Limited Government | Free Enterprise | Individual Liberty
Author: South Carolina Policy Council
Since 1986 the South Carolina Policy Council Education Foundation has advocated innovative policy ideas that advance the principles of limited government and free enterprise. The Policy Council is the state’s meeting place for business leaders, policymakers, and academics – as well as engaged citizens – who want to see South Carolina become the most free state in the nation.
For questions or comments on the articles on this website, please email Research Director Jamie Murguia.
GOV. HALEY’S TASK FORCE ON REGULATION HAS BEGUN TO MEET … HERE’S THE PROBLEM IT FACES Unfortunately, we live in a world in which pedicures and funeral parlor bathrooms are…
WHY STATEMENTS OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS DON’T MATTER Earlier this year, the Policy Council launched Project Conflict Watch, an initiative asking state elected officials to disclose their sources of private income…
WHAT IS IT? HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT? Over the past several weeks, a great deal of controversy and discussions have arisen on…
FIRST PRIORITY FOR GOV. HALEY’S REGULATORY TASK FORCE: A SUNSET LAW Is the General Assembly alone empowered to make laws in South Carolina? Not exactly. No fewer than 21 state…
THINK THERE ARE GREAT ARGUMENTS FOR ELIMINATING THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX? SO DOES ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE. AND YET . . . In a red, “conservative” state like South Carolina,…
A PERNICIOUS BARRIER TO HEALTH CARE FREEDOM HAS COME DOWN. IT SHOULD STAY THAT WAY. Last Wednesday, South Carolina House lawmakers – possibly accidentally – enacted the most pro-liberty reform…
TAKE THE QUIZ … AFTER ALL, IT’S YOUR MONEY 1) How large is the total state budget? a. $6.5 billion b. $16.5 billion c. $22.8 billion d. $24.3 billion 2)…
THERE IS NO COMPARISON. LITERALLY. South Carolinians have become accustomed to seeing their state placed at or near the wrong side of a variety of national rankings. Early childhood education,…
INCREASED FUNDING FOR 4K EDUCATION SOUNDS GOOD. BUT DOES IT IMPROVE RESULTS? When it comes to public education the prevailing opinion among those in power is: More is better. More…
OUR ONLY LABOR UNION HAS MORE POWER THAN YOU THINK This week is National Employee Freedom week – a week intended to bring attention to the fact that people across…
DO TAXPAYERS WANT TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING IN THIS YEAR’S $24.3 BILLION BUDGET? Last year, Governor Nikki Haley vetoed $57.1 million of a $23.6 billion budget – less than…
WHAT DOES IT DO? AND IS THIS A SOLUTION? [UPDATE: Gov. Haley signed H.3360 on Monday, June 24] The legislature has finalized the conference version of the last transportation bill…
WHY DOES THE STATE OPERATE ITS OWN PORTS? GOOD QUESTION. One of the major issues debated this legislative session has been the state’s infrastructure and the need for improvement.…
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IS ABOUT TO BE A BIG PART OF YOUR WORLD The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, has already begun to take…
2013 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ‘YEAR OF ETHICS REFORM.’ IT WASN’T. SO DOES ANYONE CARE? At the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, as the Senate prepared to vote…
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PURCHASES THIS YEAR? The state budget isn’t a foregone conclusion, and for the most part it’s not some legal obligation – like a…
IT’S NOT WHAT POLITICIANS TELL YOU What industry would you guess is the biggest employer in South Carolina? Listening to State House politicians, you might think the answer is one…
THIS ISN’T JUST A THEORETICAL DEBATE With the launch of SCPC’s Project Conflict Watch – and now with the release by Senator Vincent Sheheen of his tax returns and…
TECHNICALLY, YES. IN EVERY OTHER WAY, NO. Twenty-four billion is a large number. No one has ever seen 24 billion dollars all together, so it’s difficult to imagine an amount…
IT WON’T CAP SPENDING IF GOVERNMENT GETS TO KEEP THE MONEY Yet another legislative session is about to pass in which there was some talk about controlling state spending, but…
WHY THE BUDGET TAKES HALF A YEAR TO PASS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT It has become an almost yearly tradition for the South Carolina General Assembly to use…
(WITHOUT RAISING TAXES) How do lawmakers propose to deal with the fact that South Carolina’s roads and bridges are in suboptimal shape? The governing assumption behind most answers to this…
THE LATEST PROPOSAL TO FIX OUR ROADS ASSUMES STATE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY Last week, H.3412 was placed on the Senate calendar for consideration. Originally the bill would have…
LOTS OF PUBLIC MONEY, VERY LITTLE PUBLIC INPUT Budget debate will begin on the Senate floor today. The budget was passed out of committee May 3, and made publicly available…
MANY SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICIANS HAVE SPOKEN OUT STRONGLY AGAINST OBAMACARE. THEIR ACTIONS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY. In March, Governor Nikki Haley publicly stated that “as long as [she is] the…
FINES AND FEES GO UP WHEN TAX REVENUES ARE DOWN … AND WHEN THEY’RE UP, TOO For the last decade, the majority party in both chambers of the legislature has…
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM: PRIORITIES OR FUNDING? This week, the Senate Finance Special Subcommittee on Transportation Funding kicked off a series of meetings to discuss several bills that could make big…
CLEARLY, LAWMAKERS HAD GOOD REASONS TO KEEP H.3945 SECRET The talk this week has been mainly about the ill-named ethics reform bill being debated in the South Carolina House.…
HOW STATE FAVORITISM HURTS TAXPAYERS AND DRIVES UP ENERGY PRICES An attempt to loosen South Carolina energy regulation and licensing constraints for the benefit of solar energy firms has gained…
The Real Problem with Regulation
GOV. HALEY’S TASK FORCE ON REGULATION HAS BEGUN TO MEET … HERE’S THE PROBLEM IT FACES Unfortunately, we live in a world in which pedicures and funeral parlor bathrooms are…
Project Conflict Watch: The SEI Response
WHY STATEMENTS OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS DON’T MATTER Earlier this year, the Policy Council launched Project Conflict Watch, an initiative asking state elected officials to disclose their sources of private income…
Common Core in South Carolina: FAQs
WHAT IS IT? HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT? Over the past several weeks, a great deal of controversy and discussions have arisen on…
How to Reduce S.C.’s Regulatory Burden
FIRST PRIORITY FOR GOV. HALEY’S REGULATORY TASK FORCE: A SUNSET LAW Is the General Assembly alone empowered to make laws in South Carolina? Not exactly. No fewer than 21 state…
Why Tax Reform Can’t Happen (Yet)
THINK THERE ARE GREAT ARGUMENTS FOR ELIMINATING THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX? SO DOES ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE. AND YET . . . In a red, “conservative” state like South Carolina,…
“Certificate of Need” Program: Not Needed
A PERNICIOUS BARRIER TO HEALTH CARE FREEDOM HAS COME DOWN. IT SHOULD STAY THAT WAY. Last Wednesday, South Carolina House lawmakers – possibly accidentally – enacted the most pro-liberty reform…
Test Your Knowledge of the S.C. State Budget
TAKE THE QUIZ … AFTER ALL, IT’S YOUR MONEY 1) How large is the total state budget? a. $6.5 billion b. $16.5 billion c. $22.8 billion d. $24.3 billion 2)…
Income Disclosure Laws: How Does S.C. Rank?
THERE IS NO COMPARISON. LITERALLY. South Carolinians have become accustomed to seeing their state placed at or near the wrong side of a variety of national rankings. Early childhood education,…
Why More Spending on 4K Education Won’t Work
INCREASED FUNDING FOR 4K EDUCATION SOUNDS GOOD. BUT DOES IT IMPROVE RESULTS? When it comes to public education the prevailing opinion among those in power is: More is better. More…
Is South Carolina Really a “Right to Work State”?
OUR ONLY LABOR UNION HAS MORE POWER THAN YOU THINK This week is National Employee Freedom week – a week intended to bring attention to the fact that people across…
What Will Gov. Haley Veto?
DO TAXPAYERS WANT TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING IN THIS YEAR’S $24.3 BILLION BUDGET? Last year, Governor Nikki Haley vetoed $57.1 million of a $23.6 billion budget – less than…
Road Maintenance Bill Heads to Governor
WHAT DOES IT DO? AND IS THIS A SOLUTION? [UPDATE: Gov. Haley signed H.3360 on Monday, June 24] The legislature has finalized the conference version of the last transportation bill…
Should S.C. Privatize Its Ports?
WHY DOES THE STATE OPERATE ITS OWN PORTS? GOOD QUESTION. One of the major issues debated this legislative session has been the state’s infrastructure and the need for improvement.…
What Will ‘Obamacare’ Mean for You?
THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IS ABOUT TO BE A BIG PART OF YOUR WORLD The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, has already begun to take…
Bureaucratic Middle Men in State Government
FOR GOVERNMENT, IT TAKES A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND MONEY South Carolina’s state budget now tops $24 billion – a staggering sum (and just to put that in…
Why Ethics Reform?
2013 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ‘YEAR OF ETHICS REFORM.’ IT WASN’T. SO DOES ANYONE CARE? At the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session, as the Senate prepared to vote…
The State Budget: What Are You Buying?
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PURCHASES THIS YEAR? The state budget isn’t a foregone conclusion, and for the most part it’s not some legal obligation – like a…
What’s South Carolina’s Biggest Employer?
IT’S NOT WHAT POLITICIANS TELL YOU What industry would you guess is the biggest employer in South Carolina? Listening to State House politicians, you might think the answer is one…
Income Disclosure—Why It Matters
THIS ISN’T JUST A THEORETICAL DEBATE With the launch of SCPC’s Project Conflict Watch – and now with the release by Senator Vincent Sheheen of his tax returns and…
Does S.C. “Live within Its Means”?
TECHNICALLY, YES. IN EVERY OTHER WAY, NO. Twenty-four billion is a large number. No one has ever seen 24 billion dollars all together, so it’s difficult to imagine an amount…
Another Useless Attempt to Cap Spending
IT WON’T CAP SPENDING IF GOVERNMENT GETS TO KEEP THE MONEY Yet another legislative session is about to pass in which there was some talk about controlling state spending, but…
The State Budget Shouldn’t Take This Long
WHY THE BUDGET TAKES HALF A YEAR TO PASS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT It has become an almost yearly tradition for the South Carolina General Assembly to use…
How to Fund Road Maintenance
(WITHOUT RAISING TAXES) How do lawmakers propose to deal with the fact that South Carolina’s roads and bridges are in suboptimal shape? The governing assumption behind most answers to this…
The Answer to Road Funding: Tax Hikes?
THE LATEST PROPOSAL TO FIX OUR ROADS ASSUMES STATE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY Last week, H.3412 was placed on the Senate calendar for consideration. Originally the bill would have…
Senate Finance Budget: What to Keep an Eye On
LOTS OF PUBLIC MONEY, VERY LITTLE PUBLIC INPUT Budget debate will begin on the Senate floor today. The budget was passed out of committee May 3, and made publicly available…
ObamaCare by the Back Door?
MANY SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICIANS HAVE SPOKEN OUT STRONGLY AGAINST OBAMACARE. THEIR ACTIONS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY. In March, Governor Nikki Haley publicly stated that “as long as [she is] the…
Why the State Budget Grows … No Matter What
FINES AND FEES GO UP WHEN TAX REVENUES ARE DOWN … AND WHEN THEY’RE UP, TOO For the last decade, the majority party in both chambers of the legislature has…
Transportation Funding: The Current Options
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM: PRIORITIES OR FUNDING? This week, the Senate Finance Special Subcommittee on Transportation Funding kicked off a series of meetings to discuss several bills that could make big…
The Ethics Reform That Isn’t
CLEARLY, LAWMAKERS HAD GOOD REASONS TO KEEP H.3945 SECRET The talk this week has been mainly about the ill-named ethics reform bill being debated in the South Carolina House.…
Renewable Energy: What’s the State’s Role?
HOW STATE FAVORITISM HURTS TAXPAYERS AND DRIVES UP ENERGY PRICES An attempt to loosen South Carolina energy regulation and licensing constraints for the benefit of solar energy firms has gained…