Panel advances S935 to require seizure first‑aid materials in state workplaces after multiple witnesses recount dangerous responses

A Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee moved S935 favorably after several witnesses described harmful or uninformed workplace responses to seizures and urged clearer, medically accurate guidance posted by state agencies.

Committee staff explained S935 directs the Department of Public Health to create informational pamphlets and posters on workplace seizure first aid for state government entities and to post those materials on agency websites and in conspicuous physical locations. Definitions in the bill describe seizure first aid as nonmedical procedures to attend, provide comfort and ensure safety for people having generalized tonic‑clonic or complex partial seizures. The bill was reported to have no fiscal impact.

Witnesses included Jen/Gin Von Cherry, founder and executive director of Epitome of Epilepsy, who described decades of lived experience and unsafe reactions (water thrown, spoon placed in mouth) and offered a sample pamphlet to the committee and staff for medical review. Karen St. Marie of South Carolina Advocates for Epilepsy (SAFE) urged small edits to ensure medical accuracy and evidence‑based guidance. Scarlett Stevenson and Jillian Stover described workplace discrimination and unrecognized focal seizures that cost employment; both supported S935 as a measure to increase safety and reduce stigma.

Committee members asked for medically authored text and accepted offers to share sample materials. The committee recorded a voice vote moving the bill favorably; no roll‑call or numeric tally appeared in the transcript. The Department of Public Health was identified as the implementation lead for creating and posting materials.