LAWMAKERS: LET’S DELETE THE LAW WE’VE BEEN IGNORING For over a year, the Policy Council has been pointing out an important provision in state law that lawmakers conveniently ignore every…
PRE-FILED LEGISLATION, ROUND 1 GOOD: Prohibiting Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying H.3152 would make it unlawful for a state entity to spend public money on a lobbyist. Taxpayer-funded lobbying is one of the…
WHAT ARE SOUTH CAROLINA’S OPTIONS? Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (widely known as Obamacare) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that the law is constitutional, there has…
A FEW IDEAS WORTH KEEPING FOR NEXT YEAR . . . The 2013 legislative session will begin in January, and many lawmakers and pundits have predicted that this will be…
OR: WHERE’S ALL THAT MONEY GOING, ANYWAY? State agencies submitted their budget requests earlier this month, as state law requires, and all but one higher education institution that submitted a…
…MORE OR LESS. In the 1990s, politicians spoke constantly about “the children” and/or “education.” Now they tend to talk about “jobs,” as if the whole purpose of government were to…
Before lawmakers try to “equalize” education funding among school districts, they’d better examine the premises of the proposed plan. The South Carolina School Boards Association has recently released a new…
NEXT TIME LAWMAKERS CLAIM THEY’VE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE, TAKE A CLOSE LOOK If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had this experience. You give your child a minimally difficult…
HOW SOUTH CAROLINA FELL INTO GORDON TULLOCK’S “TRANSITIONAL GAINS TRAP” At a recent debate sponsored by the Policy Council on the merits of taxpayer-financed “incentives” – the headline for the…
State agencies have begun submitting their budget requests for next year. Ever wonder how government grows so much, so fast? Here’s where it starts. Major requests for budget hikes The…
State law prescribes a detailed and transparent process for how elected officials are to introduce, debate, and pass the state budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers have a bad habit of ignoring that law.…
IT’S HERE! The 2012 edition of The Best and Worst of the General Assembly, our annual guide to the legislature’s accomplishments and misadventures, is here. In it, we highlight the year’s…
IS THERE A ‘CONTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY’ HERE? In 1997, when Vice President Al Gore was questioned about suspicious campaign fund-raising activities, he claimed repeatedly that he didn’t know it was…
FOR A ‘FREEDOM OF INFORMATION’ LAW, OURS DOESN’T ALLOW VERY MUCH INFORMATION Want information about the way a state agency uses your tax dollars? Here’s the good news: nearly every…
WHY THE HOUSE & SENATE ETHICS COMMITTEES SHOULDN’T EXIST – AND WHY IT MATTERS South Carolina is often said – correctly – to be dominated by the legislature. What does that…
OR, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE GUYS STICK AROUND TOO LONG? We’re sometimes asked: Where’s the harm in the fact that South Carolina has a longer legislative session than most other…
SC LAWMAKERS SPEND MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR IN COLUMBIA. TIME TO ABBREVIATE. THE BACKGROUND South Carolina has one of the longest legislative sessions in the country. Legislators spend almost…
FOR STARTERS, YOU MIGHT LEARN THE REASONS FOR SOME OF YOUR LAWMAKERS’ VOTES Suppose for a moment that you disapprove of a particular vote cast by your lawmaker. You think…
Politicians Shouldn’t Be in Charge of Ethics Reform, SCPC President Says Columbia, S.C. – August 29, 2012 – Today South Carolina Policy Council President Ashley Landess stood with an ideologically diverse…
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE GOVERNANCE? Here’s an interesting exercise: Go to the Budget and Control Board’s website and download an Excel file containing the names, positions, and salaries of all…
WHY IS OUR SALES TAX HIGH? BECAUSE LAWMAKERS SPEND TOO MUCH TIME IN COLUMBIA, THAT’S WHY This week, as our policy analysts worked on our forthcoming annual guide, The Best…
AND WHAT SHOULDN’T IT BE DOING? Like every other state, South Carolina maintains a Department of Agriculture. But what does the Department do? Its stated mission is to “promote and…
SALES TAX HOLIDAYS MASK THE TRUTH: THAT S.C., AMONG THE POOREST STATES IN THE U.S., HAS ONE OF THE NATION’S HIGHEST SALES TAXES At 6 percent, South Carolina has the…
Ever wonder why our sales tax is so high? Part of the answer can be found in this abandoned amusement park. Earlier this week, one of our analysts was scrolling…
This year’s budget debate is over, and taxpayers lost. But next year’s budget is already in the works. Here’s how you can be a part of it. Citizens’ Guide to…
WHAT WAS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? (HINT: NOT MUCH) The battle over the state budget is over. The state’s spending plan for fiscal year 2012-2013 is a done deal. As…
THE BUDGET VETO “DEBATE” INVOLVED PRECIOUS LITTLE DEBATE If you followed the coverage of the governor’s budget vetoes – rallies outside the State House, op-eds denouncing specific vetoes – you…
LAWMAKERS REDUCED THE STATE BUDGET BY A TINY FRACTION OF A TINY FRACTION Lawmakers began public meetings on the state’s 2012-13 budget January 10 of this year – the first…
SORRY, BUT TAXPAYERS LOST THE REAL BATTLE MONTHS AGO Yesterday the South Carolina House overrode the majority of Gov. Nikki Haley’s budget vetoes. The vetoes themselves were minimal – at…
‘JOBS’: THE ALL-PURPOSE JUSTIFICATION FOR EVERY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM Today, as expected, the South Carolina House voted to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of Arts Commission money. Specifically, she vetoed $1.9…
They Admit It!
LAWMAKERS: LET’S DELETE THE LAW WE’VE BEEN IGNORING For over a year, the Policy Council has been pointing out an important provision in state law that lawmakers conveniently ignore every…
The Good, the Bad, the Improvable, & the Shockingly Egregious
PRE-FILED LEGISLATION, ROUND 1 GOOD: Prohibiting Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying H.3152 would make it unlawful for a state entity to spend public money on a lobbyist. Taxpayer-funded lobbying is one of the…
The Facts on Medicaid Expansion
WHAT ARE SOUTH CAROLINA’S OPTIONS? Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (widely known as Obamacare) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that the law is constitutional, there has…
Ethics Reform: Some Re-Gifting Ideas
A FEW IDEAS WORTH KEEPING FOR NEXT YEAR . . . The 2013 legislative session will begin in January, and many lawmakers and pundits have predicted that this will be…
University Funding Up, Graduation Rates Down
OR: WHERE’S ALL THAT MONEY GOING, ANYWAY? State agencies submitted their budget requests earlier this month, as state law requires, and all but one higher education institution that submitted a…
How to Create 10,000 Jobs
…MORE OR LESS. In the 1990s, politicians spoke constantly about “the children” and/or “education.” Now they tend to talk about “jobs,” as if the whole purpose of government were to…
More Money = Better Outcomes?
Before lawmakers try to “equalize” education funding among school districts, they’d better examine the premises of the proposed plan. The South Carolina School Boards Association has recently released a new…
Progress on School Choice?
NEXT TIME LAWMAKERS CLAIM THEY’VE DONE SOMETHING ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE, TAKE A CLOSE LOOK If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had this experience. You give your child a minimally difficult…
It’s a Trap!
HOW SOUTH CAROLINA FELL INTO GORDON TULLOCK’S “TRANSITIONAL GAINS TRAP” At a recent debate sponsored by the Policy Council on the merits of taxpayer-financed “incentives” – the headline for the…
Here Come the Budget Busters!
State agencies have begun submitting their budget requests for next year. Ever wonder how government grows so much, so fast? Here’s where it starts. Major requests for budget hikes The…
Citizens’ Guide to the 2012 State Budget
State law prescribes a detailed and transparent process for how elected officials are to introduce, debate, and pass the state budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers have a bad habit of ignoring that law.…
Best & Worst of the General Assembly
IT’S HERE! The 2012 edition of The Best and Worst of the General Assembly, our annual guide to the legislature’s accomplishments and misadventures, is here. In it, we highlight the year’s…
Who Investigates?
IS THERE A ‘CONTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY’ HERE? In 1997, when Vice President Al Gore was questioned about suspicious campaign fund-raising activities, he claimed repeatedly that he didn’t know it was…
Freedom of Information?
FOR A ‘FREEDOM OF INFORMATION’ LAW, OURS DOESN’T ALLOW VERY MUCH INFORMATION Want information about the way a state agency uses your tax dollars? Here’s the good news: nearly every…
The Rules Apply to Everyone. (Except Us.)
WHY THE HOUSE & SENATE ETHICS COMMITTEES SHOULDN’T EXIST – AND WHY IT MATTERS South Carolina is often said – correctly – to be dominated by the legislature. What does that…
Why Our Legislative Session Is Far Too Long
OR, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE GUYS STICK AROUND TOO LONG? We’re sometimes asked: Where’s the harm in the fact that South Carolina has a longer legislative session than most other…
Too Much Time on Their Hands?
SC LAWMAKERS SPEND MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR IN COLUMBIA. TIME TO ABBREVIATE. THE BACKGROUND South Carolina has one of the longest legislative sessions in the country. Legislators spend almost…
What Income Disclosure Would Mean for You
FOR STARTERS, YOU MIGHT LEARN THE REASONS FOR SOME OF YOUR LAWMAKERS’ VOTES Suppose for a moment that you disapprove of a particular vote cast by your lawmaker. You think…
Release: Policy Council, Allies Propose Far-Reaching Reforms
Politicians Shouldn’t Be in Charge of Ethics Reform, SCPC President Says Columbia, S.C. – August 29, 2012 – Today South Carolina Policy Council President Ashley Landess stood with an ideologically diverse…
What Can We Do about Higher Ed?
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE GOVERNANCE? Here’s an interesting exercise: Go to the Budget and Control Board’s website and download an Excel file containing the names, positions, and salaries of all…
Putting the Goodies Back In
WHY IS OUR SALES TAX HIGH? BECAUSE LAWMAKERS SPEND TOO MUCH TIME IN COLUMBIA, THAT’S WHY This week, as our policy analysts worked on our forthcoming annual guide, The Best…
Dept. of Ag – What’s it for?
AND WHAT SHOULDN’T IT BE DOING? Like every other state, South Carolina maintains a Department of Agriculture. But what does the Department do? Its stated mission is to “promote and…
South Carolina’s Killer Sales Tax
SALES TAX HOLIDAYS MASK THE TRUTH: THAT S.C., AMONG THE POOREST STATES IN THE U.S., HAS ONE OF THE NATION’S HIGHEST SALES TAXES At 6 percent, South Carolina has the…
Playing with the Tax Code
Ever wonder why our sales tax is so high? Part of the answer can be found in this abandoned amusement park. Earlier this week, one of our analysts was scrolling…
Citizens’ Guide to the State Budget
This year’s budget debate is over, and taxpayers lost. But next year’s budget is already in the works. Here’s how you can be a part of it. Citizens’ Guide to…
Rhetoric vs. Reality in the State Budget
WHAT WAS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? (HINT: NOT MUCH) The battle over the state budget is over. The state’s spending plan for fiscal year 2012-2013 is a done deal. As…
Budget Vetoes: Were lawmakers even there?
THE BUDGET VETO “DEBATE” INVOLVED PRECIOUS LITTLE DEBATE If you followed the coverage of the governor’s budget vetoes – rallies outside the State House, op-eds denouncing specific vetoes – you…
Veto Recap
LAWMAKERS REDUCED THE STATE BUDGET BY A TINY FRACTION OF A TINY FRACTION Lawmakers began public meetings on the state’s 2012-13 budget January 10 of this year – the first…
The Battle over Vetoes
SORRY, BUT TAXPAYERS LOST THE REAL BATTLE MONTHS AGO Yesterday the South Carolina House overrode the majority of Gov. Nikki Haley’s budget vetoes. The vetoes themselves were minimal – at…
Art Is about Jobs?
‘JOBS’: THE ALL-PURPOSE JUSTIFICATION FOR EVERY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM Today, as expected, the South Carolina House voted to override Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of Arts Commission money. Specifically, she vetoed $1.9…