Daily Archives: May 13, 2010

Ultrasound bill taken up in conference committee

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Yesterday, the H.3245 (two-trip ultrasound) Conference Committee started the meeting with a prayer led by Sen. Bryant. In Senator Bryant’s prayer, he asked for guidance, wisdom, and for “a miracle because only a miracle from God will get us out of this conference committee.”

Chairman Kevin Bryant started the conversation with a side by side comparison of the Senate and House versions of the bill. Each side was able to voice their opinion on common ground items which include the effective date, severability clauses and the general concept of a 24-hour waiting period. The more controversial items including where the woman would receive the Woman’s Right to Know information, when the 24-hours clock would start, and an exception for rape and incest victims were debated in length.

Rep. Wendy Nanney expressed her initial intent of enforcing a 24 hour wait for all women even in a trauma. According to Nanney, trauma is the most vulnerable time for women and she is not thinking rationally, therefore a woman needs more time to think about her decisions regardless of rape and incest. Sen. Jake Knotts rebutted her claim by saying he would not be in favor of victimizing a woman for the second time with a governmental regulation.
Rep. Greg Delleney stated the House would not budge on the 24-hour time period starting when an ultrasound was performed.  He also called the meeting a “press conference” for each member. Senators Brad Hutto and Knotts informed the House that if they were not willing to negotiate on the 24 hour trigger than there was no need to continue with the conference committee.

Although Sen. Bryant did set a tentative next meeting for next Wednesday, he is requesting that each member of the Conference Committee work behind the scenes this week to possibly come up with proposals and agreements.

Subcommittee debates discriminatory teen dating violence bill; SC Equality seeks public input

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Yesterday, the Senate K-12 Education Sub-Committee held another hearing on H3543, the Teen Dating Violence Bill. SC Equality, its lobbyist, and allied organizations like Sean’s Last Wish (a member of the SC Progressive Network) were present–with four witnesses who were prepared to present expert and personal testimony in opposition to the non-inclusive dating violence bill.

Although we were not given the opportunity to present our testimony, fair-minded members of the Senate–Senators Joel Lourie and Phil Leventis–gave voice to our position. They acknowledged that the current language of the bill is discriminatory and privileges some relationships over others, and they argued that the bill should not move forward in its current form.

As expected, Sen. Mike Fair rejected this argument and would not accept the bill without the amendment excluding same sex partners. Realizing that this one issue of defining a dating partner is the only thing that is holding up moving this otherwise sound bill forward, the Chair asked if there was a compromise position that could be taken that would satisfy both sides. Senators Leventis and Fair agreed to discuss this further outside of the hearing. Thus, no action was taken on the bill today.

SC Equality (a member of the SC Progressive Network) is fully committed to seeing that a non-discriminatory dating violence bill–one that protects all children equally–is passed. We will continue to aggressively monitor the progress of this legislation, and should another hearing be scheduled, we will have witnesses ready.

These witnesses will be your voice at the hearing–so we need to hear from you. Should we have an opportunity to testify or to speak with legislators individually, it would be extremely helpful to be able to share stories from those who have experienced dating violence, particularly from the perspective of gay youth. If you have had experiences that you would be willing to share, please contact us at info@scequality.org. We will respect all confidentiality.