Ulbrich: A new way to look at budgeting
State budgets are driven by a number of factors, like the land area, the weather and climate, the age distribution of the population (how many senior citizens, how many pre-schoolers), the average...
View ArticleHaley seeks to boost by spending $200 million
Color some South Carolina budget hawks surprised after Gov. Nikki Haley unveiled a state budget plan for 2015-16 that increased government spending by $200 million, up from the current year $6.7 billion.
View ArticleMore hearings ahead on budget, S.C. State
Legislators will continue to be busy with committee meetings next week with key meetings on education reform, S.C. State University, gubernatorial appointments, agency budgets, domestic violence and...
View ArticleNEWS: Time is ticking down on roads funding
By Bill Davis | There are more moving parts in the deal to get new roads funding passed in the legislature than there are in a watch, and time is running out. With only nine work days left in this...
View ArticleNEWS: Legislature’s Year of the Turtle
A news analysis by Andy Brack | The 2015 session of the General Assembly will go down as the Year of the Turtle. Far more didn’t happen than could have. Missed opportunities trumped progress on...
View ArticleBRACK: State needs to deal with budget reform
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | State governments suffer from a disease similar to traditional Wall Street investment: a focus on the near term. South Carolina, despite its AAA credit rating,...
View ArticleFull issue, June 19: Charleston church shooting, state budget, more
In the June 19, 2015 issue: Two commentaries on gun violence, racism and hate in the Charleston church shootings; budget news, about the AME church, a weekly scorecard, quotes and more.
View ArticleNEWS: Looking at whether executive budgets matter
News analysis by Bill Davis, senior editor | Some consider Gov. Nikki Haley’s recently released $7.5 billion executive budget for 2016-17 to be a template for the General Assembly’s coming...
View ArticleAGENDA: Legislative breaks, budget ahead
State representatives next week will take the first of three weeks of furlough during this year’s session. They’re expected to also take off the last week of March and first week of April. Meanwhile,...
View ArticleNEWS: Slim pickings this year for pork, roads, colleges
By Bill Davis, senior editor | Nine years ago when the state’s most famous hiker, Mark Sanford, was still governor, the state Senate approved a line item that would divert nearly $1 million to erect a...
View ArticleAGENDA: Crossover date looms
It’s three weeks until the legislature’s “crossover date” -- the May 1 deadline for bills from one chamber to be approved in time to be considered by the second without the need of a supermajority just...
View ArticleNEWS: House, Senate find a lot of budgetary common ground
A news analysis by Bill Davis, senior editor | The biggest unseen and immeasurable line item in the forthcoming legislative budget bill will be the amounts of unanimity between the state House and...
View ArticleBRIEFS: Budget conference, ethics awards
House and Senate budget conferees are scheduled to start meeting to work out compromises between differing provisions of the state’s $7.5 billion budget. Also: Martin, Finlay receive ethics awards.
View ArticleBRIEFS: On S.C.’s police culture, governor’s vetoes, residency
Staff reports | A series of four national opinion pieces critical of the state’s police culture has led to a rebuttal from the head of the State Law Enforcement Division. Also in Briefs: Gov. Nikki...
View ArticleTOP FIVE: On budgeting, gerrymandering, mental health, voter rolls and...
Top five stories you might have missed with impacts ... for the week ending Aug. 5, 2016: On cloudy state budget forecasts, gerrymandering, waiting times for the mentally ill, purges of minority voters...
View ArticleBRACK: SCETV is a blessing for South Carolina
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Absence, as the saying goes, makes the heart grow fonder. This certainly applies to loved ones, family, friends, favorite haunts, delicious food and secret...
View ArticleNEWS: This ‘Black Friday’ could stretch for years in state budgeting
How much: $2.2 billion + “a whole lot more” every year By Bill Davis, senior editor | South Carolina is looking at a massive shortage of revenues in the face of mounting annual needs that could affect...
View ArticleBRIEFS: Overlooking Haley’s new budget; Pension reform looms
Staff reports | Gov. Nikki Haley delivered a 636-page executive budget for 2017-18 to state legislators on Tuesday, the opening day of the legislative session. Unfortunately for her, it may become the...
View ArticleBRIEFS: It’s budget time; Remembering Joe Neal
Staff reports | Lace up your budget boots because it’s already time to get serious. Next week, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its full committee deliberations. Because the legislature...
View ArticleTALLY SHEET: From the state budget to guns, vouchers and partisanship
Staff reports | The House Ways and Means committee this week formally introduced its annual budget bill and related bills in preparation for next week’s floor debate on how the state will spend about...
View Article