A Major Transparency Win For South Carolina
In 2008 the South Carolina Policy Council wanted to know why state spending was so high, so we started to look at how lawmakers were voting. We found there was…
Proposed House Budget: Is Total Spending Really Down?
The House budget, as passed by the full Ways & Means Committee, was finally posted yesterday. The budget (H 3700) is expected to go to the floor for a vote…
Proposed House Budget Largest in South Carolina History
The budget is expected to hit the House floor on March 15. According to various media outlets, that budget is $5.2 billion. But as the Policy Council has written before,…
Collaborative-Strategic Budgeting for Cabinet-Level Agencies
For the past few decades, states have experimented with various forms of zero- and performance-based budgeting practices as a means of making state agencies more efficient and accountable. Many states,…
Executive Branch Reforms for 2011
The concentration of power in South Carolina’s legislature is such that the executive branch is generally unable to institute major reforms without the cooperation of the Legislature, whether stemming from…
Push Back: State Tax Reform Can Ease the Pain of the Federal Health Care Takeover
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more popularly known as “Obamacare,” is expected to cost trillions and increase the national debt by hundreds of billions of dollars. All…
New Taxes Imposed by the Federal Health Care Takeover
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is expected to cost trillions and increase the national debt by hundreds of billions of dollars. All in all, taxpayers are looking…
5 (Poor) Excuses for Opposing Roll Call Voting Reform
Every lawmaker in South Carolina seems to support roll call voting. And for good reason. Citizens have a fundamental right to know how their representatives are voting. Still, legislators continue…
Legislative Analysis: Roll Call Voting Bills
As the 119th session of the General Assembly begins, roll call voting remains a hot button issue. Of the 11 bills currently before the General Assembly, we’ve identified five of…
Legislation Passed Without a Roll Call Vote in the Senate
In 2009 and 2010, the House and Senate combined only recorded 25 percent of their votes. Significant laws that didn’t receive a recorded vote in the Senate range from multimillion…
7 for ’11: 7 Ways Lawmakers Can Make South Carolina Better – Now
Each year we review the best and worst ideas taken up during the legislative session, focusing on those bills that will either make South Carolina more free and more prosperous…
A Review of 2011 Roll Call Voting Legislation
As South Carolina Senators are deliberating a Senate Resolution (cf. S 9) to require roll call voting in the S.C. General Assembly, we have analyzed more roll call voting bills…
Best and Worst of the 2011 Session Prefiled Bills
With a new session comes more opportunities for the General Assembly to pass legislation impacting the lives of South Carolinians. As the stimulus money comes off the books this year,…