The politically-powerful SC Chamber of Commerce supports a proposed hate crimes bill.

It is among business groups that say the state needs a hate crimes law.

Chamber CEO Ted Pitts of Lexington said, “The laws on our books reflect the values of our state.

“It’s time for South Carolina to show that we don’t condone crimes motivated by hate.”

The chamber wrote lawmakers this month that a hate-crimes law would benefit business and economic development.

It would “encourage prospective companies to locate here, workers to live here, tourists to visit here and families to thrive here.”

Pitts told the Chronicle, “We still have not gotten a good sense of where individual legislators are. For many it will depend on what the final bill looks like.”

A model being considered is a hate-crimes bill the Georgia legislature passed in June after the shooting death of an unarmed black man, Ahmaud Arbery.

Similar legislation is being considered in Arkansas, another state that has no such law.

The Georgia law increases the sentence in cases where the victim was targeted due to race, religion, sexual orientation or other bias.

It also created a hatecrimes database.