1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 116th Session, 2005-2006 3 4 H. 3162 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Duncan, M.A. Pitts, E.H. Pitts, Taylor, Anthony, W.D. Smith, J.M. Neal, Pinson, Hayes, 10 Jennings, McGee, G.R. Smith, Wilkins, Vaughn, Young, Kirsh, Bailey, Battle, Witherspoon, Ballentine, 11 Hinson, Mahaffey, Toole and Clark 12 Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\20003sd05.doc 13 14 Introduced in the House on January 11, 2005 15 Introduced in the Senate on May 25, 2005 16 Last Amended on May 24, 2005 17 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 18 19 Summary: Sports Officials and Coaches Protection Act 20 21 22 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 23 24 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 25 12/15/2004 House Prefiled 26 12/15/2004 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary 27 1/11/2005 House Introduced and read first time HJ-106 28 1/11/2005 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-106 29 5/18/2005 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Judiciary HJ-143 30 5/19/2005 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Clark 31 5/24/2005 House Amended HJ-40 32 5/24/2005 House Read second time HJ-42 33 5/25/2005 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-28 34 5/25/2005 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-20 35 5/25/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-20 36 6/7/2005 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Hutto (ch), Jackson, Knotts, Bryant 37 38 39 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 40 41 12/15/2004 42 5/18/2005 43 5/24/2005 44 1 AMENDED 2 May 24, 2005 3 4 H. 3162 5 6 Introduced by Reps. Duncan, M.A. Pitts, E.H. Pitts, Taylor, 7 Anthony, W.D. Smith, J.M. Neal, Pinson, Hayes, Jennings, 8 McGee, G.R. Smith, Wilkins, Vaughn, Young, Kirsh, Bailey, 9 Battle, Witherspoon, Ballentine, Hinson, Mahaffey, Toole and 10 Clark 11 12 S. Printed 5/24/05--H. 13 Read the first time January 11, 2005. 14 15

1 [3162-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO ENACT THE “SOUTH CAROLINA SPORTS OFFICIALS 12 AND COACHES PROTECTION ACT” BY ADDING SECTION 13 16-3-611 TO THE 1976 CODE SO AS TO MAKE IT 14 UNLAWFUL TO COMMIT AN ASSAULT AND BATTERY 15 UPON A SPORTS OFFICIAL OR COACH DURING AND 16 AFTER AN ATHLETIC CONTEST AND TO PROVIDE 17 PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS INCLUDING ENHANCED 18 PENALTIES WHEN A WEAPON IS USED IN THE 19 COMMISSION OF THE CRIME OF ASSAULT AND 20 BATTERY UPON A SPORTS OFFICIAL OR COACH. 21 Amend Title To Conform 22 23 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 24 Carolina: 25 26 SECTION 1. This act is known as and may be cited as the “South 27 Carolina Sports Officials and Coaches Protection Act”. 28 29 SECTION 2. Chapter 3 of Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended 30 by adding: 31 32 “Section 16-3-611. (A) A person commits the crime of assault 33 and battery upon a sports official or coach when, in committing an 34 assault and battery, he knows the individual assaulted to be a 35 sports official or coach at any level of competition and the act 36 causing the assault and battery to the sports official or coach 37 occurred within an athletic facility or an indoor or outdoor playing 38 field or within the immediate vicinity of the athletic facility or an 39 indoor or outdoor playing field at which the sports official or 40 coach was an active participant in the athletic contests held at the 41 athletic facility. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘sports 42 official’ means a person at an athletic contest who enforces the

1 [3162] 1 1 rules of the contest, such as an umpire or referee, and ‘coach’ 2 means a person recognized as a coach by the sanctioning authority 3 that conducted the athletic contest. 4 (B) The provisions of this section apply during the athletic 5 contest and for a period of two hours following the conclusion of 6 the athletic contest. 7 (C)(1) A person violating the provisions of this section is guilty 8 of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, for a first offense when a 9 weapon is not used must be punished by a term of imprisonment 10 for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding five 11 thousand dollars, or both. 12 (2) A person violating the provisions of this section is guilty 13 of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, for a second or 14 subsequent offense when a weapon is not used must be punished 15 by a term of imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine 16 not exceeding seven thousand five hundred dollars, or both.” 17 18 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the 19 Governor. 20 ----XX---- 21

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