Budget Watch – Part II: Obesity Coverage Mandate
As the budget goes into conference committee, we will be highlighting issues that currently divide the two chambers. In Part I of this series, we looked at the I-95 Corridor…
Budget Watch – Part I: The I-95 Corridor Authority
The Senate voted today not to concur with the amended House budget – meaning the state budget will head to conference committee. As part of our ongoing budget coverage, we’ll…
Four Easy Cuts: The House Can Reduce Spending by Looking at the Entire State Budget
Cutting spending should be a top priority as the House takes up the proposed Senate budget. As we have previously noted, the proposed Senate budget increases spending by $60 million…
Federal Spending in South Carolina: How Does Your County Rank?
South Carolina is heavily dependent on federal funding, raising questions regarding the state’s fiscal autonomy, as well as its approach to budgeting. But who, really, is getting this money?…
Cut the Budget … By Cutting Length of Session
Download the PDF. As the S.C. legislative session finally comes to a close this week, it’s worth asking whether lawmakers are making good use of their time – and taxpayer…
Lawmakers’ Hollywood Dreams Hurting Taxpayers: The Case Against Film Incentives
With the film industry clamoring for additional tax breaks, it is worth asking whether such targeted tax breaks actually work. As we’ve written before, targeted tax incentives do not result…
Cigarette Tax: General Assembly Votes to Kill 4,100 Jobs
Download the .pdf version here. With the House and Senate voting to override the governor’s veto of a 50-cent cigarette tax increase, it’s worthwhile to revisit the reasons why…
Fact Sheet: Economic Development Spending Hurts South Carolina’s Economy
In South Carolina, economic incentive spending has been the emerging trend of the last 20 years. In 1994, the state spent $32 million on economic incentives. In 2008, that figure…
Constitutionality of Roll Call Voting Requirement
This memorandum addresses, specifically, whether S.C. House Bill H. 3047 (hereinafter "H 3047") is constitutional and, more generally, whether the changes to the method of recording votes in both houses…
Roll Call Voting in South Carolina Fact Sheet
In 2008, the South Carolina Policy Council (SCPC) released research showing that the S.C. General Assembly passed bills with a recorded vote only 5 percent of the time.[1] In January…