South Carolina H 3036: Teen Dating Violence Prevention Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3036 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3036

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING ARTICLE 
9 TO CHAPTER 25, TITLE 16 SO AS TO ENACT THE "TEEN DATING VIOLENCE PREVENTION 
ACT," TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS, CREATE THE OFFENSE OF TEEN DATING VIOLENCE, PROVIDE 
A PENALTY, ALLOW VICTIMS TO SEEK ORDERS OF PROTECTION OR RESTRAINING ORDERS 
UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, AND PROHIBIT A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THE PROVISIONS 
OF THE SECTION FROM PARTICIPATING IN A PRETRIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM; TO AMEND 
SECTION 59-32-10, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR PURPOSES OF THE COMPREHENSIVE 
HEALTH EDUCATION ACT, SO AS TO DEFINE THE TERM "TEEN DATING VIOLENCE"; AND TO 
AMEND SECTIONS 59-32-20, 59-32-30, AND 59-32-50, ALL RELATING TO THE 
REQUIREMENTS OF THE COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH EDUCATION ACT, ALL SO AS TO REQUIRE 
THE INCLUSION OF TEEN DATING VIOLENCE EDUCATION IN THE COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH 
EDUCATION CURRICULUM AND MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 25, Title 16 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 9

Teen Dating Violence Prevention Act

 Section 
16-25-910. This act may be cited as the "Teen Dating Violence Prevention Act."

 Section 
16-25-920. (A) For purposes of this 
article, the term:

 (1) "Teen 
dating violence" means physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence 
between persons, whether heterosexual or same gender, eighteen years of age or 
younger within a dating relationship.

 (2) "Violence" 
means any assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, sexual 
assault or battery or criminal sexual conduct offense, stalking, harassment or 
kidnapping resulting in the victim having reasonable cause to believe that the 
victim is in imminent danger of becoming the subject of an act of violence, or 
threats or attempts to abuse the victim, or physical injury or death to the 
victim.

 (B) A 
person commits the offense of teen dating violence when the victim has 
reasonable cause to believe that the victim is in imminent danger of becoming 
the subject of an act of teen dating violence or when a victim presents 
sufficient evidence that the current or former partner of the dating 
relationship threatened to, attempted to, or actually physically abused the 
victim.

 (C) A 
person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of the offense of 
teen dating violence and must be punished, upon conviction, pursuant to the 
provisions of Section 16 25 20(B). A violation of the provisions of this 
section is not considered a lesser included offense of one of the offenses 
listed in subsection (A)(2). The penalties provided in this section are in 
addition to the penalties provided for an underlying offense and any sentence 
imposed pursuant to the provisions of the section must be served consecutively 
to a sentence imposed for an underlying offense.

 (D) A 
victim, sixteen years of age or older, of a violation of this section may seek 
an order of protection pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 4, 
Title 20 in the family court or a restraining order in magistrates court 
pursuant to the provisions of Article 17, Chapter 3, Title 16, without parental 
or guardian consent; however, the parent or guardian of the victim must be 
notified by the appropriate court within twenty four hours of the issuance of 
the order of protection or restraining order. Victims of violations of this 
section under sixteen years of age must have parental or guardian consent to 
seek an order of protection or restraining order pursuant to the provisions of 
this section.

 (E) In 
addition, a person who is convicted of a violation of this section is not 
eligible to participate in a pretrial intervention program pursuant to Article 
1, Chapter 22, Title 17.

SECTION 2. Section 59-32-10 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 (8) "Teen dating violence" means as 
defined in Section 16-25-920.

SECTION 3. Section 59-32-20(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to 
read:

 (A) Before August 
1, 1988, theThe board, through the 
department, shall select or develop an instructional unit with separate 
components addressing the subjects of reproductive health education, family 
life education, pregnancy prevention education, and 
sexually transmitted diseases, and teen dating violence 
education and make the instructional unit available to local school 
districts. The board, through the department, also shall make available 
information about other programs developed by other states upon request of a 
local school district.

SECTION 4. Section 59-32-30 (A) and (B) of the S.C. Code is 
amended to read:

 (A) Pursuant to guidelines developed by 
the board, ea