Another Midlands town moves forward with passing hate crime ordinance
Irmo is set to become the latest Midlands municipality to outlaw hate crimes within its town boundaries.
The town council took a unanimous initial vote to add an enhanced charge to hate-motivated incidents Tuesday evening.
If Irmo adopts the hate crime ordinance next month, it would join 21 other cities and towns across the state with similar ordinances, according to the Municipal Association of South Carolina, including Columbia, Cayce and Arcadia Lakes. Columbia adopted its hate crime ordinance in 2019, while Cayce voted to add its version last year.
Richland County became the first in the state to adopt a countywide hate ordinance in June, adding additional punishment for anyone convicted of a crime motivated by a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, disability or other bias. Orangeburg County became the second earlier this week.
Irmo, a town of roughly 12,000 near Lake Murray, sits in both Richland and Lexington counties. The new measure being passed in Richland County was one of Irmo Councilwoman Phyllis Coleman’s motivations for proposing the idea.
“Only half of our town is covered by that kind of protection,” Coleman said Tuesday. “And we really should offer it to the entire town.”
Coleman proposed that Irmo join other local governments in adding an additional charge when Irmo police investigators can show a crime was motivated by bias against one of several listed identity categories, she explained during the July meeting.
“I don’t want Irmo to even remotely be seen as a place where that’s okay,” Coleman said.
“No child should grow up in a culture that remotely condones hate and intimidation,” she added. “Because then they become the generation where it’s practiced as common behavior.”
Per the text of the ordinance, it would make it so that anyone who commits a crime motivated by “the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or national origin of the other person or persons, including any act of antisemitism, is also guilty of the separate offense of hate intimidation.”
Town Administrator Jim Crosland previously told council members that the maximum penalty that could be imposed by a town ordinance, including the hate intimidation ordinance should it pass, would be a 30-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine.
Irmo Police Chief Robert Dale told the council in July that any ordinance wouldn’t be an additional burden on officers, once they have clear enforceable guidelines.
South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two states in the country without a statewide hate crime law.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
