Senate Bill 157: A Bill Creating the ‘Teacher Protection Act of 2007’

Authors:
Senators McConnell, Vaughn, Campsen, Courson, Richardson, Hayes, Mescher, McGill, Knotts, Elliott, Cleary, Leatherman, Alexander, Verdin, Fair, Setzler, Peeler, Williams and Grooms.

Summary:
This bill would create the South Carolina Teacher Protection Act of 2007. The purpose is to limit liability of teachers in their dealings with students. This bill also contains provisions creating criminal liability for students who attack teachers. Homeschools are included in this bill but only to the extent that they include students not related by blood to the operator. This would only include guardians who are teaching wards not related by blood. In order for the legal protection to apply, the teacher must be acting within the scope of “employment.” Since parents and guardians are not employees in homeschools in South Carolina, it appears that this legislation would never apply to home educators. This is the companion bill to House Bill 3347./p>

Status:

1/9/2007		(Senate) Introduced, first reading, and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee
1/17/2007		(Senate) Judiciary Report: Favorable
2/14/2007		(Senate) Amended and second reading
2/15/2007		(Senate) Third reading and sent to House
2/20/2007		(House) Introduced, first reading, and referred to the House Judiciary Committee
4/24/2008		(House) Recalled from Committee on Judiciary
4/30/2008		(House) Recommitted to Committee on Judiciary
6/5/2008		Legislation died when the Senate adjourned sine die

HSLDA’s Position:
HSLDA is monitoring this legislation.

Action Requested:
None at this time.

Other Resources

Bill Text (Word document)