An Orangeburg senator and criminal defense lawyer likely has killed a bill that requires day-care operators who seriously harm children to serve minimum prison sentences, bill supporters say.
After the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed the bill, Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, a committee member who didn’t attend the hearing, put a “minority report” designation on the bill.
That move delays debate on the bill by putting it on a “contested” calendar; under Senate rules, uncontested bills are debated first. Senators can move the bill up for debate through another procedure called a “special order,” but even if that happened, the bill couldn’t be considered ahead of other bills on that list.
“For this session, a minority report probably kills it,” said Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, the Senate Rules Committee chairman and a Judiciary Committee member who voted for the bill, when contacted Friday.
Hutto was unapologetic about his procedural move.
“The bill is not going to pass if I have anything to do with it,” he said Friday. “I do not like mandatory minimum sentences. I think it takes away discretion from prosecutors and judges.
“You don’t take one tragedy ... and change the entire judicial system.”
Hutto was referring to a Richland County case in which Circuit Judge Kenneth Goode of Winnsboro in December gave no prison time to a former home day-care operator who pleaded guilty to slapping a then-7-month-old girl so hard it caused bleeding on her brain.
The bill, which was spearheaded by the girl’s mother, Michelle Gaddie, would require day-care operators convicted of inflicting great bodily injury on a child to serve minimum two-year prison sentences. The charge currently carries a maximum 20-year sentence but no minimum.
Gaddie said this week that Hutto’s procedural move on the bill was “disappointing to everyone.”
“I find it interesting that one senator can hold up an entire bill,” she said.
Bill supporters wanted to get the Senate to pass it by May 1. If fewer than 30 days are left in the legislative session, it would take a two-thirds vote of the House to consider the bill if it passed the Senate.
Contacted Friday, Laura Hudson, executive director of the S.C. Crime Victims’ Council, accused Hutto of “purposely dragging his feet” on the bill. She noted the bill was introduced Jan. 29 but wasn’t heard in Hutto’s Senate Judiciary subcommittee until April 15.
Hudson conceded the bill is likely dead for this year, though she added it won’t have to be re-introduced next year because of the two-year legislative cycle.
“My goal is to get it through the Senate this year,” she said. “We definitely wouldn’t have time to get it through the House.”
Hutto said he supports part of the bill that would require home day-care operators to complete two hours of training annually to help prevent child abuse, adding that the state Department of Social Services “should have the authority to inspect these facilities.”
Bill sponsor Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, said Friday getting both the Senate and House to pass the bill this year is a “long shot,” especially given that the budget will dominate the little time remaining in the session.
Full text available at The State.