Senate Judiciary Committee Amendment
H 3583 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Gavin's Law, Sextortion

The Committee on Judiciary proposes the following amendment (SJ-3583.BM0013S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, SECTION 1, by striking Section 16-15-430(B) and inserting:

(B) A person commits the offense of felony sexual extortion if the actor intentionally and maliciously threatens to release, exhibit, or distribute a private image of another in order to compel or attempt to compel the victim to do any act or refrain from doing any act against his will, with the intent to obtain additional private images or anything else of value. Except as provided in subsections (C) and (D), a person convicted of felony sexual extortion must be imprisoned: 

 (1) not more than five years for a first offense; 

 (2) not more than ten years for a second offense; or 

 (3) not more than twenty years for a third or subsequent offense. 

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 16-15-430(C) and (D) and inserting:

(C)(1) A person commits the offense of aggravated felony sexual extortion if the actor intentionally and maliciously threatens to release, exhibit, or distribute a private image of another in order to compel or attempt to compel the victim to do any act or refrain from doing any act against his will, with the intent to obtain additional private images or anything else of value and either: 

   (a) the victim is a minor or a vulnerable adult and the person convicted of sexual extortion is an adult; or

   (b) the victim suffers great bodily injury or death and the finder of fact finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the sexual extortion of the victim was the proximate cause of the great bodily injury or death.

  (2) A person convicted of aggravated felony sexual extortion must be imprisoned not more than twenty years.

 (D) If the person convicted is a minor, then the person is guilty of misdemeanor sexual extortion and must be sentenced by the family court. The court may order as a condition of sentencing behavioral health counseling from an appropriate agency or provider.

Amend the bill further, by striking SECTION 2 and inserting:

SECTION 2. Local school districts shall collaborate with the State Department of Education, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Attorney General's office, as appropriate, to implement a policy to educate and notify students of the provisions of this act which includes adequate notice to students, parents or guardians, the public, and school personnel of the change in law. The State Department of Education must file a report as to the status of the adoption and implementation of the education policies under this act to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, annually by July first of each year.