Tag: Provisos

Budget Process Remains Secretive

SC General Assembly

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 …

What Will Gov. Haley Veto?

  DO TAXPAYERS WANT TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING IN THIS YEAR’S $24.3 BILLION BUDGET? Last year, Governor Nikki Haley vetoed $57.1 million of a $23.6 billion budget – less than one quarter of one percent of the budget. While she was able to get rid of a few expendable appropriations, billions of dollars in unnecessary …

Rhetoric vs. Reality in the State Budget

WHAT WAS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? (HINT: NOT MUCH) The battle over the state budget is over. The state’s spending plan for fiscal year 2012-2013 is a done deal. As expected, both the governor and most members of the General Assembly are declaring a victory. But how much of all this self-congratulation is rhetoric, and …

House Budget Provio 90.20, or “The Slush Fund”

Each year during the budget process, state lawmakers take “left over” money from the General Fund (we’ve talked about how we feel about the idea of “left over” taxpayer money before) and the Contingency Reserve Fund and distribute it for various purposes. The Governor’s budget managed to exercise some discretion, awarding the $380 to four …

The House Budget’s Five Worst Economic Development Provisos

Next year, the state of South Carolina will receive around $25 million dollars from the National Mortgage Settlement, a joint federal-state lawsuit against loan servicers awarded to parties affected by illegal housing foreclosures. In the House Budget’s Proviso 90.19, state legislators have decided, confusingly, to apportion this entire settlement to economic development. Despite attempts by legislators to introduce provisos that would use the money for its intended purpose, this proviso sends the entire award to the Deal Closing Fund at the Department of Commerce, a yearly appropriation used to “sweeten the pot” for economic incentive deals that ranges from $5 million to $10 million.