Author: South Carolina Policy Council

H.4497 creates the Student Interscholastic Activities Fund, which would provide financial assistance to high school students by covering expenses related to extracurricular activities, including fees, dues, equipment, uniforms, etc. The…

H.4478 mandates that all fines South Carolina receives from the federal government for plutonium storage at the Savannah River site must be given to the State Highway Fund and used…

H.4477, H.4408, H.4488, and S.928 prohibit any state resources being used to assist in the resettlement of refugees. Another bill, H.4396, would allow the state office for refugees to suspend settlement of refugees…

H.4445 lays out a raise distribution plan for state employees, in case the General Assembly appropriates money to the Department of Administration for employee raises. Under this plan, state employees…

H.4412 would require drug tests as a prerequisite to receiving SNAP or TANF benefits. There are potential constitutional conflicts with this bill. The federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth…

H.4410 and H.4411 would impose further restrictions on food stuffs that can be purchased with SNAP. H.4410 seeks to prohibit the use of SNAP for purchasing sugary foods, and asks for federal waivers…

H.4385 would prohibit counties from adopting budgets which include project revenue from traffic tickets. It would also prohibit counties from revenue from traffic tickets/violations from being expended in the same…

S.934 and H.4575 would each require the board of trustees of each school district to prohibit students from using “wireless communication devices” (cell phones) during school hours. There may be…

S.907 would extend the application deadline for independent schools wishing to participate in the exceptional needs tax credit scholarship program from August 1 2015 to March 1 2016. Under the…

UPDATE: The bill has been amended to include an additional requirement for qualifying schools, namely that they must provide a specially designed program or learning resources center or onsite educational services…

H.4536 requires children to attend school until the age of 18 instead of 17. This is a violation of individual rights. It is the jurisdiction of the parents or legal…

H.4531 allows the University of South Carolina at Lancaster and Winthrop University to offer in-state tuition rates to residents of three bordering North Carolina counties (Mecklenberg, Gaston, and Union), provided…

H.4530 would consolidate South Carolina’s school districts so there is only one district per county. Under the current arrangement South Carolina has nearly twice as many school districts as it…

UPDATE: The bill has been amended to limit the report to actual instances of violations of the institution’s student code of conduct. The report would include both organizational violations and student…

H.4482 would require all public school students to wear school uniforms. The broad standards of the uniforms would be determined by the state Department of Education (DOE), but school principals…

H.4459 and H.4460 would each increase the size of scholarships available under various state provided higher education scholarship programs. H.4459 would: Increase the size of scholarships available under the Palmetto…

H.4437 requires high schools to use a certified athletic trainer throughout high school interscholastic football games. “Certified athletic trainer” is defined as a person certified as an athletic trainer by…

H.4435 would require that every public school district provide elective instruction in advanced manufacturing for students in grades 6-12. For purposes of the law advanced manufacturing is defined as “activities…

H.4433 would require all students in grades five through twelve receive annual instruction in swimming and water safety. An exception made for the swimming requirement for any schools without a…

H.4432 would mandate that school bus drivers, school crossing guards, and resource officers wear body-worn cameras. The State Department of Education (DOE) would develop guidelines governing the use of the…

H.4415 would prohibit private school buses that don’t conform to State Board of Education regulations on “painting, lettering on the front and rear of the bus, use of stop arm…

H.4407 permits private school students to participate in public school interscholastic activities under the same terms that charter school students, Governor’s school students, or home school students are permitted to…

H.4382 requires the Department of Education, Election Commission, and county voter registration boards to make sure all seventeen-year-old high school students complete a voter registration form, to be submitted by…

S.940 would require any handgun dealer or owner to immediately report the loss or theft of a handgun to a law enforcement agency. Just how this law would be enforced…

Companion bills H.4630 and S.906 would require that any interrogation conducted on a person in custody, and related to a felony or Class A misdemeanor, be recorded in its entirety by…

H.4387 would prohibit a law enforcement agency from giving its officers ticket quotas. The bill would also prohibit a law enforcement officer from being evaluated based on the number of…

Worst of the worst: ● Forcing citizens to undergo training before even buying a gun. ● Creating a new crime of failing to notify law enforcement after gun theft. ● Rolling back roll-call voting…

INCREASED FUNDING MIGHT – MIGHT – GET YOU A “MINIMALLY ADEQUATE” EDUCATION. CHOICE CAN DO FAR BETTER. A year ago the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a decision in the…

● South Carolina’s session is one of the nation’s longest ● Longer sessions mean lawmakers spending more time with lobbyists ● In South Carolina, there are about two lobbyists for every one…

EMINENT DOMAIN POWER FOR A NON-UTILITY PRIVATE COMPANY?  Update: This bill was ratified and signed by the governor with the provision that eminent domain would not apply to private, for-profit…