Category: Legislation

A legislative proposal filed this year would reduce the borrowing options available to South Carolina consumers and could force lenders to leave the state. The Senate bill (S.518) would set…

By Bryce Fiedler and Vance Ginn, Ph.D. In January, the South Carolina Policy Council published The 2024 SC Sustainable Budget (SCSB) – an ambitious new project with the goal of…

By Sam Aaron On Monday, Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law a unanimously passed bill (S.361) that will speed up road improvement projects in South Carolina. The bill simplifies how…

South Carolina unnecessarily regulates the relationship between title insurance agencies and their underwriters. A recently filed state House bill would embrace the free-market system and allow the two parties to…

A pair of House and Senate bills filed in February would move South Carolina’s civil liability laws in the right direction and a foster a legal environment that is fairer…

Several important bills made progress at the Statehouse this week, some of which we are thrilled to say are critical reforms on our legislative agenda.   Education After weeks of debate, the Senate…

South Carolina lawmakers returned to Columbia this week to take up the governor’s vetoes on the FY22-23 state budget, which went into effect July 1.   The governor’s veto list – released on…

South Carolina’s regular legislative session ends May 12, meaning just three weeks remain (including this one) to send most bills to the governor’s desk for signing. Fortunately, there’s some great…

Two recently filed House bills would temporarily suspend the state gas tax and lesser known “road tax”. The former is paid by all drivers in South Carolina, and currently accounts…

Transparency for taxpayers hit a new low this week. On Wednesday and Thursday, the S.C. Senate held a total of nine budget subcommittee hearings – the most it has held in one…

After years of justified frustration from taxpayers, state lawmakers have finally decided to address South Carolina’s highest-in-the-Southeast top income tax rate. The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lower…

Update as of 2/12/22: H.4766, which would add more seats and give more power to the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development, passed the S.C. House on Feb. 8. The bill…

In late 2020, a Senate bill (S.150) was introduced that would give South Carolinians the right to use medical cannabis to treat certain debilitating conditions, called as the “Compassionate Care…

A House committee this week deliberated a bill that would allow for-profit pipeline companies to take citizens’ property using eminent domain. Two similar bills were filed in 2020.   How your property gets taken  H.3527 creates…

Budget meetings sorted by week As part of our push for more government transparency, we have been tracking the streaming of legislative budget meetings each week. Below is list of…

At the end of each year, state lawmakers file a series of bills (known as “prefiles”) in anticipation of the upcoming legislative session. The following report looks at some of the most significant House prefiles, organized by…

New bills filed (highlights)  S.1236 – Providing every taxpayer a rebate of $100 for each month that the average regular price of gas exceeds $4 per gallon H.5223 – A handgun must…

1.20.22 UPDATE: Ahead of next month’s judicial elections, including for one seat on the state Supreme Court and Administrative Law Court, and many on the Court of Appeals, circuit court,…

*** On Wednesday, a special legislative committee tasked with “modernizing” the state’s transportation funding system met for the second time, once again alleging that the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles pose an…

State lawmakers this week approved what will be the final version of next fiscal year’s $32 billion-plus budget, pending vetoes issued by the governor. The General Assembly will take up any vetoed items when it reconvenes next Tuesday for the final…

While the 2021 regular legislative session ends this week, lawmakers are set to return to Columbia in June – possibly on three separate occasions – to address a number of…

Regulations H.4324 – Proposing a state constitutional amendment to lift the sales restriction on liquor between 7pm and 9am  H.4318 – Cable service providers must provide refunds for interruptions in…

Government Structure H.4283 – Allowing the S.C. Supreme Court to declare a “Judicial Emergency”, which would let it delay hearings and deadlines, relocate court operations, and would overall broadly expand…

UPDATE as of 5/7/21: This week, the House voted to keep the option to explore selling Santee Cooper in H.3194, while adopting some of the Senate’s “reform” measures, including those…

Elections H.4255 – Numerous voting law changes: 1)  requiring poll workers wear body cameras; 2) journalists may not come within 200 yards of entrance of a voting place unless coming…

Criminal Justice H.4210 – Making it a felony to give out the private address, phone number or email of an elected official or government employee with the intent to intimidate,…

S.536, which received a committee hearing Wednesday, would require businesses serving liquor-based drinks to earn at least 51% of their total revenue from food and non-alcoholic beverages. The bill would…

Criminal Justice H.4149 – Limiting the amount of monetary compensation a whistleblower on public utilities can recover from litigation and allowing the utility to fire the whistleblower if it is…

Last week (Saturday, April 10) was the 2021 crossover deadline, which means bills that failed to pass one chamber (House or Senate) and cross to the other by this date…

Taxation/Spending S.710 – Allowing municipalities that don’t have operating property taxes to impose one  (capped at a rate sufficient to generate one-third of the previous year’s general fund expenses). Any…