘We’re going to get some Mexicans tonight,'” said Lott. “We can prove that all thefts were based on the race of the individuals who became the victims. These are the types of crimes in which we need something to hold them accountable.”