COLUMBIA (WACH/AP) -- Senators will debate a move that would ban Occupy Columbia protesters from resuming their around-the-clock presence on Statehouse grounds.
The bill would put into state law the emergency regulation adopted in December that banned camping and sleeping around the state capitol.
The Budget and Control Board approved the emergency rule days after a federal judge said Occupy Columbia protesters could stay until regulations were put in place.
Judge Cameron McGowan Currie repeatedly made clear at a Dec. 14 hearing that no valid rules on Statehouse camping and sleeping existed.
Emergency regulations expire in 90 days.
The court case stemmed from Gov. Nikki Haley's Nov. 16 order that protesters leave.
Occupiers removed their belongings, but 19 who gathered at the base of a monument were arrested for trespassing. Seven of them sued.
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