Property Rights in South Carolina
PRIVATE PROPERTY IS TOTALLY SECURE IN THIS CONSERVATIVE STATE, RIGHT? WRONG. In the wake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, South Carolina attempted to shore up property rights with…
Will Lawmakers Raise the Gas Tax in 2017?
LAST YEAR, THE PROBLEM WAS STRUCTURAL RATHER THAN MONETARY. IT STILL IS. Over the past several weeks there has been considerable public speculation that Gov. Nikki Haley’s successor may support a…
The Threats to First Amendment Rights in S.C.
HOW STATE LAWMAKERS CONTINUE TO STRIKE AT CITIZENS’ FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS Many Americans assume, wrongly, that their state legislatures deal mainly with low-level issues and that only Congress and the…
Are Gun Restrictions Likely in 2017?
IN RECENT YEARS, STATE LAWMAKERS HAVE MADE INCREASINGLY BOLD MOVES AGAINST THE SECOND AMENDMENT. LOOK FOR MORE OF THE SAME THIS YEAR. The hostility toward Second Amendment freedoms seen at…
The Gun Death ‘Epidemic’ and the 2nd Amendment
SOUTH CAROLINA POLICYMAKERS HAVE A DUTY TO RESPOND WITH REASON, NOT FEAR State lawmakers are now holding public forums to consider whether the General Assembly should further restrict citizens’ Second…
How the State Uses Borrowed Money
● State issues bond debt through a murky, complicated process ● Process shields lawmakers from accountability for debt spending ● Real power belongs to two boards few citizens have even heard of…
Income Disclosure Bill Becomes Law
BUT THE NEW LAW WON’T TELL YOU MUCH ABOUT CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The legislature has now passed, and the governor signed, allegedly groundbreaking “ethics reform” legislation on the investigation of lawmakers…
Governor Signs Bill to ‘Shorten’ Session
WILL THE NEW LAW CUT SOUTH CAROLINA’S HALF-YEAR SESSION, OR IS IT ANOTHER FAUX REFORM? Gov. Nikki Haley recently signed a bill shortening South Carolina’s legislative session. Media reports indicate…
Legislature Passes ‘Independent Investigation’ Bill
THE GOVERNOR HAS SIGNED IT, BUT VERY LITTLE HAS CHANGED In 2012, the Policy Council began calling for the abolition of the legislature’s power to police its own members’ ethics…
OVERVIEW: What Gov. Haley May Sign or Veto
ANY OR ALL OF THESE BILLS COULD BECOME LAW SOON – AND AFFECT YOU DIRECTLY In the final hours of the 2016 legislative session, lawmakers passed a dizzying array of…
Legislature Passes DOT ‘Reform’ Bill
IT MIGHT BE THE MOST CONVOLUTED REFORM BILL WE’VE SEEN YET. [Update: On Wednesday, June 8, Gov. Haley signed the bill analyzed below, calling it “incomplete reform” and “far less…
Bill Would Punish ‘False’ Testimony
HOUSE LEGISLATION WOULD MAKE IT A FELONY TO GIVE ‘INCOMPLETE’ TESTIMONY On Wednesday, outgoing Rep. Walt McLeod filed a bill allowing any legislative committee to require any committee testimony they hear…
UPDATE: House Considers Self-Policing Bill
HOUSE, SENATE SQUABBLE OVER SEMANTICS, AGREE ON KEEPING LOOPHOLES House leadership has developed a compromise with Senate language in an amendment to H.3184, legislation supposedly intended to abolish lawmakers’ power…
Senate to Debate CWP Reciprocity Bill
A RELATIVELY UNIMPORTANT BILL ON A HIGHLY IMPORTANT TOPIC [Update: This bill was passed by the General assembly and signed by the governor.] Last week, the Senate put H.3799 on the…
The Legislature’s $2.2 Billion Debt Bomb
● Bill would raise revenue by creating debt ● Senators seemingly unaware of state’s debt problem ● Plan would expand highways, do little about repair/maintenance of roads So far in…
Ethics Reform Bills Aim for Status Quo
ON INCOME DISCLOSURE AND LEGISLATIVE SELF-POLICING, LAWMAKERS WANT CREDIT FOR REFORM WITHOUT CHANGING THE SYSTEM At the moment, the two hottest issues in the State House going under the banner…
House Kills Property Theft Bill
THE PRINCIPLE ANIMATING THE DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS ACT WAS A SOFT GOVERNMENT-KNOWS-BEST AUTHORITARIANISM On Tuesday, the House killed legislation commonly known as the Dilapidated Buildings Act by a vote of 35 to…
Senate Passes ‘Independent [sic] Investigation’ Bill
LEGISLATIVE SELF-POLICING REARRANGED, NOT ELIMINATED Yesterday the Senate amended H.3184, which deals with the legislature’s system of self-policing – i.e. lawmakers adjudicating each other’s ethics violations in the form of…
Additional Funding for the Infrastructure Bank
Update: these two bills have been combined to form S.1258, which is an official committee bill. Under this bill, the two revenue streams (car taxes and DMV fees) would be directed into the…
UPDATE: Senate Moves on Income Disclosure
INCOME DISCLOSURE, WITH LOOPHOLES Senators seemed determined this week to not let another session go by without addressing “ethics reform” – although nothing that’s likely to pass the legislature will…
What the House Did on the Senate Roads Plan
STILL NO TAX INCREASE, BUT STILL NO ACTUAL REFORM The House took up the Senate roads plan (H.3579) on Wednesday, April 13, and amended the bill once again. Debate was…
UPDATE: Senate Addresses Ethics Legislation
THE SENATE BILL IS GONE. THE HOUSE BILL IS BACK. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? The ethics debate in the Senate got very interesting this week as the Senate took…
UPDATE: Second Amendment Bills
● Concealed carry bills pass House, await Senate approval ● Plenty of assertion, no evidence from gun rights opponents ● Gun restriction bills going nowhere We’re about halfway through the…
Does the Constitution Require Self-Policing?
THE SHORT ANSWER: OF COURSE NOT Many, if not most, South Carolina state lawmakers have a peculiar understanding of the separation of powers. For them, the principle seems to mean that…
Giant Ethics Bill to Hit Senate Floor
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS YEARS ETHICS DEBATE On April 5, 2016, the South Carolina Senate will begin debating the omnibus ethics-related bill that is currently on special…
ANALYSIS: Here Come the TIFs
WITH DISASTERS COME NEW REASONS TO TAX Last October’s floods, in addition to creating havoc for some individuals and businesses, have unleashed a torrent of ill-advised governmental proposals and…
What Happened to Business Tax Reform?
● Major reforms no longer under discussion ● One bill would put nonprofits in charge of business taxes ● Legislation would allow lobbyist principals to set taxes ● Municipal, county…
What Lawmakers Want to Spend in 2017
● Ways & Means budget $1.28 billion larger than 2016 budget ● Committee does not treat roads as priority ● Lots of increases in education, but no real change…
Lawmakers Propose Education Measures
HOUSE MEMBERS INTRODUCE ASSORTMENT OF K-12 EDUCATION BILLS. FRESH THINKING SEEMS TO BE IN SHORT SUPPLY. Education reform hasn’t gotten much attention this year, except for the routine dire prophecies…
Insurance Plans Must Cover Hearing Aids
H.5000 would mandate that all health insurance plans provide benefits relating to the cost of hearing aids for insureds who have been diagnosed with impaired hearing by an audiologist. The…