Bill's fortunes changing

RICK BRUNDRETT, The State

A criminal domestic violence bill that appeared dead early last week in the S.C. House will start today on an expected fast track to passage.

And Rep. John Graham Altman will be one of the revised bill's co-sponsors, House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, said Monday afternoon.

Altman, R-Charleston, gained national attention after he uttered what critics called insensitive remarks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing and to a WIS TV reporter.

A longtime victim advocate was delighted Monday about the bill's change of fortune -- and Altman's apparent change of heart.

"John Graham Altman is the best thing that has ever happened to us," said Laura Hudson, spokeswoman for the S.C. Victim Assistance Network.

"I guess there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. I do believe in redemption."

Efforts Monday evening to reach Altman were unsuccessful. But he told a reporter from The State newspaper earlier in the day he would support making third-offense and subsequent criminal domestic violence a felony in a revised bill.

Some sentences in the revised bill are even tougher than the proposed penalty increases in the original bill, said Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who again will be the bill's lead sponsor.

"Without a doubt, this is meaningful," she said Monday. "I hope the bill will pass as presented. It's reasonable and more than fair."

Wilkins and Harrison, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee, said they expect the bill to breeze through a Judiciary subcommittee hearing set for this afternoon and a full committee meeting Wednesday.

Harrison said he and Wilkins will be among its co-sponsors.

The full committee last week created a furor when it tabled the bill after Altman and others joked about the bill's title, then passed an anti-cockfighting bill.

House leaders appear to be serious about the domestic violence bill, which Wilkins on Monday called a "top priority.''

Wilkins and Harrison said they are unsure whether House rules would allow the full House to consider the bill Thursday, if the committee passes it Wednesday.

If it is not approved by the House until next week, the bill could be considered by the full Senate only after a two-thirds vote because it would have missed the Sunday deadline. But Wilkins, Harrison and Cobb-Hunter don't see that as a major problem.

"If we want to pass it this year, it can happen," Cobb-Hunter said.

Harrison and Cobb-Hunter reached a tentative agreement on the revised bill after discussions Monday. Harrison said he doesn't expect any major changes when it is introduced today in the House.

The bill is a scaled-down version of Cobb-Hunter's original bill, which she said was based on recommendations by a domestic violence task force appointed by former Gov. Jim Hodges.

The revised bill, among other things, would set fines of a minimum $1,000 up to $2,500 for first-offense criminal domestic violence.

The current penalty is 30 days in jail or a $500 fine; the revised bill doesn't change the jail time.

The new bill, for the first time, would impose a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 days in jail for a second offense, and minimum one-year sentences for third and subsequent offenses and criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

Third and subsequent offenses, also for the first time, would be classified as felonies. Currently, only aggravated criminal domestic violence is a felony.