South Carolina is one of three states that doesn’t have a hate crimes law. But earlier this month, a bill that would remove the state from that short list passed easily through the House. This week, political reporter Jamie Lovegrove breaks down what the bill would do and its chances of getting passed this year.
South Carolina is one of three states that doesn’t have a hate crimes law. But earlier this month, a bill that would remove the state from that short list passed easily through the House.
There have been attempts to pass this kind of legislation before, but the April 7 vote was a big step: The House had not passed a hate crimes bill before.
This time around, the legislation has been boosted by the support of the state's business community which has said that South Carolina's lack of legislation on hate crimes hurts its competitiveness as a pro-business state.
This week on the podcast, political reporter Jamie Lovegrove breaks down what this bill would do and its chances of being signed into law this year.
Swati Patel of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce also shares why the state's business community has rallied behind the effort to pass the bill and what it plans to do now that the bill will advance to the Senate.
And, with just several weeks left in the regular legislative session, assistant Columbia bureau chief Seanna Adcox takes a look at some other hot-topic legislation and those proposals' chances of passing.
Listen now for more.
For more South Carolina politics news, subscribe to our Palmetto Politics newsletter. To get episodes of this podcast delivered to your inbox every week, sign up for our Understand SC newsletter.