Tag: 8 point reform agenda
● Bill includes unaccountable exceptions to private income disclosure ● Actually weakens public income disclosure requirement ● Legislative self-policing rearranged, not abolished ● Allows ethics committees to sign off – in secret – on sketchy practices The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed another long, complicated ethics bill. The amended bill addresses two principal areas: income disclosure and …
Updated on February 4, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
DANGEROUS ‘ELECTIONEERING’ PROVISION SCRAPPED, BUT LEGISLATION STILL CONSISTS MAINLY OF REGRESSIVE NON-REFORMS The Senate Judiciary Committee has just passed another omnibus ethics bill, H.3184. The bill has a tortured history, having been completely rewritten several times. The amended bill is not yet available to the public (this is the case with more and more legislation, incidentally). …
● House bill on self-policing further empowers legislature. ● House income disclosure bills still full of loopholes. ● House FOIA reform bill still allows lawmaker exemption. The 2016 legislative session has begun with the usual round of speculation, accusations, and factually challenged claims. In her State of the State address, for example, Gov. Nikki Haley left the …
HOW CAN WE MAKE SOUTH CAROLINA’S POLITICIANS THE LEAST POWERFUL AND MOST ACCOUNTABLE IN THE NATION? (1) Restore judicial independence. The public deserves confidence that judges rule independently of the legislature whose laws they judge. South Carolina is the only state in the nation in which the legislature unilaterally appoints judges even when vacancies arise. …
Category: Reform & Restructuring, Research, Self Governance, Transparency Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Eight point agenda, Eight step reform agenda, Ethics laws, Freedom of Information, Incentives, Reform agenda, Reform plan, South Carolina state budget, Transparency
Updated on August 28, 2015 by South Carolina Policy Council
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 many years ago that the state’s Budget and Control Board was making across-the-board budget cuts owing to the recession and the state’s inability to meet its …
Category: Budget, Commentary, Reform & Restructuring, Research, Transparency Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Budget Reform, House Rules, Legislative Reform, Provisos, Senate Rules, South Carolina state budget, Transparency
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 than 30 ethics-related bills have been filed. Some would accomplish worthy goals, to be sure. Yet most contain troubling and dangerous provisions that would loosen rather …
Updated on April 24, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE STICKING POINT: SELF-POLICING A House Judiciary subcommittee met on Tuesday to once again take up the “ethics bill” – H.3945. Versions of the bill have already passed both the Senate and the House, but rather than sending it to a conference committee, the House chose to amend the bill. The key sticking point has …
Updated on March 28, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
WHERE DOES THE ETHICS BILL STAND TODAY? The famous (and at times notorious) “ethics bill,” having recently passed the Senate, may soon head to conference committee. The House can propose an amendment to the bill passed by the Senate, and send it back to the Senate, which can either agree to the amended version or …
Updated on October 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
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. One might at first think a long session is necessary in order to let lawmakers “get things done,” but in part that’s precisely the problem …
Updated on August 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE REASON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEOLOGY It’s a tale of two legislative sessions. In one state, lawmakers passed significant tax reform that lowers tax rates across the board, took a meaningful step towards school choice, and expanded Second Amendment rights. In another state, lawmakers talked a big game about government restructuring, reforming the …
Tag: 8 point reform agenda
Why the Latest Ethics Bill Would Change Nothing
Updated on June 23, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
● Bill includes unaccountable exceptions to private income disclosure ● Actually weakens public income disclosure requirement ● Legislative self-policing rearranged, not abolished ● Allows ethics committees to sign off – in secret – on sketchy practices The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed another long, complicated ethics bill. The amended bill addresses two principal areas: income disclosure and …
Category: Reform Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics
Senate’s Latest Version of ‘Ethics Reform’
Updated on February 4, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
DANGEROUS ‘ELECTIONEERING’ PROVISION SCRAPPED, BUT LEGISLATION STILL CONSISTS MAINLY OF REGRESSIVE NON-REFORMS The Senate Judiciary Committee has just passed another omnibus ethics bill, H.3184. The bill has a tortured history, having been completely rewritten several times. The amended bill is not yet available to the public (this is the case with more and more legislation, incidentally). …
Category: Reform & Restructuring, Research Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics
Ending Legal Corruption – A Progress Report
Updated on June 21, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
● House bill on self-policing further empowers legislature. ● House income disclosure bills still full of loopholes. ● House FOIA reform bill still allows lawmaker exemption. The 2016 legislative session has begun with the usual round of speculation, accusations, and factually challenged claims. In her State of the State address, for example, Gov. Nikki Haley left the …
Category: Reform & Restructuring Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics
Taking the Power Back: Eight Reforms
Updated on August 28, 2015 by South Carolina Policy Council
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HOW CAN WE MAKE SOUTH CAROLINA’S POLITICIANS THE LEAST POWERFUL AND MOST ACCOUNTABLE IN THE NATION? (1) Restore judicial independence. The public deserves confidence that judges rule independently of the legislature whose laws they judge. South Carolina is the only state in the nation in which the legislature unilaterally appoints judges even when vacancies arise. …
Category: Reform & Restructuring, Research, Self Governance, Transparency Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Eight point agenda, Eight step reform agenda, Ethics laws, Freedom of Information, Incentives, Reform agenda, Reform plan, South Carolina state budget, Transparency
Budget Process Remains Secretive
Updated on August 28, 2015 by South Carolina Policy Council
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 many years ago that the state’s Budget and Control Board was making across-the-board budget cuts owing to the recession and the state’s inability to meet its …
Category: Budget, Commentary, Reform & Restructuring, Research, Transparency Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Budget Reform, House Rules, Legislative Reform, Provisos, Senate Rules, South Carolina state budget, Transparency
Lawmakers File Scores of ‘Ethics’ Bills for 2015
Updated on June 21, 2016 by South Carolina Policy Council
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 than 30 ethics-related bills have been filed. Some would accomplish worthy goals, to be sure. Yet most contain troubling and dangerous provisions that would loosen rather …
Category: Commentary, Reform & Restructuring Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics, Legislative Reform
The Ethics Bill: Still Alive, for Now
Updated on April 24, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE STICKING POINT: SELF-POLICING A House Judiciary subcommittee met on Tuesday to once again take up the “ethics bill” – H.3945. Versions of the bill have already passed both the Senate and the House, but rather than sending it to a conference committee, the House chose to amend the bill. The key sticking point has …
Category: Commentary, Taxes & Regulation, Transparency Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics
The Ethics Bill: House vs. Senate
Updated on March 28, 2014 by South Carolina Policy Council
WHERE DOES THE ETHICS BILL STAND TODAY? The famous (and at times notorious) “ethics bill,” having recently passed the Senate, may soon head to conference committee. The House can propose an amendment to the bill passed by the Senate, and send it back to the Senate, which can either agree to the amended version or …
Category: Commentary, Reform & Restructuring Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Ethics
Half-Year Legislative Sessions: WWFD?
Updated on October 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
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. One might at first think a long session is necessary in order to let lawmakers “get things done,” but in part that’s precisely the problem …
Category: Commentary Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Legislative Reform
Reforms Pass in North Carolina … But Not Here
Updated on August 22, 2013 by South Carolina Policy Council
THE REASON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEOLOGY It’s a tale of two legislative sessions. In one state, lawmakers passed significant tax reform that lowers tax rates across the board, took a meaningful step towards school choice, and expanded Second Amendment rights. In another state, lawmakers talked a big game about government restructuring, reforming the …
Category: Commentary, Education, Taxes & Regulation Tags: 8 point reform agenda, Corporate Taxes, Educational Performance, Income Taxes, K-12 education, Reform agenda, Sales Taxes, School Choice