The controversy over the South Carolina House's action on a domestic violence bill is taking an unusual twist. Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston, has been at the center of the controversy for saying he doesn't understand how there's ever a second offense for domestic violence because the victim should never go back to an abuser.

Now, Rep. Altman is one of the co-sponsors of the rewritten domestic violence bill.

Last Monday, the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill to make cockfighting a felony. But that same committee tabled a bill aimed at cutting down on domestic violence, including stiffer penalties.

Critics say it makes it look like the state values the life of a fighting chicken more than a woman. For example, Miami Herald editorial writer Leonard Pitts, Jr. wrote an editorial entitled, "Does S.C. love its women as much as its chickens?", and wrote that the state has now taken a leadership role in backwardness.

Members of the Judiciary Committee say they tabled the bill because it had many technical problems or parts they couldn't support. It would have barred abusers from entering pre-trial intervention programs, for instance, but some solicitors say they use PTI effectively in some cases and want to retain that option.

After the controversy, House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, vowed to rewrite the bill to fix the technical problems. Rep. Harrison says the bill will be introduced Tuesday.

He says Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, and Rep. Bob Leach, R-Greer, the main sponsors of the original bill, will be the main sponsors of this new version, too. Harrison and Speaker Wilkins will be co-sponsors, along with Gloria Haskins, Murrell Smith, Jim Merrill and John Graham Altman.

Vicki Bourus, director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, SCCADVASA, says all the attention has helped the bill.

"I think it's had an incredible and unintended positive consequence for us," she says. "Because I believe that what would have happened is when the bill was tabled, had there not been this huge public outcry, that would have been the end of it. So, in a way, the representative (Altman) did us a favor by really bringing attention to this.

The new version of the bill actually has tougher penalties than the original was proposing. It would have kept first, second and third offense criminal domestic violence as misdemeanors.

Rep. Harrison says the new bill would raise the fine for a first offense to $1,000-$2,500. A second offense would have more possible jail time, going up to 30 days to a year, with a new mandatory minimum of 30 days.

A third offense would become a felony, with a possible penalty of one to five years and a mandatory minimum of one year.

Criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature is already a felony, thanks to a law that took effect January 1st, 2004.

The bill to be introduced Tuesday would add another aggravating circumstance that would allow an abuser to get the maximum sentence of ten years under that law. That would be if the abuse occurred in the presence of a minor child.

One of the complaints about the first bill was its ban on allowing pre-trial intervention, or PTI. Rep. Harrison says the new bill would allow PTI, but it would have to include an approved 26-week treatment program for batterers.

Bourus says, "The problem with PTI is that, yes, they may get the treatment they need, but if they complete it there's no record of their conviction. And with domestic violence, given that it's a problem that escalates over time, tracking those offenses is extremely important."