COLUMBIA - 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.

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 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 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.

He told a reporter from The (Columbia) State newspaper earlier in the day that he would support making third-offense and subsequent criminal domestic violence a felony in a revised bill.

Some sentences in the revised bill are tougher than those proposed 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, head of the House Judiciary Subcommittee, said they expect the bill to breeze through a Judiciary subcommittee hearing this afternoon and a 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 the bill is not approved by the House until next week, it could be considered by the full Senate only after a two-thirds vote because it would have missed the Sunday deadline. 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 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 would, for the first time, impose a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 days in jail for a second offense and minimum one-year sentences for third and subsequent offenses.

Third and subsequent offenses, also for the first time, would be classified as felonies.