Friday Follies: Fines and Community Service for Saggy Pants
This past week, the legislature showed an unusually keen interest in how South Carolinians choose to wear their clothes. H.4957 would make it a civil offense for a person to…
Friday Follies: Restaurant Staff Appreciation Month
If there’s anything state lawmakers are good at, it’s wasting time on frivolous legislation. This week’s return to the legislative session was no exception. On Wednesday, a handful of lawmakers…
Friday Follies: Prefiled House Legislation
It’s a new year in the Palmetto State, and that means the South Carolina’s legislative session is about to begin – on January 9 to be exact. Despite the changes…
Friday Folly: Internet Café or School Bus?
BECAUSE SCHOOL KIDS NEED TO LOOK AT SCREENS MORE? Perhaps there is some justification for legislation – S.33 – that would mandate the installation of wireless Internet access in all…
More ‘Official’ Time-Wasters
WHY MUST THE STATE DECIDE THE RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO DRAW A TREE? South Carolina faces many problems. The fact that graphic designs of palmetto trees aren’t standardized is not…
Friday Follies: Seatbelts in School Buses
WHY? JUST . . . WHY? Perhaps one of the most arrogant things that any legislature can do is to adopt the idea that every single part of life must…
Friday Follies: Favors for ‘Motorsports Tourism’
WHAT MAKES STOCK CAR RACING SO SPECIAL? Many cities across the country have what could be called a “stadium problem.” This problem occurs when a sports team – usually, but…
Friday Follies: Mobile Barbershop Licensing
Being able to earn a living is one of our most fundamental rights as human beings. The other rights that we possess matter little when our ability to simply earn…
Friday Follies: A Tax Credit for Fixing Your Car
WHEN IT COMES TO TAXES, LAWMAKERS ALWAYS PREFER TO COMPLICATE THINGS Maintenance of one’s property – whether a house, a boat, or an electric guitar – is the responsibility of…
Friday Follies: Licensing Sign Language Interpreters
WE CAN’T HAVE UNLICENSED INTERPRETERS OUT THERE! You probably didn’t know this, but South Carolina apparently has a problem with unlicensed sign language interpreters. That’s right – using sign language…
Friday Follies: No Continuing Ed after 30 Years
IS THIS A FAVOR, OR JUST A FOLLY? S.248 is an exceedingly short and clear bill. It contains only three lines. The bill would allow anyone who’s held a state-issued…
Friday Follies: The Diaper Tax Credit
A CREDIT FOR ONE COMPANY WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE HONEST South Carolina has an exemption problem. The number of exemptions to the sales tax enshrined in law is staggering. As…
Friday Follies: Incandescent Bulbs, Made in S.C.
It’s understandable that many South Carolinians want to push back at the federal government’s regulatory overreach. It’s understandable, too, that their Statehouse politicians want to respond to that desire. But…