Equality advocates, business leaders urge SC lawmakers to pass hate crimes bill
Law enforcement, other advocates and some religious leaders clashed Tuesday over whether South Carolina should adopt a hate crimes law, joining 47 other states in adopting enhanced penalties for crimes that target people because of their identities.
Proponents of the bill, including advocates for LGBTQ individuals and other minority groups, argued Tuesday that it would help deter hate crimes from happening within the state. Business leaders argued it would send a message on South Carolina’s values to prospective businesses and employees.
“Its important to us that South Carolina show the nation that crimes of hate will not be tolerated in our great state,” said Tim Arnold, the board chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, some religious leaders posited that portions of the bill could be used to target religious speech.
One of many hate crime bills that have been filed this session in both the House and the Senate, the bill would add additional penalties for violent crimes, harassment or stalking, or malicious injury offenses committed based on the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability.
If the crime committed is violent, it would allow for penalties to be increased by five years imprisonment and an additional fine up to $10,000. For stalking or imprisonment, the penalties could be increased to up to a $5,000 fine and three years imprisonment and, for malicious injury offenses, a fine up to $1,000 and an additional one year imprisonment.
The bill also contains a civil component, which would allow victims of property damage or those suffering personal injury because of a hate crime to sue for damages. The court could award the victim up to $25,000 for each violation.
The state bill is largely modeled after Georgia’s hate crime bill, which was passed just last year, subcommittee chairman Rep. Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, said.
While South Carolina has no available enhancements for hate crimes on the state level, federal officials can choose to pursue hate crime charges for hate crimes committed in the state.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott argued that without a hate crime bill, law enforcement can’t hold people accountable for committing hate-based crime.
Lott pointed to a recent case within Richland County, when Latino and Hispanic residents were terrorized for weeks after nearly two dozen burglaries rocked the community. During a span of three weeks, two men robbed 23 people, breaking into homes and holding guns to residents’ heads.
After the alleged perpetrators were arrested, sheriff’s deputies learned that robbers were specifically targeting the area’s Hispanic community, Lott testified Tuesday, adding the accused “went on a hunt” for their victims.
“I saw the fear,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott testified in front of a panel of state lawmakers Tuesday. “I saw how scared they were.”
But because South Carolina is one of just three states without a statewide hate crime law, there was no additional charge law enforcement could add for targeting the community.
“The fact that they went out and hunted our Hispanic community, we can’t hold them accountable for that,” Lott said.
While hate crime bills have failed in South Carolina in the past, the initiative has gained some bipartisan momentum this session.
Lawmakers from both parties filed a number of pieces of legislation that would enhance the penalties for hate crimes. One lawmaker sponsoring a bill is S.C. Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, who previously opposed hate crime legislation.
Some Democratic lawmakers feel there will be more support from Republicans for passing hate crime legislation during the upcoming session, thanks to support from the business community.
The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and more than 80 business leaders from across the country signed a letter in December that called on lawmakers to pass hate crime legislation. The endorsement came on the heels of a tumultuous year, where protesters took to the streets in cities across America, including Columbia, to call for social justice and equity following the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck. That movement drew the attention of business and chamber leaders.
“The time has come to pass a hate crime bill this coming session,” former Chamber President and CEO Ted Pitts said in a statement. “The state’s business community looks forward to working with the House, the Senate, and the Governor to quickly pass a meaningful bill that shows South Carolina does not condone crimes motivated by hate.”
Pitts was joined by several prominent businesses, like AARP, AT&T, American Airlines, the Bank of America, CVS Health, IBM, Michelin, Sonoco, Toyota, Coca Cola, UPS, Verizon, Volvo and Wells Fargo. He was also joined by local organizations like Benedict College, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Colonial Life, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Nexsen Pruet and several local chambers of commerce.
Since, the number of businesses in support of the legislation has grown to over 100, interim Chamber CEO Swati Patel testified Tuesday.
“It was important to the business community because it represents the values of our state,” Patel said.
While the vast majority of those who testified Tuesday morning called on lawmakers to pass the bill, there were some religious leaders who stood against it.
Tony Beam, the Director of Public Policy for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said while his group supports additional penalties for hate crimes, it worries that parts of the bill that include stalking and harassment could “chill and threaten religious liberty.”
“We’re not concerned about adding the statues or the criminal code … to stop the hatred and bigotry,” Beam said. “But we are worried about the religious liberty aspects that could be brought into play if the bill is not succinctly stated.”
Beam argued that the civil aspect of the bill could be used against religious groups who are preaching or reading a part of the Bible that may offend someone.
Mitch Prosser, the director of the Palmetto Family Pastors Network, echoed Beam’s concerns.
“We must protect speech,” Prosser said.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, though, questioned why concerns about state harassment law were being brought up in conjunction with the hate crimes bill, but not in the last few decades that the harassment laws have been in place. The bill itself doesn’t change what is considered stalking or harassment, just adds additional penalties for those who commit those crimes on the basis of hate, they said.
Lawmakers did concede, though, that the civil section of the bill may prove problematic and hinted that an amendment to remove that portion of the bill may be introduced during a later meeting Thursday.
Proponents of the bill who testified Tuesday also advocated for some changes to the bill.
Chase Glen, the executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance, an LGBTQ advocacy group based in Charleston, called on lawmakers to add gender identity to the list of statuses protected by the bill. That way, the bill would specifically extend to crimes committed against transgender individuals.
“My fear is that this bill falls short in protecting them,” Glen said.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 3:01 PM.
