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 should belong to either the executive or
legislative branch; these boards have members from both, making it difficult to hold
any single elected official or legislative body accountable for major decisions.

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 government’s most basic functions. Download as pdf by clicking here. Eliminated: Budget & Control Board, State Financial Affairs Authority The Senate’s first shot at eliminating the [...]

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 “intended” and what gets signed into law are often two different things, and for that reason it’s worth taking a closer look at what the bill would actually do and whether it can be improved.

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 created entity called the State Financial Affairs Authority (SFAA). The Budget & Control Board would also continue to manage the state retirement system until July 1, 2013, at which time the BCB would be abolished and the retirement system would come under the purview of a new agency, the Public Employee Benefit Agency.

Fact Sheet: Restructuring Done Right: Separate and Diffuse Power, Concentrate Accountability

The Budget & Control Board is the only agency of its kind in the nation – a legislative/executive hybrid with vast powers and virtually no accountability. After 61 years, lawmakers are finally considering ways to eliminate it. Yet current plans don’t fully resolve the core problem – which is the concentration of power and the diffusing of accountability. Here are the kinds of reforms that would address that problem directly and decisively…

Executive Branch Reforms for 2011

The concentration of power in South Carolina’s legislature is such that the executive branch is generally unable to institute major reforms without the cooperation of the Legislature, whether stemming from good will or public pressure. Still, the executive branch could implement several initiatives – especially as related to good budgeting practices, health care and job creation – that would, not only complement a reform agenda in the Legislature, but make South Carolina more free and prosperous in concrete ways.

7 for ’11: 7 Ways Lawmakers Can Make South Carolina Better – Now

Each year we review the best and worst ideas taken up during the legislative session, focusing on those bills that will either make South Carolina more free and more prosperous or less free and less prosperous. In the spirit of offering some constructive advice to the General Assembly, here are 7 good ideas for reform in 2011.

25 Ways to Unleash Capitalism in South Carolina

  Want to know 25 ways we can unleash opportunity, freedom and hope in South Carolina? Here are 25 ideas taken from the pages of the Policy Council’s new blueprint for economic prosperity, Unleashing Capitalism.   1)      Cut the property tax on manufacturing equipment: At 3.73 percent, South Carolina has the highest effective manufacturing property [...]

10 Reforms for the S.C. Retirement System

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As the S.C. Retirement System Investment Commission meets at Wampee this week, it’s our hope the commission is taking a long, hard look at the state’s pension plan and considering positive reforms that could make the system more sustainable moving forward.

Legislative Reform Facts at a Glance

Download the PDF 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 to the executive branch – more than half the number the governor appoints. The SC [...]