Category: Budget

Every year, South Carolina becomes more dependent on the federal government, and every year the state loses more control over its own affairs to Washington DC. The federal government has…

For decades, South Carolina lawmakers have cobbled together the state budget with little input from anyone but lobbyists and bureaucrats. Except for vetoes on the back end, the governor had…

In South Carolina, the law requires the governor to submit the state budget to the legislature at the beginning of each legislative session. Yet what happens in practice, as SCPC…

Section 11-11-20 of the S.C. Code of laws stipulates all state agencies submit their budget requests for fiscal year 2012 – 2013 on or before November 1st. Now that the…

The South Carolina Citizens’ Guide to Following the State Budget

For decades, South Carolina lawmakers have cobbled together the state budget with virtually no input from the governor. The state’s spending priorities were largely dictated by members of the General…

More than a third of our budget depends on a source that’s headed for financial ruin. The federal government is now $14 trillion in debt and running a $1.3 trillion…

The Legislature has sent the state budget to the governor’s desk. As expected, it’s wasteful, irresponsible, and displays a poor sense of priorities. There are scores of examples to choose…

States use different budget categories to differentiate the sources and purposes of different revenue streams. South Carolina, like other states, has multiple funding categories. Broadly speaking, state spending is divided…

Government spending grew every year from 2002 to 2009. In 2010, the overall budget decreased by less than a half of 1 percent – not because lawmakers cut spending, but…

Legislators are almost finished with the state budget. Here’s a taste of what’s in it ...

Irresponsible government spending doesn’t always happen in the open. Sometimes it’s hidden by a smokescreen of complicated budgeting practices. Take this year’s Senate Finance Budget . . . .

What happened to the ‘tough budget year’? A few weeks ago we reported that the House version of the budget was larger than last year’s budget by about half a…

Bad budget provisos: Provisos are lines in the state budget that give temporary authorizations for the use of state money. Like federal earmarks, they’re usually inserted into the budget by…

The House budget, as passed by the full Ways & Means Committee, was finally posted yesterday. The budget (H 3700) is expected to go to the floor for a vote…

The budget is expected to hit the House floor on March 15. According to various media outlets, that budget is $5.2 billion. But as the Policy Council has written before,…

For the past few decades, states have experimented with various forms of zero- and performance-based budgeting practices as a means of making state agencies more efficient and accountable. Many states,…

We have concluded that a formula based on supply (available revenue as measured by economic productivity) rather than demand (the perceived need for governmental services) provides the best measure for…

As part of an ongoing analysis of state spending trends, this fact sheet looks at total state spending over the past 10 years. Taking this bird’s eye view of the…

South Carolina’s unemployment rate has long been among the worst in the country, hitting a high of 12.5 percent in January 2010. As of June 2010 (latest data available), the…

As part of our ongoing review of local spending and taxation trends in South Carolina, this Fact Sheet looks at per capita county spending. Like total state spending, local spending…

The House voted yesterday to sustain 51 of 107 of Governor Sanford’s vetoes. The result is regarded as a victory for the governor, whose past veto record was lackluster at…

As the S.C. legislative session finally comes to a close this week, it’s worth asking whether lawmakers are making good use of their time – and taxpayer dollars. As the…

The total budget for FY10-2011 is $21.149 billion, comprised of $8.268 billion in Federal Funds; $7.766 in Other Funds; and $5.115 billion in General Funds. The budget is almost half…

As the budget goes into conference committee, we will be highlighting issues that currently divide the two chambers. In Part I of this series, we looked at the I-95 Corridor…

Cutting spending should be a top priority as the House takes up the proposed Senate budget. As we have previously noted, the proposed Senate budget increases spending by $60 million…

SC Policy Council President Ashley Landess discusses the impact of increasing government spending on economic growth at the April 26, 2010, meeting of the Aiken City Council. Part 1 Part…

The Senate Finance Committee budget increases spending by $60 million over the House version. The House budget – passed on March 18 – is an increase of $400 million over…

Even as lawmakers are complaining about budget cuts and a barebones spending act, state spending continues to increase – by 2 percent over last year’s appropriated budget. By comparison, per…

While media coverage of the budget this year has pointed to “the $5 billion budget,” “1,000 job layoffs,” and “unprecedented cuts,” the truth is that the budget is still growing…