Research

Poll: SCPC readers strongly support key judicial, tax reforms

What issues are important to South Carolinians? It's a question the S.C. Policy Council (SCPC) takes seriously. Recently, we surveyed our members for their input on key state issues ahead of the 2024 legislative session, which begins January 9.

Written by Sam Aaron
November 28, 2023

SC prosecutors give explosive testimony to House judicial study committee, back reform

State prosecutors on Tuesday delivered explosive testimony to a House committee tasked with reviewing how South Carolina picks its judges, giving detailed accounts of actual or perceived favoritism, misbehavior and poor judgement they have witnessed or heard about.

Written by Bryce Fiedler
November 17, 2023

Bad for business: South Carolina must reform its unfair civil liability system

South Carolina is at risk of seeing fewer jobs and less economic growth if the S.C. General Assembly fails to address and reform the state’s civil liability system, which forces businesses to unfairly pay legal claims for damages they did not cause.

Written by Bryce Fiedler
October 30, 2023

Universal school choice: a roadmap for South Carolina

Update 10/27/23: School choice opponents on Thursday launched a legal challenge against South Carolina’s ESA program, seeking to deny students access to life-changing educational scholarships. Legislators crafted the program specifically to comply with the S.C. Constitution, which puts parents in charge of the scholarships, and provides funding entirely to student needs. We encourage a speedy court decision to uphold...

Written by Sam Aaron
October 24, 2023

Impact: McMaster announces new judicial transparency policy

In a letter to state senators, Gov. Henry McMaster announced new disclosure requirements for anyone seeking a magistrate judge position. Nominees will have to provide details on an updated application form about their finances and business affiliations, political contributions, judicial philosophies, conflicts of interest and other background information.

Written by Sam Aaron
October 23, 2023

Big updates on judicial reform as Nerve stories make waves

This week, as The Nerve published hard-hitting stories exposing issues with S.C.’s magistrate judge system (read them here and here), two big developments on judicial reform made headlines.

Written by Bryce Fiedler
October 06, 2023

SC lags behind northern neighbor when it comes to picking judges

If you’ve followed the judicial reform discussion for much time, you’ve probably heard that South Carolina is one of two states where judges are legislatively elected, the other being Virginia. But a review by SCPC found large differences between the two when it comes to policy and procedure. In a few...

Written by Bryce Fiedler
September 23, 2023

2023 Legislative Scorecard

South Carolina is embarking on a path toward a brighter future – and adopting key free-market policies will be key to this journey. The South Carolina Policy Council’s 2023-24 Legislative Scorecard was created to assist in this effort and promote the organization’s principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual...

Written by Bryce Fiedler
August 31, 2023

Keep an eye on these educational reforms in 2024

Recently, we published an overview of South Carolina's national rankings across different performance indicators in education. We found that South Carolina lags behind other states when it comes to test scores, graduation rates, and reading proficiency for eighth-grade students. The good news is that major educational reforms are finally making progress,...

Written by Sam Aaron
August 18, 2023

South Carolina's educational shortcomings (and a brighter future ahead)

It's no secret that South Carolina ranks behind other states when it comes to education. With school starting back up this month, let’s look at some recent education figures and talk about what can be done to turn things around.

Written by Sam Aaron
August 04, 2023