The South Carolina Policy Council's 2025-26 Legislative Agenda

The South Carolina Policy Council's 2025-26 Legislative Agenda

Read the print digital version here.

As we move into the 2025-26 legislative session, the South Carolina Policy Council will pursue a strategic set of 18 reforms aimed at advancing our mission of promoting and protecting the principles of limited government and individual liberties, free markets, and traditional South Carolina values. Our legislative agenda focuses on the following key areas: 

  • Taxes and Spending
  • Fixing S.C. Roads and Bridges
  • Education
  • Legal and Judicial Reforms
  • Government Transparency

 

Taxes and Spending: 

  • Accelerated tax relief: At the end of the 2023-2024 session, lawmakers used a budget surplus to accelerate income tax reductions. They cut the rate from 6.4 percent by an additional 0.1 percentage point, on top of a previously scheduled 0.1 percentage-point cut, for a total reduction of 0.2 percentage points, bringing the new rate to 6.2 percent. To continue this momentum on tax deductions, lawmakers should repeat this accelerated approach and further lower the income tax rate to 6 percent in 2025. Furthermore, lawmakers should work to get S.C.’s income tax rate lower than the Southeastern average of 3.3 percent (excluding SC). 

  • Follow the budget law and apply zero-based budgeting: Zero-based budgeting is a financial approach mandating that agencies justify every dollar in their budgets for both new and existing programs. This method identifies areas of overspending, ensuring that agencies are spending tax dollars efficiently. State law requires agencies to adhere to zero-based budgeting principles – with enforcement by the governor – to prevent wasteful spending and inflated budgets. However, despite these legal requirements, agencies have made a habit of justifying expenditures for only new initiatives and increased funding for existing programs. This neglects the comprehensive budgetary justification mandated by law. And the governor must make sure agencies are following the budget law.

  • Limit spending based on population and inflation: South Carolina should prioritize responsible budgeting by capping annual spending increases to population growth plus inflationensuring government spending aligns with what taxpayers can afford. To assist lawmakers in implementing this approach, SCPC has developed the S.C. Responsible Budget project, offering annual recommendations on spending limits. 

 

Fixing S.C. Roads and Bridges   
  • Building a better infrastructure system for South Carolina: South Carolina’s current system of road/bridge maintenance and construction is failing. With deteriorating roads and bridges, we need to ask: Who is responsible, what are other states doing better, and how can we improve our Department of Transportation to meet the state’s needs? 

  • Control of state roads: There are more than 60,000 miles of roads in South Carolina. The S.C. Department of Transportation controls more than 41,000 miles of roads in the state. Only three other states with similar bureaucratic structures control most of their respective roads.

  • Rise in traffic fatalities: In 2022, South Carolina led the nation with 1.85 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, well above the national average of 1.33. The state ranked 5th in per-capita deaths (20.7 per 100,000 residents), and early 2023 data positions South Carolina second in the nation for traffic fatalities. These alarming statistics underscore the urgent need for systemic improvements in road safety.

  • Economic impact: South Carolina’s failing infrastructure is imposing significant financial costs on both taxpayers and the state. The Nerve in 2021 revealed that of the nearly $5 million in pothole-damage claims received by the state Department of Transportation from 2018 through 2020, less than $1 million of the requested amount resulted in settlements.

  • The Fix: SCPC is announcing a landmark study to assess the true taxpayer cost of South Carolina's poor road conditions. This study will analyze the cost in terms of lost dollars and time, and most critically, lives. The goal is to identify specific legislative changes that can improve roads, bridges, and road safety across the state. 

Education 
  • Universal School Choice: Following the S.C. Supreme Court's recent ruling declaring the main part of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program unconstitutional, SCPC will continue advocating for more educational options. Reinstating the ESTF and expanding the program by removing enrollment caps and income restrictions remain key goals. SCPC aims to empower deserving parents with more choices for their children’s education through education and advocacy. Additionally, SCPC supports the introduction of new school-choice initiatives. 
    • Note: As of the publication date, the S.C. Supreme Court has ruled that the ESTF cannot be used for private school tuition. The situation is subject to change. For the latest updates on education policies, visit scpolicycouncil.org. 

  • Comprehensive parental bill of rights: Parents have a fundamental right to be fully informed about the education their children receive. A parental bill of rights ensures that parents can request access to curriculum materials, school budgets, and library resources, while also affirming their exclusive authority to make medical decisions for their children. These provisions promote transparency and accountability in schools, aligning with best practices for parental engagement and oversight. 

  • Livestreaming school board meetings: A majority of school boards statewide currently livestream their meetings. This bolsters parental involvement and is a good transparency policy, though it’s not a requirement. In 2024, a bill that would require all school boards to livestream their meetings passed only in the Senate. Although many districts already livestream their school board meetings, lawmakers should require all districts to adopt a livestreaming policy. 

  • Adopting statewide open enrollment: School districts in South Carolina are responsible for setting their own open-enrollment policies, which determine how and if parents can enroll their children outside of their normally zoned schools.  Parents should have the choice to enroll their children in the school best suited to fit their needs.  The state should pass legislation requiring all districts to adopt some form of open enrollment while leaving the specifics to the districts. A bill proposing this approach was passed by the House in 2023, and we support its reintroduction and full passage to ensure parents have the ability to choose the school that best meets their children's needs.
     
Legal and Judiciary Reforms 
  • Promote judicial independence: South Carolina and Virginia are the only two states where their legislatures play primary roles in selecting judges. The Palmetto State should adopt a system in which judges are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, following the federal model. While 2024 reforms to the state Judicial Merit Selection Commission are a step in the right direction, additional changes are needed to further enhance transparency and accountability. In particular, the magistrate selection process should be reformed to comply with the S.C. Constitution by ending county Senate delegations’ control of the process. Allowing lawmakers who are practicing attorneys to nominate magistrates before whom they argue cases poses a serious ethical concern that demands immediate attention. Additionally, lawmakers should end the magistrate-holdover loophole that allows magistrates to sit on the bench well beyond when their terms expired. A report by The Nerve found that statewide, 38 county magistrates in 17 counties are in "holdover" status – two of them serving more than 18 years past their terms.  

  • End joint and several liability: South Carolina’s joint-and-several liability laws are hurting small businesses. Since 2005, the state has followed a modified version of this doctrine, allowing a defendant who is at least 50% at fault to be held responsible for the entire verdict. To address this, South Carolina should allow nonparties to be considered based on their proportion of fault. The state should repeal joint-and-several liability entirely and adopt a model in which defendants are financially liable for only their share of fault. 

  • Reform our broken liquor liability: As part of joint-and-several liability, businesses serving alcohol can be held fully liable for legal verdicts, even if they are just 1% at fault for an injury. This results in excessive litigation, hefty insurance payouts, and consequently, sky-high liability insurance premiums. Lawmakers should repeal the 1% rule and explore options of reducing the minimum $1-million-liability coverage requirement for businesses that serve alcohol. Repealing the 1% rule would likely make the $1 million requirement unnecessary. 

  • End civil asset forfeiture: Civil forfeiture in South Carolina permits the government to seize property – including cash, cars, businesses, or homes – without requiring a criminal conviction or even formal charges. In contrast, criminal forfeiture necessitates a conviction before assets can be seized. The Institute for Justice gives South Carolina a “D-” for its civil forfeiture laws, largely due to the state's burden on property owners to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that their property is not tied to a crime. Additionally, 95% of forfeiture proceeds go to law enforcement, with 75% allocated to police and 20% to prosecutors. South Carolina should transition to a criminal forfeiture model and ensure adequate funding for law enforcement, removing the financial incentive to seize property.  

  • Protect citizens private property rights: With the surge in population and specifically an influx of renters moving into the state, property owners need strong protections for their rights. They should have the ability to request immediate law enforcement intervention to remove squatters when an individual has unlawfully entered and remains on the property despite being directed to leave by the owner, provided the person is not a current or former tenant in a legal dispute. South Carolina should enact legislation that safeguards private property rights and establishes penalties for those who unlawfully occupy property.  

Government Transparency 
  • Livestreaming public meetings: As highlighted in our live stream check-ins over the past three years, while the state government livestreams House and Senate floor sessions, many important committee meetings go unstreamed. A South Carolinian living in the Lowcountry, for example, may find it difficult to attend a 1 p.m. committee meeting at the Statehouse in Columbia, but livestreaming and archiving guarantees public access and oversight of their representatives' actions. In addition, other state, county, municipal, and school board meetings must be livestreamed and archived to keep the public informed and ensure transparency in government proceedings. 

  • Correct corporate incentives: The Legislature in recent years has provided incentives to large corporations through targeted handouts to spur economic development. Instead of favoring select companies, South Carolina should focus on simplifying the tax code to create a consistently attractive environment for all businesses. We recommend lowering the corporate income tax rate, allowing full deductions for new machinery, and reducing specialized credits. Pursuing policies like these will benefit both small businesses and large corporations, fostering a more competitive and fair business environment across the state. 

  • Spending transparency: South Carolina's state budget process is notoriously complex, often obscuring where taxpayer dollars are allocated. To enhance transparency, lawmakers should expand and codify the state's earmark rules. Earmarks should be requested in writing using forms submitted to the House or Senate budget chairmen. These forms should include the sponsor’s name, the date of request, the requested amount, a project description, the state agency administering the funds, and the recipient entity's full name. All written requests should be limited to the start of the budget process and posted immediately on the Legislature’s website. 

  • Protecting citizens from ESG: While a bill passed last session aimed at preventing state pension funds being invested based on “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) factors, South Carolina still needs to address potential banking discrimination in that area. The Legislature should explore ways to protect South Carolina taxpayers, businesses, and individual borrowers by requiring banks to disclose their ESG practices. Banks that threaten to withdraw services from small businesses for not adopting ESG practices distort the free market by forcing compliance.   

  • Strengthen election integrity: Several states across the country have prioritized maintaining accurate voter rolls and ensuring that the programs responsible for this task are nonpartisan and objective. Concerns about transparency and data-sharing have led to criticism for potentially compromising privacy and voter roll accuracy. South Carolina should focus on solutions that make it easier to vote and harder to cheat while ensuring voter rolls are secure and up to date.
     
A Brighter Future 

With the 2025-26 legislative session on the horizon, South Carolina stands at a pivotal moment in its trajectory toward becoming a national leader. The South Carolina Policy Council’s priority remains advancing policies that align with the core concerns of South Carolinians. By addressing key issues such as tax reform, infrastructure development, education improvement, legal reform, and governmental transparency, we aim to strengthen the state's foundation. Our legislative agenda is anchored in the principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and the preservation of South Carolina’s traditional values, ensuring that the state remains competitive and emerges as a leader on the national stage. 

 

Who We Are    

For nearly four decades the South Carolina Policy Council (SCPC) has been a leading voice dedicated to the principles of limited government and individual liberties, free markets, and traditional South Carolina values. Founded by Thomas Roe as an independent, nonpartisan research organization, SCPC is South Carolina's longest-serving free market research organization.