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…
Microscopic cuts
THIS YEAR’S DEBATE OVER VETOES ISN’T ABOUT CUTTING GOVERNMENT This week, the legislature will reconvene to take up the governor’s budget vetoes. Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed $57.1 million from the…
What Did – and Didn’t – Gov. Haley Veto?
$57.1 MILLION SOUNDS LIKE A LOT. BUT IS IT? The release of the Governor Nikki Haley’s vetoes for the 2012-2013 budget has predictably been met with cries that the governor…
Budget quiz!
THINK YOU KNOW THE SOUTH CAROLINA STATE BUDGET? 1) Including state, federal, and “other” funds, the budget totals approximately a. $6.6 Billion b. $8.6 Billion c. $17.3 Billion d.…
Airbus v. Boeing?
DID ALABAMA GET A BETTER DEAL THAN WE DID? In October of 2009, South Carolina celebrated Boeing’s decision to locate a production line in North Charleston and bring an untold…
Push Back: How South Carolina Can Respond to “Obamacare”
THE PROBLEM: The new federal health care takeover will add trillions to the nation’s debt, raise taxes by $669 billion, heap burdensome regulations on South Carolina businesses, and spark sharp…
Restructure This?
MORE STUFF THE DEPT. OF ADMINISTRATION BILL WOULDN’T HAVE DONE Last week, we attended a meeting of the Budget & Control Board. Now, oftentimes these meetings are excruciatingly uneventful,…
The State Budget: Your priorities – or theirs?
YOU’RE A TAXPAYER? SORRY, YOU DIDN’T MAKE THE PRIORITY LIST This year, the General Assembly had more than $1 billion in new revenue to appropriate. The final version of the…
Government Restructuring – or Reshuffling?
THE DOA BILL HAS DIED IN THE SENATE. DID IT DESERVE ITS FATE? It’s been more than a month since we last saw the Department of Administration bill being debated…
How Much Does the Machine Really Cost?
WHAT IS THAT THING, AND WHY ARE WE PAYING SO MUCH FOR IT? Read Quantifying the Machine, the Policy Council’s report on the costs of economic development, here. For other material…
The Economic Development Pyramid
Whatever happened to this? Tune back in next week for an update on the state's failed economic development machine...
Senate Budget Priorities: The Un-funded Tax Relief Reserve Fund
The Senate has passed their version of the budget, and it is now headed to the House for a final vote there. The budget includes an un-funded tax relief reserve…
What’s the point of school choice?
The debate over school choice has been revived by the passage of H.4894 in the South Carolina House, and we’re glad to see the subject debated again. We just have one small…
The Great Pork Debate
Tucked away at the tail end of part 1B of the budget bill is proviso 90.20, which deals with state non-recurring revenue: that is, revenue that’s only available for one…
Ask Not, and Ye Shall Receive Anyway
Most state agencies submitted their budget requests back in November. (State law requires them to submit requests, but a few just never get around to it.) When an agency submits…
Budget Watch: What’s in the Senate Finance Budget?
The Senate is set to begin debate on the budget passed by the Senate Finance Committee last week. Here’s what you should know about it: The total projected budget is…
UPDATE: The House version of the DOA bill
The House of Representatives has finally unveiled their amendment to the Department of Administration bill – after crafting it behind closed doors for more than two months. It sailed through…
Health and Human Services Director agrees with the Policy Council
Our coverage of the health care debate, beginning in October of last year, dispelled the myth of a free market health exchange and highlighted the growing costs associated with the…
Who should manage the OPEB funds?
You probably are like many other South Carolinians who haven’t heard of the little-known OPEB trust fund. The OPEB, Other Post Employment Benefits, trust funds consists of: a health insurance…
Port-Deepening: Something Everyone Agrees On
The House, Senate Finance Committee, and Governor Haley all have something in common: each has expressed a commitment to deepening Charleston’s port. Although the governor’s conviction fell into question late…
Unemployment has fallen – but why?
Well, we’ve seen an uptick in employment, or a downtick in unemployment – however you want to think about it. With an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent, South Carolina…
Here’s how complicated state government can be
The Superintendent of the Department of Education (DOE) and lawmakers had an interesting discussion at the Senate Finance Committee meeting yesterday: why does the House-passed budget include the First Steps…
An Interstate Compact: Serious option or political gesture?
UNFORTUNATELY, THE LATTER State legislators eager to escape Obamacare’s restrictive mandates have united behind the interstate healthcare compact, a single piece of state legislation they expect to free them from…
Comptroller General, nonprofit present budget requests
The Comptroller General (CG) appeared before the Senate Finance Constitutional and Criminal Justice Subcommittee to provide his budget request for FY 13. When the CG stated he had no request…
New Lt. Governor makes first funding request
Yesterday, newly sworn in Lieutenant Governor Glenn McConnell presented the budget for his office to the Finance Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. His major request to the subcommittee was…
Finance Committee Has Lots of Ideas for Windfall
The Senate Finance Committee met yesterday to hear budget testimony from the Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) and the Office of State Budget (OSB). You can view the PowerPoint presentation…