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Politics

State Legislature

South Carolina Political Violence Prevention and Public Safety Act

Status: PassedState: South CarolinaIssue: Political Violence

Summary

The bill increases penalties for violence, property damage, and credible threats targeting public officials, election workers, or public-gathering participants while protecting lawful protest and speech. It also requires incident reporting, election-official notification, and anonymized annual summaries.

Full text

This bill establishes enhanced criminal penalties for a person convicted of assault, property damage, or a credible threat of unlawful violence when the offense is proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be motivated by the victim’s or target’s status as a public official, election worker, or participant in a public gathering, provided that lawful protest, advocacy, speech, and peaceful assembly are not grounds for enhanced punishment; requires law-enforcement agencies to promptly document and report such incidents to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division and notify affected election officials when election operations may be impacted; and directs the Attorney General to publish an annual summary of reported incidents while protecting personal identifying information and preserving all constitutional rights and due-process protections.

Judicial Review

No judicial review

No Supreme Court cases are currently attached to this law.

No cases filed.

Sponsor

Brett StephensRepublican Party

Cosponsors

Motions

Motions are closed because debate has concluded for this bill.