Lawmakers propose tolls to pay for new roads
Despite passing a twelve-cent gas tax increase in 2017, lawmakers are fast-tracking a proposal to increase the number of toll roads in South Carolina to fund new road construction. S.780…
Weekly Legislative Update: Apr 17 – Apr 18, 2019
What they did: This week the House was on spring break, and the Senate debated the $29.6 billion budget adopted by the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate budget is largely…
Bills filed during 4/23/19 – 4/25/19
Government Structure and Reform S.780 – DOT shall examine feasibility of funding bridge and highway projects with tolls, tolls could operate indefinitely, federal match requirement is removed S.785 – Sine…
What’s in the Senate budget?
Last week, the Senate amended and passed the state appropriations bill, which spends $29.8 billion. This includes a surplus of $344 million ($16 million more than the House budget allocated).…
Weekly Legislative Update: Apr 9 – Apr 11, 2019
What they did: Lawmakers in both chambers passed a flurry of bills this week in advance of the Wednesday crossover deadline. According to legislative rules, any bill that passes one…
Crossover update: what passed and what didn’t
Wednesday, April 10 was the crossover deadline, which means that bills that failed to cross to the other chamber by this date will need a two-thirds majority to be taken…
A new state retirement plan – for private employees?
A bill filed last month (H.4258) would create a state retirement plan for private employees. The 401(K) style plan, called the “Palmetto Work and Save Plan”, would be available for…
Weekly Legislative Update: Apr 2 – Apr 4, 2019
What lawmakers did: It has been a busy week at the State House, as any bills that do not cross over to the opposite chamber by next Wednesday (April 10)…
Bills filed during 4/9/19 – 4/11/19
Criminal Law S.747 – allowing use of cameras for civil enforcement of traffic laws H.4445 – endangering emergency services on an accident scene comes with a higher fine, now it…
Weekly Legislative Update. January 8 – 10, 2019.
The legislative session began this week, and lawmakers have filed another 100 bills – in addition to the 700+ bills prefiled in advance of session (click here for an overview…
Weekly Legislative Update. January 15 -17, 2019.
This week lawmakers filed an additional 84 bills, a number of which would increase the regulatory burden on citizens and businesses. H.3629 would outlaw the use of hand-held cell phones…
Weekly Legislative Update. January 22 – 24, 2019
This week, one of the most noteworthy bills to be filed was H.3759, an 85-page bill overhauling the education system. This bill addresses education standards and required tests and contains…
Weekly Legislative Update. January 29 – 31, 2019
This week, the massive House bill that would overhaul the state education system received its first subcommittee hearing. The meeting was largely to hear input from citizens and no official…
Weekly Legislative Update. February 5 – 7, 2019
This week, lawmakers filed 130 new bills, 80 of which were congratulatory/honorary/sympathy resolutions. 60 individual resolutions honored boy scouts, and some of the other resolutions honored a school wrestling team,…
Weekly Legislative Update. February 12 – 14, 2019
Lawmakers filed 82 new pieces of legislation this week, 31 of which were honorary/sympathy resolutions. One of the most notable bills in the “time waster” category is S.500, which allows…
Weekly Legislative Update. February 19 – 21, 2019
What lawmakers did: This week, the House Ways and Means Committee finalized their draft of the appropriations bill, adopting a state spending plan of $30 billion. Spending highlights include a…
Weekly Legislative Update. February 26 – 28, 2019
What they did This week, a couple of significant bills passed out of committee and were added to the House floor calendar, one of which was H.3759, the education omnibus…
Weekly Legislative Update. March 5 – 7, 2019
What they did This week, the House amended and passed the education omnibus bill (H.3759) after six hours of debate. The bill’s primary takeaways remain the same: the “Zero to…
Weekly Legislative Update. March 11- 14, 2019
What they did This week, the House passed a $30 billion budget – the largest in state history. Spending highlights include increased revenue to colleges and universities in exchange for…
Weekly Legislative Update. March 19 – 21, 2019
What they did This week, both the House and Senate appropriations committees passed legislation to give taxpayer-backed incentives to the Carolina Panthers. The companion bills would add special definitions of…
Weekly Legislative Update. March 26 – 28, 2019
What they did This week, the House passed legislation to give taxpayer-backed incentives to the Carolina Panthers. The bill would add special definitions of key terms (like “new job” and…
Bills filed during 4/2/19 – 4/4/19
Criminal Law H.4383 – Additional fine if driver is holding cell phone during traffic violation, revenue goes to Dept. of Public Safety to fund distracted driving campaign H.4386 – Impersonating…
Bill would create another legislative guarantee for utility debt
A bill currently in a Senate subcommittee would guarantee a refinancing of SCANA’s debt by authorizing a new ratepayer charge. Under S.110, the Public Service Commission (PSC – the utility…
State budget 2019: Highlights from the House spending plan
House lawmakers have adopted the largest spending plan in state history. Here’s what you need to know about it. What they’re spending The House budget is a grand total…