Senate to Scrap Constitution, Raise Revenue
WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING YOUR MONEY, STATE SENATORS WON’T LET A LITTLE OL’ CONSTITUTION GET IN THE WAY When a special Senate subcommittee met on Tuesday, the purpose was clear: raising revenue by…
S.C. Going the Wrong Way on Road Funding
FOR HOUSE LAWMAKERS, ROAD FUNDING IS ABOUT BUILDING NEW ROADS, ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’ – AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING BUT FIXING THE STATE’S CRUMBLING ROADS AND BRIDGES. Lawmakers are quick to bemoan the state of…
Why S.C.’s Deeper in Debt Than They Say
THE HOUSE IS DEBATING A $497 BOND PACKAGE. IT’S TERRIBLE IDEA, FOR LOTS OF REASONS. NOW TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT LAWMAKERS WANT TO SPEND THE MONEY ON. This week the House will…
Why the Infrastructure Bank Should Go
IT SERVES ITS PURPOSES, ALL RIGHT . . . AND THEY’RE ALL BAD As lawmakers and the governor seek to add more revenue to, and possibly reform, South Carolina’s broken…
Ethics Bills Perpetuate Self-Policing
• A pair of omnibus ethics bills now in the General Assembly purport to end legislative “self-policing.” • They don’t. • Instead, both bills perpetuate a system in which lawmakers…
Sketchy Numbers Behind Road Funding Debate
‘STATE HOUSE ECONOMICS’ AT ITS FINEST The state’s roads are crumbling, according to the popular refrain, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) claims it faces a nearly $43 billion shortfall between…
South Carolina’s Roads Problem Isn’t about Revenue
IT’S ABOUT STRUCTURE, NOT MONEY – ACCOUNTABILITY, NOT TAXES Every South Carolinian who drives a car knows our state’s roads need work. Many have also heard about the Department of Transportation’s…
On Roads, S.C. House Doing Its Own Thing
THE HOUSE PLAN HAS THIS IN COMMON WITH THE GOVERNOR’S: IT ASSUMES WE HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM. Nearly a week after the governor released her plan to fix South Carolina roads,…
What to Do about Ride-Sharing
SOUTH CAROLINA’S REGULATORY REGIME DOESN’T PROTECT CONSUMERS, PLACES UNACCOUNTABLE POWER IN THE HANDS OF A FEW POLITICIANS, AND OUGHT TO BE ROLLED BACK – STARTING WITH THE TAXI INDUSTRY. HERE’S HOW TO…
Haley Road Plan: Higher Taxes, New Debt, Fuzzy Numbers
THE GOVERNOR’S PLAN IS A SHELL GAME THAT WOULD DO LITTLE TO IMPROVE S.C.’S ROADS Gov. Nikki Haley’s plan to fix South Carolina’s decrepit roads and bridges and lower income taxes will…
Senate Ethics Bill Would Take Reform Backward
MEET THIS YEAR’S GIANT ‘ETHICS BILL’ The legislative session has only just begun, but somehow lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee are already poised to pass an omnibus ethics reform bill.…
Gov. Haley’s Budget: Same Deal, More Money
THE GOVERNOR DOUBLES DOWN, PHONES IT IN Update* Budget documents prepared by the Executive Budget Office not available at the time of initial publication reveal an even larger executive budget. The…
Lawmakers File Scores of ‘Ethics’ Bills for 2015
WHICH ONES DESERVE THE WORD ‘REFORM’? Two years ago, many, perhaps most, lawmakers dismissed the need for ethics reform. They know better now. As the 2015 session begins, already more…
The S.C. Supreme Court’s New Role: Education Czar
THE ABBEVILLE DECISION IS JUDICIAL IMPERIALISM IN SUPPORT OF DISCREDITED POLICY The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a momentous decision on November 12. In a case that’s been going on…
S.C. House Passes One Excellent Reform
. . . AND KILLS A TERRIBLE ONE During the first day of organizational session on December 2, the House voted on and approved a package of 15 rule changes…
What to Watch at the Organizational Session
THERE’S MORE AT STAKE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK At this week’s organizational session, South Carolina House lawmakers will be asked to make several important decisions, including who becomes Speaker of the House…
House Committee Proposes Rule Changes
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE IMPROVABLE Last week we wrote about some of the bills proposed by the House Ethics and Freedom of Information Act Committee, the committee created…
Good & Bad Ideas on Roads
WHAT YOUR POLICYMAKERS ARE HEARING & SAYING Two recent meetings – the House Ad Hoc Transportation Review Committee, and a York Town Hall addressed by Rep. Gary Simrill (R-York) –…
New Ethics Measures Proposed, Debated
WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT ELIMINATING EXEMPTIONS AND LOOPHOLES? On Monday the House Ethics and Freedom of Information Act Ad Hoc Study Committee met to consider six proposals. Two of…
New Ethics Proposals Made Public
ARE WE HEADED INTO ANOTHER YEAR OF WEAK ETHICS LEGISLATION? HARD TO SAY. The indictment and subsequent conviction of former Speaker Harrell on ethics charges has brought renewed calls for reform…
Roads: Is Raising Taxes Really the Only Option?
LAWMAKERS SEEM TO THINK SO. A LITTLE EFFORT MIGHT BE IN ORDER. Tax hikes are on the mind of legislators. At least that’s what the October 30 meeting of the…
How “Restructuring” Gave the Legislature More Power
NEW POWERS FOR LAWMAKERS? Much has been made of the restructuring of state government through the Department of Administration bill passed in January. Proponents of the bill have labeled it historic…
Best & Worst of the General Assembly
HOW’D THE LEGISLATURE DO? Every year since 2009, we’ve given readers a guided tour of the legislative session’s follies, misadventures, missed opportunities, and accomplishments. This year’s guide includes sections on…
Does the Education Superintendent Matter?
NOT AS MUCH AS IT SHOULD A recent debate between the two major party candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next Superintendent of Education failed to reveal many substantive policy…
Why Raising the Fuel Tax Is a Terrible Idea
MONEY’S NOT THE PROBLEM. PRIORITIES ARE. The issue of road funding – or, to put it slightly differently, the question of how South Carolina should fix its broken road system…
Testimony: Reforms to House Rules
SCPC PROPOSES REFORMS TO NEW COMMITTEE ON HOUSE RULES AND PROCEDURES [Editorial note: The following testimony was delivered by Policy Council Director of Research Jamie Murguia to the House Ad Hoc…
Getting Politics out of Money
WHAT THE McDONNELL CASE TELLS US ABOUT GOVERNMENT ‘DEVELOPING’ THE ECONOMY Last week former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was convicted of 11 counts of corruption related to his acceptance of…
Why “Publicly Owned” Resources Get Neglected
IS YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT DOING A GREAT JOB OF MAINTAINING PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE? IF NOT . . . The Nerve recently reported on a lawyer who is simultaneously serving as a…
How S.C.’s Legislature Bullies Local Governments
WHEN WILL LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PUSH BACK AGAINST ALL THIS MEDDLING? The House of Representatives returned for a special one day session on August 27 to address a mere two bills…
What Will the State Do with the Surplus?
PROBABLY NOT WHAT CHESTER ARTHUR WOULD HAVE DONE You might have recently heard that South Carolina ended the fiscal year with a higher-than-expected surplus – a surplus big enough to…