‘You ought to be ashamed.’ SC energy bill tied to suicide prevention by obscure House rule

As the fate of a contentious energy bill remains uncertain in the South Carolina Senate, the House used an obscure rule to revive and bolster the measure at the potential expense of suicide prevention.

In response to the Senate’s hesitation to debate the South Carolina Energy Security Act — H. 5118, state Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Seneca, used a little known rule Wednesday to attach the energy bill to a Senate suicide prevention measure, S. 408. The maneuver ignited outrage by several Democrats who appeared shocked by the tactic, insisting that their colleagues not “play politics” with the lives of people struggle with suicide ideations. Still, the House voted 62-48 to adopt the amendment, and is poised to send the bill back to the Senate with the entirety of the House energy bill attached.

Effectively, the Senate will now be forced to reach a compromise on H. 5118 or reject a bill aimed at curbing suicide in the state.

“The Senate has refused to take up (H.) 5118, and in continuing to do that, the only way I can get their attention is to take one of the bills that they sent to us and attach 5118, and I actually attached it to four of them,” Sandifer told The State.

In addition to the suicide prevention bill, Sandifer, in his role as chairman of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, attached the energy bill that would greenlight Santee Cooper and Dominion building a natural gas plant at Canadys to bills relating to cancer coverage on firefighters’ insurance, fighting financial crimes and the duties of organizations that assist independent pharmacies.

“I resent the action of this chamber in taking a bill as serious as suicide prevention and tagging on this (energy) legislation,” said state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg. “It’s a disservice to families who have been crushed by people who commit suicide.

As a social worker, who regularly deals “with issues that bring people to the brink” of suicide, Cobb-Hunter called the move personally offensive.

In having “ the unmitigated gall to add (H. 5118) to (S. 408), you ought to be ashamed,” she said.

The latest available data counted 823 suicides in South Carolina in 2021, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Suicide rates have increased by 9.8% over the past 10 years, and is the 12th leading cause of death in the state.

Legislators appeared stunned at how Sandifer was able to amend the suicide bill with a completely unrelated measure.

“This amendment is out of order because suicide prevention has absolutely noting to do with renewable energy or anything Sandier is speaking about,” said state Rep. Chris Hart, D-Richland.

But Sandifer and House Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, R-York, cited House rule 4.7B as justification for the amendment. The little-used rule allows any bill the House has passed to be amended onto any legislation passed by the Senate in the House committee process.

“It transcends germaneness and is a teachable moment for all of us,” Pope said.

Hart, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, said Sandifer’s move was slap in the face to veterans suffering from severe injuries, and who may be contemplating suicide.

“I’ve seen soldiers with absolutely no rear-end, blown off, gone, but still alive, suffering,” Hart said. “I’ve seen soldiers with their whole complete right side of their bodies gone, sill alive, suffering. That’s real. This what we’re doing now is politics. You’re playing politics with the lives of people who suffer every single day.”

Sandifer said his decision to attach the House energy bill to S. 408 had nothing to do with impeding suicide prevention in South Carolina or to slight veterans.

“I’m using those bills regardless of what they are, as vehicles,” he said. “And they are vehicles because the rules allow me to do that, provided that those bills come through the committee that I chair. My committee adopted those amendments unanimously.”

Following concerns voiced last month by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, the Upper Chamber stalled H. 5118.

Sandifer finds that unacceptable.

H. 5118 “is one of the most critical bills that we will see in a generation probably, and it’s imperative that we pass it,” Sandifer said. “The Senate is dragging their feet, and that doesn’t satisfy me. So, I’m gonna do everything I can to expedite it.”

State Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-York, who lost his son to suicide in 2022 after he was sexually extorted, urged his colleagues to support the suicide prevention legislation.

“As a parent that has lost a child to suicide, this pains me,” Guffey said. “But we are now at a point that if we want to have the chance for suicide prevention in is this bill, we must pass it, there’s not another option.”

Another Democrat told his colleagues that he, himself, contemplated suicide as a child, and was likewise personally offended by Sandifer’s tactic.

“Individuals, like myself, have dealt with suicide ideations from the young age of seven years old,” state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland, said. “When you’re a young kid and you’re dealing with food insecurities, and you’re homeless, living in different motels, I (was) thinking about taking my own life. At seven years old, I grabbed knives and took medications because I didn’t think life was valuable enough.”