South Carolina General Assembly
121st Session, 2015-2016

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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

H. 4049

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Chumley, Burns, Williams, Yow, Henegan, Mitchell, Toole, Brannon, Jefferson, Robinson-Simpson, Duckworth, Hardee, Hiott, Hardwick, Ott, H.A. Crawford, Gambrell, Hill, Willis, Parks, Neal, Allison, Bedingfield, Delleney, Dillard, Forrester, Gagnon, Long, D.C. Moss, Pitts, Pope, Riley, Loftis and Hicks
Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\18630ab15.docx
Companion/Similar bill(s): 4050

Introduced in the House on April 23, 2015
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Academic freedom

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   4/23/2015  House   Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 128)
   4/23/2015  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary 
                        (House Journal-page 128)
   4/28/2015  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Loftis
    5/7/2015  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Hicks

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

4/23/2015

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 59-1-444 SO AS TO PROMOTE ACADEMIC FREEDOM FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS BY PROVIDING PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS MAY CONDUCT OR PARTICIPATE IN ANY STUDENT-LED PRAYER, STUDENT-ORGANIZED PRAYER GROUPS, RELIGIOUS CLUBS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ACTIVITIES.

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that the concept of academic freedom is derived from the guarantee of free speech under the [] to the United States Constitution, which also permits the free exercise of religious beliefs, among other things; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that academic freedom by teachers is important to the mission of schools as well as the principles of [], and that teachers should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts, including those that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities, without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment, and that this right to expression includes the right to express or exercise a religious belief. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Article 5, Chapter 1, Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 59-1-444.    A teacher employed by a public school district may express a religious viewpoint, and also may conduct or participate in any student-led prayer or student-organized prayer groups, religious clubs, or other religious gatherings organized by students of a public school pursuant to Section 59-1-435, Section 59-1-441, or Section 59-1-442, or another provision of law."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on May 7, 2015 at 11:07 AM