A South Carolina lawmaker is renewing her push for an anti-bullying bill named in the wake of an Upstate girl's story that has haunted the state legislature for years. Kelaia Turner attempted suicide at age 12 and was left in a coma for weeks; today, at 16, she is nonverbal, relies on a feeding tube and a tracheostomy, and receives around-the-clock care from her parents and healthcare providers.
State Representative Annie McDaniel, a Democrat from Richland, has reintroduced House Bill 3482 every two years since 2019, according to WYFF News 4. McDaniel said Kelaia's story moved her and elevated the issue of bullying statewide, and the bill would standardize how harassment is reported in South Carolina schools while pushing districts to better address patterns of bullying rather than treating each complaint in isolation. As currently drafted and detailed by the South Carolina Legislature, the bill would require the State Department of Education to develop a standardized reporting form by January 1, 2027, and mandate quarterly reporting of bullying incidents by school administrators, with penalties for noncompliance.
The legislation would also require what WYFF News 4 describes as an all-hands-on-deck process in which every adult and child shares reports of potentially harmful incidents, encouraging early intervention before a bullying situation escalates. It would build on South Carolina's foundational Safe School Climate Act, a 2006 law enacted under then-Governor Mark Sanford that first required public school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies and reporting obligations, according to the South Carolina Department of Education.
A Lawsuit Alleges Years of Ignored Complaints
Kelaia's family filed an ongoing lawsuit in 2024 against Greenville County Schools, alleging that a lack of response from administrators, faculty, and staff led to her attempted suicide. The 24-page complaint claims officials at Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School ignored seven to nine written complaints from Kelaia's mother starting in August 2021, and alleges a social studies teacher actively encouraged peer harassment after Kelaia began wearing her natural hair, according to Law & Crime.
Court filings described in the lawsuit allege that after Kelaia's March 17, 2023 suicide attempt, an alleged bully entered her hospital intensive care unit, photographed her while she was comatose, and distributed the images on social media to mock her condition, as reported by The Washington Post. Greenville County Schools has said it cannot comment on the ongoing litigation. District spokesperson Tim Waller stated in December 2024 that the district firmly denies liability, asserting that school and district administrators thoroughly investigated and addressed each complaint reported by Kelaia's mother in full compliance with district policy and state law, per NewsOne.
District Points to Existing Reporting Tools
Greenville County Schools maintains that it implements anti-bullying strategies and programs for students and teaches them how to recognize and report bullying. The district runs a See Something, Say Something protocol featuring a dedicated bullying hotline at 864-794-6821 and an anonymous web reporting portal for students and parents.
The gap between those existing tools and what happened to Kelaia is at the center of the legal and legislative fight now playing out. Nationally, adolescents who experience bullying on school grounds face nearly double the odds of contemplating suicide compared to non-bullied peers, according to a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of School Health cited on PubMed. Suicide ranks among the second- to third-leading causes of death for South Carolinians aged 10 to 24, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also found that nearly 20% of U.S. high school students seriously consider suicide each year.
South Carolina was among several states that opted out of the CDC's 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, limiting updated state-level data on adolescent mental health and school bullying trends, according to Grantmakers In Health. Research highlighted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness also notes that suicide rates have risen significantly among young Black girls aged 5 to 12, who often face distinct stressors including racialized bullying and adultification bias in schools, per the Washington Post report.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 19 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being bullied during school in 2021–22, down from 28 percent in 2010–11.
Building Support at the Statehouse
House Bill 3482 currently has two co-sponsors, Hamilton Grant and Gilda Cobb-Hunter, and McDaniel has acknowledged that with Republicans controlling the South Carolina Legislature, Republican support will likely be needed for the bill to have a stronger chance of passing. She has said she would yield her bill to a Republican-sponsored bill addressing bullying if that path proves more viable, according to WYFF News 4. McDaniel has said bullying's impact and potential harm are not widely understood, which is part of why she keeps reintroducing the measure.
Greenville Organizing and the Nehemiah Action are backing House Bill 3482 as advocacy groups rally around the legislation ahead of the next session.
Kelaia's Kause and a Family Choosing Joy
Kelaia's care now includes hyperbaric therapy, communication tools often not covered by insurance, specialized therapies, and adaptive equipment. Her mother, Tyesha Turner, has channeled the family's ordeal into Kelaia's Kause, a nonprofit focused on helping children and families facing bullying, mental health struggles, and long-term-care costs. Families have contacted the nonprofit with their own stories of children being bullied, ignored, or dismissed, according to WYFF News 4.
Tyesha Turner also collects prom dress donations and giveaway items for teens, saying no one should miss prom because of a price tag. Kelaia's 16th birthday celebration in 2026 doubled as a mental health fair in South Carolina, connecting teens with counseling resources, creative outlets, and prom support. Turner has said children should feel enough, unstoppable, and incredible, and has encouraged children to choose their joy every day. “We're choosing joy, happiness, and purpose,” Turner said, per WYFF News 4.
The Turner family says its goal is to ensure another child's story ends differently than Kelaia's has.
