Time Range For Action Alert:
March 9, 2023 to April 30, 2023
The House is sending H.3014, the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Bill, to the Senate.
There is no scheduled Senate hearing yet but it is appropriate to reach out to ALL senators on this now. It is time for the Senate to pass this bill.
The ask
ASAP, let's blanket the Senate with constituent comments on this bill. Call (a friendly office assistant will answer) and send a note —both!
Ask your personal Senator to support H.3014.
Mailing address:
PO Box 142
Columbia, SC 29202
Talking points
- South Carolina is long overdue to join the 49 states and territories that have enacted a hate crimes statute that provides enhanced penalties for violent criminal behavior directed specifically toward persons perceived as belonging to a group defined by race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability.
- H.3014 has passed in the House and would provide those penalties.
- Enhanced penalties would be applicable ONLY when there is an underlying criminal offense of violent crime or assault by mob as already defined in law. Hate speech, whether intended as such or simply perceived as such, would not be sufficient to trigger any penalties unless it is found to be causal in whole or in part in selecting the victims of a violent crime or mob assault.
- The penalties of not more than ten thousand dollars and additional imprisonment of five years are not excessive.
- Hate crimes harm not only the immediate victim or victims and the group to which they belong, but tear at the fabric of our society in a way that is harmful to all of us, dividing us and spreading fear and distrust of our fellow citizens.
- The ONLY meaning of a yes vote is to affirm that targeting people for violent criminal offenses because they belong to these groups (all of which have historically been so targeted) is not acceptable to the people of South Carolina.
