Category: Research

It’s a new year in the Palmetto State, and that means South Carolina’s legislative session is about to begin – on January 14 to be exact. While it’s impossible to…

The most important bill passed in each legislative session is the state budget. Every year, state agencies spend more and more taxpayer dollars on a variety of things – sometimes…

It’s nearly the end of the year and South Carolina’s legislative session is rapidly approaching! The first day of session begins on January 14, 2020. Since 2019 was the first…

Update as of 3/2/20: The Senate version of this bill has received a high volume of amendments. As such, specific details contained in this summary may be out of date.…

This past session, lawmakers finally took action on Santee Cooper – without actually taking action. Instead of authorizing a sale of the troubled state-owned utility, they passed a resolution (H.4287)…

Getting answers on your roads, tracking answers across the state It’s year three of the gas tax hike, and most of the $615.2 million of gas tax revenues they’ve collected so…

Last month, the General Assembly passed a budget spending nearly $30 billion – the largest appropriations bill in state history. By contrast, the governor vetoed only 0.1% of legislative spending.…

Your roads aren’t getting fixed. Here’s what you can do about it.   THE PROBLEM: YOUR ROADS AREN’T FIXED It’s year three of the gas tax hike. Under the 2017…

Nearly 2,500 bills and resolutions were filed during the 2019 legislative session. While many of the most concerning bills did not pass, this year was the first half of the…

In the final days of the legislative session, the House and Senate both passed legislation to give big tax breaks and other incentives for the NFL team the Carolina Panthers.…

A bill passed by the House (H.3145) would subject electric cooperatives to state oversight, increase transparency requirements, and impose basic ethics guidelines for board members. This would create a major…

Despite passing a twelve-cent gas tax increase in 2017, lawmakers are fast-tracking a proposal to increase the number of toll roads in South Carolina to fund new road construction. S.780…

Last week, the Senate amended and passed the state appropriations bill, which spends $29.8 billion. This includes a surplus of $344 million ($16 million more than the House budget allocated).…

Wednesday, April 10 was the crossover deadline, which means that bills that failed to cross to the other chamber by this date will need a two-thirds majority to be taken…

A bill filed last month (H.4258) would create a state retirement plan for private employees. The 401(K) style plan, called the “Palmetto Work and Save Plan”, would be available for…

A bill currently in a Senate subcommittee would guarantee a refinancing of SCANA’s debt by authorizing a new ratepayer charge. Under S.110, the Public Service Commission (PSC – the utility…

House lawmakers have adopted the largest spending plan in state history. Here’s what you need to know about it.   What they’re spending The House budget is a grand total…

S.298 would allow unaccountable university spending, borrowing and construction, would greatly increase state spending on higher education, and would limit future tuition increases. Despite the unaffordability of higher education in…

Click to print PDF version Two committees comprised almost entirely of lawmakers are currently exploring the possibility of selling state-owned utility Santee Cooper. Not only is this beyond the proper…

A newly filed bill (S.679) would allow economic development bonds to be issued for freight projects, which could be exempted from job creation requirements. Economic development bonds are a category…

Last week, lawmakers introduced legislation in both the House (H.4243) and the Senate (S.655) to extend tax favors to the Carolina Panthers NFL team in an attempt to lure them…

A SENATE BILL WOULD FUND THE TAKING OF PRIVATE PROPERTY TO CREATE FLOODPLAINS AND OPEN SPACES Update: the bill was amended in committee in four significant ways; Language was added…

A concerning new bill filed this week – H.3934 – would allow committees created by county legislative delegations to subpoena any state or local government agency, board, commission, etc. and/or…

Download as a pdf » UPDATE: This bill passed the House 92-8, with an amendment slightly tweaking some of the language, amending the membership of the WEDOC, and combining the…

In 1976, voters passed a constitutional amendment amending legislators’ ability to provide for state borrowing. The ballot question was general, vaguely worded and failed to spell out what was arguably…

The recurring themes in the over 700 pieces of prefiled legislation this year are more spending, more legislative control, and eroding individual rights. Here is a broad overview of what…

The budget process spelled out in state law is a thorough, deliberate process, designed to inform citizens at every stage and to maximize their input into the spending of taxpayer…

The new data warehouse – created by last year’s law and this year’s budget proviso – poses serious threats to the privacy of South Carolinians, especially if lawmakers override the…

UPDATE 10/5/18: The Senate’s version of the tax conformity bill passed both houses this week and was signed by the Governor.   Lawmakers left one major question unanswered when they…

Each year, the state spends millions on duplicative administrative positions that could be used in the classroom. Instead of overhauling South Carolina’s antiquated school district model, lawmakers have historically taken…