Charleston Currents – General Assembly

Post Tagged with: "General Assembly"

NEW for 8/31: Testing, Sanford’s new mission and more testing

IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Governor should create new state health testing office
COMMENTARY, Brack: Sanford is on target about debt, deficit
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens
NEWS BRIEFS: More coronavirus testing needs to be done, officials say
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Dock scene you may recognize
CALENDAR: Lowcountry Listens back for round 3 of virtual music
NEW BOOK: Ever wonder where the Atlantic Ocean started?

by Charleston Currents · 08/31/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

NEWS BRIEFS: General Assembly to reconvene Tuesday

Staff reports | State lawmakers are expected to buckle down to work when the General Assembly reconvenes for its 2020 session Tuesday. The House likely will start on a bill related to Daylight Savings Time, while the state Senate could head straight into debate on the House-passed large education package.

by Charleston Currents · 01/12/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Good news, News briefs

1/13: MLK events; Finish job on 4K education; Comedy fest

IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS: Charleston, North Charleston to honor King over next week
COMMENTARY, Brack: Finish the job to make 4-year-old kindergarten statewide
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Charleston Gaillard Center
NEWS BRIEFS: General Assembly to reconvene Tuesday
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Rocky top
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: A history of our General Assembly
CALENDAR: Charleston Comedy Festival set for Jan. 15-18

by Charleston Currents · 01/12/2020 · 1 comment · Full issue

BRACK: 2010s — The General Assembly’s Decade of the Nibble

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Looking back at the past decade, it’s pretty easy to see what the S.C. General Assembly didn’t do — fix education, fix the tax structure, fix health care and on and on.

But state lawmakers did get some things done in what may become known as the legislature’s Decade of the Nibble. That’s because each area they focused on was more of what a posh restaurant would call an “amuse bouche” than an entree.

by Andy Brack · 01/06/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

1/6, full issue: Justify road spending; Decade of the Nibble; Polar Plunge

IN THIS EDITION
TODAY’S FOCUS, Palm: Justify spending $1.1 billion on Interstate 526 widening project
COMMENTARY, Brack: 2010s were the Decade of the Nibble
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Charleston RiverDogs
PHOTO ESSAY: Polar plunging
GOOD NEWS, ICYMI: Charleston celebrated “Nathalie Dupree Day”
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
MYSTERY PHOTO: Tunnel of trees
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Chicken bog
CALENDAR: Charleston inaugural to be Jan. 13

by Charleston Currents · 01/06/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

BRACK: Lots to do if General Assembly wants real impact

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With two months left, the General Assembly still has a lot of work to do if it really wants to accomplish anything this year.

Despite headlines of progress, lawmakers of both chambers have passed five pretty minor bills, four of which became law. Gov. Henry McMaster vetoed a measure on the election of water and sewer district commissioners for Bath, Langley and Clearwater (wherever they are).

by Andy Brack · 03/11/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

3/11, full issue: Navy Week; Results wanted; The Pearl to open

IN THIS EDITION

FOCUS: Ahoy! It’s Navy Week in Charleston
COMMENTARY, Brack: Lots to do if General Assembly wants real impact
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Morris Financial Concepts
GOOD NEWS: The Pearl to open March 13
FEEDBACK: Mace needs constitutional reminder on ERA effort
MYSTERY PHOTO: What a great Lowcountry home
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Reconstruction (part 2 of 2)
CALENDAR: From fashion to music and drama

by Charleston Currents · 03/11/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Full issue

BRACK: What really needs to happen with General Assembly’s nuclear mess

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Until state legislators go through the five stages of grief over the $9 billion failure of building two nuclear reactors, they might just screw up things worse.

It’s easy to see where they are, so far, six months after the announcement by Santee Cooper and SCANA that the project in Fairfield County wouldn’t get off the ground, despite ratepayers paying more for power over the last 10 years.

First is the denial stage – that it couldn’t happen here. Evidence of this is the prodigious finger-pointing as everybody and his brother look for scapegoats.

by Andy Brack · 01/29/2018 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Redrawing political lines is best hope for better legislature

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | State lawmakers have the power to alter the way the legislature works to make it more representative of all South Carolina and, in turn, boost the potential for compromise and better outcomes for taxpayers.

But to do so, they’ll have to do something that’s very hard – hold their egos and political futures in check by redrawing district lines that are more competitive and less self-serving.

by Andy Brack · 08/28/2017 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: State needs to break grip of death spiral on governing

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Over the last 14 years, two South Carolina governors pounded a philosophy on the stump and at the Statehouse that there was little government could do to be good or worthwhile.

This drumbeat against government, a child of Washington think tanks from the 1990s, seeped into South Carolina under Gov. Mark Sanford, who was obsessed against government borrowing to finance long-term needs. Then it found an erstwhile acolyte in his successor, Gov. Nikki Haley, now headed to the national stage. Using the bully pulpit of the governor’s office, they railed against big government, preached a gospel against taxes and proselytized for treating government like a business.

by Andy Brack · 01/23/2017 · 3 comments · Andy Brack, Views