WHY MUST THE STATE DECIDE THE RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO DRAW A TREE? South Carolina faces many problems. The fact that graphic designs of palmetto trees aren’t standardized is not one of them. Nonetheless, H.4201 – co-sponsored by Reps. Martin, Pope, Delleney, and Huggins – addresses this non-problem. The bill would task the director of …
Posted: February 23, 2018 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Fines and Community Service for Saggy Pants
This past week, the legislature showed an unusually keen interest in how South Carolinians choose to wear their clothes. H.4957 would make it a civil offense for a person to expose their underwear or skin by wearing his pants more than three inches below his “ileum”. For those unfamiliar with obscure anatomical terms, the ileum …
Posted: January 12, 2018 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Restaurant Staff Appreciation Month
If there’s anything state lawmakers are good at, it’s wasting time on frivolous legislation. This week’s return to the legislative session was no exception. On Wednesday, a handful of lawmakers introduced H.4569, a bill that would designate the month of February as “Restaurant Staff Appreciation Month.” It goes on to encourage the citizens of South …
Posted: January 5, 2018 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Prefiled House Legislation
It’s a new year in the Palmetto State, and that means the South Carolina’s legislative session is about to begin – on January 9 to be exact. Despite the changes a new year can bring, a common theme in South Carolina state government is that much of the proposed legislation would do more harm than …
Posted: June 2, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Folly: Internet Café or School Bus?
BECAUSE SCHOOL KIDS NEED TO LOOK AT SCREENS MORE? Perhaps there is some justification for legislation – S.33 – that would mandate the installation of wireless Internet access in all K-12 schools in South Carolina. Whether or not this is something that state government should mandate or pay for is, of course, an open question. …
Posted: May 22, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
More ‘Official’ Time-Wasters
WHY MUST THE STATE DECIDE THE RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO DRAW A TREE? South Carolina faces many problems. The fact that graphic designs of palmetto trees aren’t standardized is not one of them. Nonetheless, H.4201 – co-sponsored by Reps. Martin, Pope, Delleney, and Huggins – addresses this non-problem. The bill would task the director of …
Posted: April 21, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Seatbelts in School Buses
WHY? JUST . . . WHY? Perhaps one of the most arrogant things that any legislature can do is to adopt the idea that every single part of life must be controlled by law. There have been many examples of this throughout the current legislative session, but one of note is H.3945. 3945 would require …
Posted: April 14, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Favors for ‘Motorsports Tourism’
WHAT MAKES STOCK CAR RACING SO SPECIAL? Many cities across the country have what could be called a “stadium problem.” This problem occurs when a sports team – usually, but not always an NFL team – issues an ultimatum. Unless the franchise is given some form of preferential tax treatment, or the city issues new …
Posted: April 7, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: Mobile Barbershop Licensing
Being able to earn a living is one of our most fundamental rights as human beings. The other rights that we possess matter little when our ability to simply earn a living is in question. Many of South Carolina’s licensing regimes, however, actually threaten South Carolinians’ ability to earn an honest living by subjecting them …
Posted: March 31, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
Friday Follies: A Tax Credit for Fixing Your Car
WHEN IT COMES TO TAXES, LAWMAKERS ALWAYS PREFER TO COMPLICATE THINGS Maintenance of one’s property – whether a house, a boat, or an electric guitar – is the responsibility of the owner. Everybody, we suspect, would agree to that. And yet there is S.566. S.566 would allow a taxpayer with a vehicle registered in South …
Posted: March 24, 2017 by South Carolina Policy Council
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 to interpret audible messages without a license. Fortunately, Sen. Katrina Shealy has introduced S. 548 to combat this problem. This bill would license, regulate, and …