COLUMBIA, S.C. - Legislation to toughen penalties for batterers that had been on the fast track hit a roadblock in the House on Thursday when one lawmaker said the bill would make it harder to prosecute cases of domestic violence.

House members decided to push debate on the bill to next week, meaning it won't make a May 1 deadline for passing so it can be considered by the Senate this year. Bills that don't make it from one chamber to another before then require a two-thirds vote to be considered on the other side of the Statehouse.

"We're going to get on this bill next week. We're going to spend as much time as we need to, and we're going to pass it," said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

Other House members were disappointed the bill did not make it through this week.

"It should not be this hard to get this kind of legislation through," said Rep. Joe Neal, D-Columbia, who noted that South Carolina has one of the leading rates in the nation of women killed by men.

The bill changing criminal domestic violence laws had been on a fast-track in the House - skipping the usual committee procedures - after a similar bill was killed at a committee meeting where lawmakers joked about an acronym for a bill name, saying "Pop her ... pop her again" before tabling the legislation.

That meeting and subsequent comments by Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston, prompted two Statehouse rallies where crowds of mostly women urged legislators to pass a bill to strengthen criminal domestic violence laws.

Since the bill's quick debut on the floor, Democrats have slowed the legislation.

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, asked to put off debate Thursday because he wanted to tweak the bill. Rutherford said the current bill would make it harder for prosecutors to get convictions against men who beat their wives or girlfriends.

The bill increases the penalty for second-offense domestic violence to one year, instead of 30 days and makes a third offense a felony, punishable by one to five years in prison.

The state already classifies domestic violence involving severe injury, use of weapons or threat of death as a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Some victims may not want their mates in jail for long periods because they need financial support, Rutherford said. Those victims could decide not to testify, making it hard for prosecutors to pursue such cases.

"What we've done is enhance the penalties so much that prosecutors are not going to be able to extract pleas out of weak cases," he said. "As a criminal defense lawyer, the bill as it now stands is great for me."

Laura Hudson of the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network said Rutherford is just finding an excuse to oppose the bill. "I'm outraged by his actions," Hudson said. "I hope that every woman in the state calls to let him know how they feel."

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who sponsored the previous bill, said she is hopeful there is enough support in the Senate to get the bill into the upper chamber and to the governor this year.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, agreed that there may be enough support to get the bill on the other side of the Statehouse despite the May 1 deadline. But he said senators are concerned about the bill's rush through the legislative process.

"This bill needs a lot of work," Jackson said. "Realistically, I think the Senate is going to look at it, but I'm not sure it's going to be passed this year."

Cobb-Hunter's bill was tabled at a Judiciary Committee meeting last week where Altman asked why the bill's title, "Protect Our Women in Every Relationship (POWER)," just mentioned protecting women.

After a legislator suggested changing the title to "Protecting Our People in Every Relationship Act," or "POPER," one legislator pronounced it "Pop her." Another said "Pop her again," evoking laughter from committee members, according to a tape of the meeting.

After the meeting, Altman told a female reporter for WIS-TV: "I do not understand why women continue to go back around men who abuse them. I mean, you women want it one way and not another."

Altman apologized this week for offending people with his comments and is now a co-sponsor of the revamped criminal domestic violence bill.