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State agency surpluses total $4 billion to start fiscal '24

By RICK BRUNDRETT When fiscal 2022-23 ended on June 30, the state’s general fund had a balance of less than $58 million – a relatively paltry amount compared to the $1.2 billion surplus reported a year earlier. But that doesn’t mean state government in South Carolina is poor. Far from...

Rick Brundrett

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August 29, 2023

  • State agency surpluses total $4 billion to start fiscal '24

    By RICK BRUNDRETT When fiscal 2022-23 ended on June 30, the state’s general fund had a balance of less than $58 million – a relatively paltry amount compared to the $1.2 billion surplus reported a year earlier. But that doesn’t mean state government in South Carolina is poor. Far from...
    Rick Brundrett

    Written by
    August 29, 2023

  • Federal school-choice suit raises questions about future court, legislative actions

    By RICK BRUNDRETT A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that a state constitutional provision banning direct public funding of religious or other private schools in South Carolina was rooted in religious and racial bigotry. But it’s unclear whether the ruling last month by a panel of the...
    Rick Brundrett

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    August 11, 2023

  • S.C. counties spending above population growth, inflation

    Oconee County Council Chairman Matthew Durham will tell you he ran on a campaign promise of low taxes and limited government growth. Durham, who was elected to County Council in 2020 and became its chairman this year, says he was alarmed that the county’s annual budget grew by 45% since...
    Rick Brundrett

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    July 31, 2023

  • Governor’s vetoes don’t touch hundreds of millions in earmark spending

    By RICK BRUNDRETT When it came to reining in lawmakers’ spending on their favored local projects for the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. Henry McMaster used a veto butter knife on earmarks totaling more than $709 million. In his annual written veto message released Tuesday, McMaster vetoed just six out of 515 state...
    Rick Brundrett

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    June 21, 2023

  • Under the hood: huge taxpayer tab, ESG mandates in Scout Motors deal

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Taxpayers in South Carolina likely will be on the hook for more than the $1 billion already dispersed to help a recently created Volkswagen company build its first electric vehicle plant near Columbia. On top of that, under a state incentives agreement obtained by The Nerve, Virginia-based...
    Rick Brundrett

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    June 06, 2023

  • House follows Senate in earmark money grab

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Like the 46-member S.C. Senate, the 124-member S.C. House apparently can’t resist spending hundreds of millions in state surplus dollars – mainly on lawmakers’ favored local projects. Bolstered by a rosy prediction last week by official revenue forecasters that the state’s general fund surplus for this fiscal year...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 16, 2023

  • Senators feast on taxpayer-funded earmarks for pricey projects

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Through largely hidden budget earmarks, S.C. senators have proposed a total of more than $314 million for projects next fiscal year mainly in their respective legislative districts – including dozens of $1 million-plus requests, a review by The Nerve found. The 46-member Senate two years ago changed...
    Rick Brundrett

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    May 09, 2023

  • Policy Council advocating title insurance reform

    By Dallas Woodhouse Bills under consideration in the S.C. Legislature would remove a quirk in state law that unnecessarily regulates the relationship between title insurance agencies and their underwriters. A recently filed state House bill along with its Senate counterpart would embrace the free-market system and allow the two parties to negotiate commission payments...
    Rick Brundrett

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    April 22, 2023

  • ESG battles heating up over state pension plan

    By RICK BRUNDRETT As S.C. lawmakers move closer to banning liberal ESG factors in state pension plan investments, the commission overseeing those funds is reducing at least one global management firm’s control over shareholder votes that come with the billions of public retirement dollars flowing to companies. But some conservatives...
    Rick Brundrett

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    April 13, 2023

  • Sweeping transparency reforms proposed in House bill

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Citizens would have far easier access to state and local government records and meetings in South Carolina under a wide-ranging S.C. House bill introduced Thursday. The legislation was  based largely on transparency recommendations released in December by the South Carolina Policy Council – The Nerve’s parent organization, said the...
    Rick Brundrett

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    February 10, 2023