Who Runs South Carolina State Government?
POLITICIANS YOU DIDN’T VOTE FOR. THAT’S WHO. From education to road funding, from the judicial system to your electric bill, the important decisions are made by state lawmakers who represent…
Bill Would Punish ‘False’ Testimony
HOUSE LEGISLATION WOULD MAKE IT A FELONY TO GIVE ‘INCOMPLETE’ TESTIMONY On Wednesday, outgoing Rep. Walt McLeod filed a bill allowing any legislative committee to require any committee testimony they hear…
Budget Process Remains Secretive
THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY TO ACHIEVE BUDGET TRANSPARENCY, AND THAT’S TO FOLLOW THE LAW The budget debate this session was one of the most bizarre we’ve seen yet. It wasn’t that…
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…
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…
Half-Year Legislative Sessions: WWFD?
S.C.’S SESSION SUFFOCATES REFORM AND CULTIVATES FULL-TIME POLITICIANS: WHAT WOULD THE FOUNDERS DO? The Policy Council has long taken the view that South Carolina’s legislative session is far too long.…
Why Did Reform Die in 2013?
WHEN THE ISSUE IS THE PRESERVATION OF POWER, REFORM HASN’T GOT A CHANCE In 2013, despite all the rhetoric with which the legislative year began, lawmakers failed to pass a…
The State Budget Shouldn’t Take This Long
WHY THE BUDGET TAKES HALF A YEAR TO PASS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT It has become an almost yearly tradition for the South Carolina General Assembly to use…
Who Investigates?
IS THERE A ‘CONTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY’ HERE? In 1997, when Vice President Al Gore was questioned about suspicious campaign fund-raising activities, he claimed repeatedly that he didn’t know it was…
Freedom of Information?
FOR A ‘FREEDOM OF INFORMATION’ LAW, OURS DOESN’T ALLOW VERY MUCH INFORMATION Want information about the way a state agency uses your tax dollars? Here’s the good news: nearly every…
Why Our Legislative Session Is Far Too Long
OR, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THESE GUYS STICK AROUND TOO LONG? We’re sometimes asked: Where’s the harm in the fact that South Carolina has a longer legislative session than most other…
Too Much Time on Their Hands?
SC LAWMAKERS SPEND MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR IN COLUMBIA. TIME TO ABBREVIATE. THE BACKGROUND South Carolina has one of the longest legislative sessions in the country. Legislators spend almost…
What Income Disclosure Would Mean for You
FOR STARTERS, YOU MIGHT LEARN THE REASONS FOR SOME OF YOUR LAWMAKERS’ VOTES Suppose for a moment that you disapprove of a particular vote cast by your lawmaker. You think…
Government De-Structuring?
Yesterday the Senate passed what many are calling the most significant restructuring plan this state has seen in decades. By a vote of 44-0, the South Carolina Senate passed H.3066…
Government restructuring – Reform or status quo?
South Carolina elected officials claim to be restructuring government, but is anything changing? Are we moving toward real separation of powers, or is the status quo being preserved? Below are…
Getting restructuring right – or wrong?
The state Senate is currently debating what could turn out to be the most important piece of government restructuring legislation to come along in a quarter-century. Among other things,…
The Citizen’s Guide to Restructuring
What’s wrong with the structure of South Carolina’s government? All the power is held by five-member boards, like the State Financial Affairs Authority and Budget and Control Board. Major functions…
Creating a Department of Administration – An Update
A new amendment to the Department of Administration bill has hit the Senate floor. Although it’s a moving target, here’s an overview of what the bill would do with state…
Restructuring Done Right, Part II – A guide for the perplexed
The Senate is currently debating potentially the most important government restructuring legislation in decades (H.3066). The bill is intended to concentrate accountability by separating executive from legislative functions. But what’s…
Restructuring Done Right: Separate and Diffuse Power, Concentrate Accountability
The Senate is currently considering legislation (H 3066) that would eliminate the Budget & Control Board (BCB), devolving the BCB’s responsibilities to a cabinet-level Department of Administration and a newly…
Who’s Got The Power? Not you…
SC state government has no balance of power. The legislature MAKES laws, EXECUTES laws and elects the judges who INTERPRET laws. Want proof? The SC Legislature controls more than 420 appointments…
Policy Report: Shorten South Carolina’s Legislative Session
Any way you measure it, South Carolina has one of the longest legislative sessions in the country. Such a lengthy session is not only unnecessary, it bars most citizens from…
Policy Report: Reform the South Carolina Legislature
South Carolina’s General Assembly has long enjoyed a virtual monopoly of power over the state’s government and economy. The Legislature overshadows the executive branch and controls judicial branch appointments. Likewise,…
Fact Sheet: Reform the Legislature, Shorten Session, Record Every Vote
Advocates of good government in South Carolina have long recognized that the state’s governing structure is outdated, inefficient and not transparent. At the root of the problem is a concentration…
Cut the Budget … By Cutting Length of Session
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…
Roll Call Voting in South Carolina Fact Sheet
In 2008, the South Carolina Policy Council (SCPC) released research showing that the S.C. General Assembly passed bills with a recorded vote only 5 percent of the time.[1] In January…