Advocates against domestic violence said Wednesday that the S.C. House's version of a domestic violence bill still allows offenders to commit larger crimes with a lesser penalty.
Advocates and some senators also are concerned that the bill may never make it to the governor's desk because of major differences between the House version of the domestic violence bill and the version already passed by the Senate.
The House passed H. 3433, the Domestic Violence Reform Act, on Tuesday. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, wrote that the legislation puts in place significant provisions to protect South Carolinians from domestic abuse. The passage comes a month after the Senate passed a more strict version of the bill in February.
"This monumental reform legislation increases penalties to deter future assaults, protects the rights of all South Carolinians, promotes awareness through education, and fundamentally attempts to transform our culture so that we can put an end to domestic abuse," Lucas wrote.
Too watered-down?
The House passed the reform bill in an overwhelming, 101-9 fashion. Advocates for a stronger bill said the legislation protects gun rights - much different from the Senate's version, which would ban a domestic violence offender from owning a gun for 10 years after a first-time conviction.
In addition, the House bill leaves an option for judges and prosecutors to make plea bargains to reduce domestic violence charges to assault and battery cases, which doesn't stop offenders from possessing guns.
Gabby Aragon, the interim director of the Cumbee Center to Assist Abused Persons, said the House measure is dangerous because it allows offenders to get away with more.
"If they water it down, following charges won't be as stringent, and the penalty would be less stringent," Aragon said. "Then, if they become a repeat offender, their record won't show that they've had a domestic violence charge against them."
Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said the Senate's version of the bill was necessary, stating that current domestic violence penalties are "woefully inadequate." Massey added that the 10-year ban is needed to keep criminals from hurting loved ones.
"If you have demonstrated that you are violent and willing to be violent with people who should have the greatest level of comfort around you, then you really have waived that constitutional right to some degree," Massey said.
A step in the right direction?
Each House member in the Aiken County Legislation Delegation voted in favor of the bill. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, said he would like to see a stronger bill, but that the steps the House is now taking are much-needed.
The bill includes language to add a domestic violence subject to health education programs in schools beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Topics would include learning about the culture that heightens domestic violence.
Clyburn agreed with the education element and took it a step further by saying he'd like to see counseling for children and adults in the final version.
"Sometimes you have husbands and wives that put themselves in a bad position," Clyburn said. "I'd like to see counseling implemented instead of carrying them away without resolving the problem."
Lucas added that the bill was crafted after months of testimony from victims, law enforcement agencies and concerned citizens.
"The ideas we have put forth deserve considerable discussion, and I am committed to working with Senate leadership and the attorney general to ensure Gov. Haley receives a bill on her desk for signature sooner rather than later," he said.
Sooner or later?
Massey said the good news is that General Assembly has met the May 1 deadline of both sides drafting and voting for a bill, allowing the House and Senate to continue working.
But with 12 weeks down and eight weeks left, Massey said, it will be difficult to get a complete bill passed and on Haley's desk for a signature.
"The fact that the House used a different version of the bill slows things down," Massey said. "It has to go back to the Senate and then back and forth with both sides, so it'll take more time."
He said the bill is one of the only significant pieces of legislation the Senate has voted on this session. If a bill doesn't pass in time, Massey said it will be a "major disappointment."
S.C. Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, echoed Massey's sentiments, stating that the House did not advance the domestic violence issue on Tuesday.
"I cannot take a House bill back through the committee process, amend it, and get it up for debate on the floor in the ordinary course of the Senate business as a contested bill - which no doubt it will be - because there are too many hoops to jump through," Martin said.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard. He joined the paper in June 2013.