Getting Rid of the DOT Commission?
BILL WOULD ELIMINATE THE COMMISSION THAT SHIELDS POLICYMAKERS FROM ACCOUNTABILITY There seems to be broad agreement (except, perhaps, among Statehouse legislative leaders) that the state’s road funding system needs structural overhaul.…
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…
Why Revenue Won’t Solve S.C.’s Roads Problem
MORE MONEY HASN’T IMPROVED SOUTH CAROLINA’S ROAD SYSTEM – AND FOR A VERY GOOD REASON. If more money were the answer to the state’s infrastructure woes, the topic would hardly…
Budget Growth Since 2007 – Fast and Furious
LAWMAKERS OVERSEE EXPLOSION IN FEDERAL FUNDS, FINES & FEES Each year during the budget debate, legislators talk about the responsible spending included in the budget. In this year’s debate, for…
‘Small’ $497 Million Bond Bill to Hit Ways & Means
PAYING FOR ROUTINE RENOVATIONS WITH DEBT HAS BECOME A THING Update: The final version of the committee bill ended up being $497 million, nearly half of which is going to higher…
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…
House Passes $27.3 Billion Budget
‘CONSERVATIVE’ BUDGET A FULL BILLION DOLLARS BIGGER THAN LAST YEAR’S Late Tuesday night the House passed by far the largest budget in state history, as it usually does this time of…
Freedom of Information in S.C. – An Experiment
WE SENT SIMPLE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS TO ELEVEN STATE AGENCIES. HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND. The purpose of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), passed in the aftermath of…
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…
Reforming the Judiciary in One Short Bill
A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO RESTORE THE BALANCE OF POWER The most frequent criticism made of South Carolina’s form of government – it’s also the most accurate one – is that…
The Return of ‘Competitive Grants’
THAT’S A EUPHEMISM FOR ‘PORK BY COMMITTEE’ [Update: This proviso was struck from the House budget when the bill went to the floor.] Buried in this year’s state budget bill…
UPDATE: Senate Gas Tax Plan
THIS ONE’S A STRAIGHT-UP TAX HIKE [Update: A quick side-by-side comparison of Senate and House bills is available here.] This morning the Senate Finance subcommittee took up H.3516, the gas…
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…
House to Chip Away at Roll Call Requirement?
RESOLUTION WOULD ALLOW HOUSE TO BYPASS ROLL CALL ON BUDGET SECTIONS In 2008, the Policy Council released a study revealing that the South Carolina General Assembly passed bills with recorded…
S.256 – Legislative Delegations may Remove Their Appointees or Recommendations
S.256 would allow the county legislative delegations to remove their appointees or recommendations for appointment for neglect of duty, misconduct, or malfeasance. While the ability to remove appointments for cause…
UPDATE: House Passes Gas Tax Increase
MODEST REFORM MEASURE INTRODUCED, BUT PREMISE STAYS THE SAME On Tuesday the House considered the gas tax hike bill (H.3516). House leadership proposed an amendment that would divert 20 percent…
S.386 – Constitutional Amendment to Have Justices Appointed, Eliminating Judicial Merit Selection Commission
S.386 would amend the state constitution by having the governor appoint the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Circuit Court judges rather than having them elected by the legislature. The…
Biz License Reform Bill Not Much of a Reform
BUSINESS LICENSE TAXES ARE CONFUSING AND PUNITIVE. A REFORM BILL IN THE LEGISLATURE WOULD DO NOTHING TO CHANGE THAT. By any reckoning, one of the most widely hated taxes is…
H.3700 – Constitutional carry
H.3700 is a full constitutional carry bill. Anyone over 21 who is legally allowed to own a handgun in the state could carry that handgun in public, either openly or…
S.C. Is a ‘Low Tax State,’ Right? Wrong.
SOUTH CAROLINA IS A LOW INCOME STATE — SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT South Carolina politicos sometimes claim that ours is a “low tax state” and that it has the “lowest taxes in…
ANALYSIS: The Pension System Reform Bill
SOUTH CAROLINA’S PENSION SYSTEM IS IN THE RED BY TENS OF BILLIONS. A NEW BILL WOULD TINKER WITH THE SYSTEM. After months of deliberations and expert testimony, the Joint Committee on…
S.370 – Constitutional amendment making judges gubernatorial appointment
S.370 would amend the state constitution by having the governor appoint Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals, and Circuit Court judges rather than having them elected by the legislature. It…
H. 3650 – License Tax Standardization
H. 3650 attempts to streamline and simplify business licensing in the state. It would create a uniform business license tax, that would expire on the 30th of April of each year.…
House Leaders’ Gas Tax Bill
LAWMAKERS’ ANSWER TO THE ROADS PROBLEM IS STILL THE SAME: YOU HAVEN’T SENT ENOUGH MONEY TO COLUMBIA [The text of this analysis has been updated to reflect the bill’s most…
H.3443 – Medicaid expansion
H.3443 would expand Medicaid to cover adults sixty-five years of age and younger who are at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. This expansion is one that legislators…
H.3473 – Convention of States to amend the US Constitution for spending cap
H.3473 is a resolution calling for an Article V Convention of States to amend the US Constitution. The resolution attempts to limit potential amendment subjects to a spending cap and…
H.3468 – Allowing the transfer of textile mill tax credits
H.3468 would allow an individual, partnership, limited liability company, trust, or estate to transfer an unclaimed textile mill site rehabilitation tax credit to another recipient, provided the Department of Revenue…
H.3352 – Creating the Office of FOIA Review
H.3352 creates a new judicial branch under the Administrative Law Court that would oversee Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeals and challenges and would institute a number of reforms to…
S.301 – Reforming the Department of Transportation
S.301 would eliminate the Commission of Transportation and transfer the Commission’s authority to the Secretary of Transportation. The Secretary would be a gubernatorial appointment with Senate confirmation. The bill would…
Making Superintendent of Education a Gubernatorial Appointment
S.27 is a companion bill to S.137, a joint resolution that proposes that the superintendent of education be appointed by the governor instead of elected. S.27 would adjust the necessary code…