Judiciary committee advances S.99 after amendment; committee also clears public-safety and property bills

The South Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee met Oct. 27 and moved a package of bills, led by S.99, which would add enhanced penalties for certain violent offenses when the trier of fact finds the defendant intentionally selected the victim based on the defendant’s perception of the victim’s race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability.

The committee took up S.99 (Adams) after staff described the bill’s core provision: enhanced penalties of up to a $10,000 fine or up to five years imprisonment when a factfinder determines the offense was committed, in whole or in part, because of the defendant’s perception of a protected characteristic. The bill as reported from subcommittee originally referenced the U.S. Supreme Court decision Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia in defining one element; the committee voted to remove that Bostock-based language and later adopted an amendment to add political views to the list of protected characteristics.

Why it matters

Supporters said the bill creates a process to document and punish crimes motivated by a perpetrator’s bias, and includes a supplemental proceeding held after an underlying conviction so news attention on the underlying case does not immediately brand a matter as bias-motivated before the supplemental factfinding occurs. Opponents argued the measure risks treating identical violent offenses differently based on motive…