(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…
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…
A SNAPSHOT OF WHERE WE ARE Obamacare by Another Means While the governor and Speaker of the House are promoting what they call an “alternative” to Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid,…
WHY KEEP TRYING TO ‘COMPETE’ ON OUR COMPETITORS’ TERMS? For generations, South Carolina lawmakers of both parties have shown an unwavering commitment to the idea that special tax incentives encourage…
JUST BECAUSE STATES CAN’T PRINT THEIR OWN MONEY DOESN’T MEAN THEY CAN’T ACCUMULATE DEBT … LOTS OF DEBT In a recent study by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), South…
TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING POORER. GOVERNMENT ISN’T. Lately a number of commentators have tried to make the case that South Carolina is already a lean model of low taxes and limited…
SINCE WHEN DOES ‘RESERVE’ MEAN ‘SLUSH’? As has become a yearly tradition, legislators have voted to raid the Capital Reserve Fund to funnel money to their own pet projects. The…
STEP NO. 1: ELIMINATE THE HALF THAT ALMOST NOBODY CAN READ Each fiscal year, the South Carolina state budget is split into two major pieces: Part 1A and Part 1B.…
. . . AND HOW NOT TO FUND IT State lawmakers have introduced a new plan to increase funding for the Department of Transportation (DOT) without raising revenues or fees.…
. . . A LOT THAT YOU’LL NEVER KNOW ABOUT. HERE’S WHY. Over the last two years, the Policy Council has repeatedly stressed the importance of a law that…
A BILLION AND A HALF … WAIT – WHAT? The House Ways and Means Committee has just passed its version of the state budget, and it’s been reported as a $22.7…
IF YOU GIVE AN AGENCY A COOKIE . . . [Note: Parts one and two of this series were published earlier this week and last week.] If the governor’s executive budget…
IF IT DOESN’T WORK, KEEP DOING IT … ? Part 2 of our series on the governor’s proposed budget of FY 2013-14 shines a light on the following four department…
JUST WHAT WE NEED: A NEW, MORE COMPLICATED INFRASTRUCTURE FUND A bill recently introduced by Senator Larry Grooms aims to create the “Palmetto Highway Improvement Fund.” The bill –…
MORE OF THE SAME? The 2013 legislative session has just begun, and one of the first items unveiled was the governor’s executive budget. Whether or not the legislature will follow…
LAWMAKERS SHOULD QUIT MAKING EXCUSES AND FOLLOW THE LAW Two years ago, the Policy Council discovered a provision in state law requiring House and Senate appropriations committees to meet…
LAWMAKERS: LET’S DELETE THE LAW WE’VE BEEN IGNORING For over a year, the Policy Council has been pointing out an important provision in state law that lawmakers conveniently ignore every…
State agencies have begun submitting their budget requests for next year. Ever wonder how government grows so much, so fast? Here’s where it starts. Major requests for budget hikes The…
State law prescribes a detailed and transparent process for how elected officials are to introduce, debate, and pass the state budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers have a bad habit of ignoring that law.…
AND WHAT SHOULDN’T IT BE DOING? Like every other state, South Carolina maintains a Department of Agriculture. But what does the Department do? Its stated mission is to “promote and…
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…
$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…
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…
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…
The House is currently debating the budget recommended by the Ways and Means committee after months of hearings. With just over $535 million in “new” recurring revenue[1], lawmakers justify spending…
The governor’s budget is only the first in a series of budget drafts before we arrive at the final state budget later in the spring. Generally – in fact, without…
The South Carolina Department of Transportation has one of the largest budgets in state government, yet it can’t afford to maintain the state’s roads. Why? Because most of DoT’s money…
A WEAK LIMIT IS WORSE THAN NO LIMIT If the last few legislative sessions prove anything, it’s that almost nothing can compel state lawmakers to exercise spending restraint. A report…
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…
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…
The Health Care Debate in South Carolina
A SNAPSHOT OF WHERE WE ARE Obamacare by Another Means While the governor and Speaker of the House are promoting what they call an “alternative” to Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid,…
Wanted: A New Approach to Economic Development
WHY KEEP TRYING TO ‘COMPETE’ ON OUR COMPETITORS’ TERMS? For generations, South Carolina lawmakers of both parties have shown an unwavering commitment to the idea that special tax incentives encourage…
S.C.’s “Debt Limit” Not So Limited
JUST BECAUSE STATES CAN’T PRINT THEIR OWN MONEY DOESN’T MEAN THEY CAN’T ACCUMULATE DEBT … LOTS OF DEBT In a recent study by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), South…
Is State Government Shrinking – or Growing?
TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING POORER. GOVERNMENT ISN’T. Lately a number of commentators have tried to make the case that South Carolina is already a lean model of low taxes and limited…
Capital “Reserve” Fund?
SINCE WHEN DOES ‘RESERVE’ MEAN ‘SLUSH’? As has become a yearly tradition, legislators have voted to raid the Capital Reserve Fund to funnel money to their own pet projects. The…
Budget Transparency: How to Get There
STEP NO. 1: ELIMINATE THE HALF THAT ALMOST NOBODY CAN READ Each fiscal year, the South Carolina state budget is split into two major pieces: Part 1A and Part 1B.…
How to Fund Road Maintenance
. . . AND HOW NOT TO FUND IT State lawmakers have introduced a new plan to increase funding for the Department of Transportation (DOT) without raising revenues or fees.…
What’s in the S.C. State Budget?
. . . A LOT THAT YOU’LL NEVER KNOW ABOUT. HERE’S WHY. Over the last two years, the Policy Council has repeatedly stressed the importance of a law that…
The State Budget is $1.5B Bigger Than You Thought
A BILLION AND A HALF … WAIT – WHAT? The House Ways and Means Committee has just passed its version of the state budget, and it’s been reported as a $22.7…
The Governor’s Spending Plan (Part 3)
IF YOU GIVE AN AGENCY A COOKIE . . . [Note: Parts one and two of this series were published earlier this week and last week.] If the governor’s executive budget…
The Governor’s Spending Plan (Part 2)
IF IT DOESN’T WORK, KEEP DOING IT … ? Part 2 of our series on the governor’s proposed budget of FY 2013-14 shines a light on the following four department…
Road Funding: Another Bad Idea
JUST WHAT WE NEED: A NEW, MORE COMPLICATED INFRASTRUCTURE FUND A bill recently introduced by Senator Larry Grooms aims to create the “Palmetto Highway Improvement Fund.” The bill –…
The Governor’s Spending Plan (Part 1)
MORE OF THE SAME? The 2013 legislative session has just begun, and one of the first items unveiled was the governor’s executive budget. Whether or not the legislature will follow…
Why the State’s Open Budget Law Matters
LAWMAKERS SHOULD QUIT MAKING EXCUSES AND FOLLOW THE LAW Two years ago, the Policy Council discovered a provision in state law requiring House and Senate appropriations committees to meet…
They Admit It!
LAWMAKERS: LET’S DELETE THE LAW WE’VE BEEN IGNORING For over a year, the Policy Council has been pointing out an important provision in state law that lawmakers conveniently ignore every…
Here Come the Budget Busters!
State agencies have begun submitting their budget requests for next year. Ever wonder how government grows so much, so fast? Here’s where it starts. Major requests for budget hikes The…
Citizens’ Guide to the 2012 State Budget
State law prescribes a detailed and transparent process for how elected officials are to introduce, debate, and pass the state budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers have a bad habit of ignoring that law.…
Dept. of Ag – What’s it for?
AND WHAT SHOULDN’T IT BE DOING? Like every other state, South Carolina maintains a Department of Agriculture. But what does the Department do? Its stated mission is to “promote and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Ways and Means Budget Largest in State History – Yet Again
The House is currently debating the budget recommended by the Ways and Means committee after months of hearings. With just over $535 million in “new” recurring revenue[1], lawmakers justify spending…
The Governor’s Budget – A Sign of What’s to Come?
The governor’s budget is only the first in a series of budget drafts before we arrive at the final state budget later in the spring. Generally – in fact, without…
DoT’s Budget – How not to fund an agency
The South Carolina Department of Transportation has one of the largest budgets in state government, yet it can’t afford to maintain the state’s roads. Why? Because most of DoT’s money…
How (and How Not) to Cap Government Spending
A WEAK LIMIT IS WORSE THAN NO LIMIT If the last few legislative sessions prove anything, it’s that almost nothing can compel state lawmakers to exercise spending restraint. A report…