Advocates press Beaufort County to pursue local hate‑intimidation ordinance; committee directs staff to draft
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Summary
A local coalition urged Beaufort County to adopt a hate‑intimidation ordinance to fill gaps in state law. After a presentation and legal questions about authority, the committee voted to ask county staff to draft ordinance language for full council review.
Risa Prince, president of the Lowcountry Coalition Against Hate, told the Beaufort County Community Services committee that gaps in South Carolina law leave victims of bias‑motivated, nonviolent crimes without uniform local protection and urged county leaders to act now.
“Enacting this will remedy the unequal protection for victims of nonviolent hate crimes in the county,” Prince said, urging the committee to consider both a misdemeanor‑level hate‑intimidation ordinance and a second ordinance that would enhance penalties for violent crimes when bias motivation can be proven.
Prince reviewed national reporting trends and local incidents, noting that municipalities within the county — Beaufort, Bluffton, Port Royal and Hardeeville — already have local ordinances but unincorporated areas do not. She said model language is available from the Municipal Association of South Carolina and recommended using Richland County’s ordinance as a template.
County legal staff and a career prosecutor cautioned that criminal law is typically the state’s domain. Mr. Hobert, a former prosecutor, said the appropriate venue to adopt substantive criminal law is the state level and voiced concern about a county creating a new criminal offense. He said, “The state is the entity that determines what a crime is in the state of South Carolina.”
Committee members weighed those legal reservations against constituent concerns. Several council members said they wanted to show progress locally while pursuing a state solution. One member said the draft ordinance could be a first step and still respect the Attorney General’s guidance by asking legal counsel to review enforceability.
By voice vote the committee approved a motion directing the county administrator and county attorney to prepare language for a hate‑intimidation ordinance mirroring the model referenced in the hearing and to forward that draft to full council for consideration. The vote was recorded in committee as approved with no objections.
The next procedural step is for county staff to prepare the draft language and provide it to full council; the committee did not itself adopt any ordinance language at this meeting.
