Our weekly Top Five feature offers big stories or views from the past week with policy and legislative implications.
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Can South Carolina’s police culture be fixed? Radley Balko in The Washington Post, June 2, 2016
This is an excerpt from the fourth of a disturbing series that is getting little public attention in South Carolina: “Critics of these [liability] laws say they create perverse incentives that significantly distort how attorneys, police agencies and local governments might otherwise handle police brutality. They say the system encourages the quick settling of claims in the absolute worst cases but discourages lawsuits in most others. And while the laws sometimes nudge police agencies and prosecutors to terminate or even indict officers caught in particularly egregious behavior, the current laws do nothing to address any shortcomings in hiring, training or disciplinary policy that may have allowed such incidents to happen in the first place.
- South Carolina ranks 18th in fiscal health, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, June 2016
“On a cash basis, South Carolina has between 2.19 and 3.57 times the cash needed to cover short-term liabilities. Revenues exceed expenses by 7 percent, for a surplus of $304 per capita. Net assets are 23 percent of total assets, and total liabilities are 20 percent of total assets. Total debt is $3.39 billion. Unfunded pension liabilities are $59.39 billion on a guaranteed-to-be-paid basis, and other postemployment benefits (OPEB) are $9.40 billion.”
- Governor’s intrusion presumptive, condescending and unwelcome, Florence Mayor Steve Wukela and Mayor Pro Tem Buddy Brand, Florence Morning News, June 1, 2016
“We can manage without her supervision. The Florentines who are the authors of this guest column find the governor’s intrusion presumptive, condescending and unwelcome. We hope governor will return soon to Columbia, attend to the work of State government, and leave us here in Florence to our own business.”
- Economy is in the slow lane, from Bruce Yandle’s “The Economic Situation,” June 1, 2016
“At mid-year, the US economy is definitely in the slow lane. When the Commerce Department’s second estimate for 1Q2016 real GDP growth rolled in at 0.8 percent, the die was cast. That too close to zero growth rate followed 4Q2015’s 1.4 percent, 3Q2015’s 2.0 percent, and 2Q2015’s 3.6 percent. Connect the dots and you have a sliding board! … The economic traffic, while dreadfully slow, still seems to crawl along steadily, and the highway shoulders provide comfortable safeguards that keep wandering vehicles out of the ditches. … Put another way, this will be a ho-hum year for the nation, with wide variation across states and regions. And 2017 will look a lot like it.
- Paying more for college? Blame government cuts, The Fiscal Times, May 31, 2016
“… The most glaring examples of declining support for public colleges and universities can be found in Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Funding per student in those states is down by more than 30 percent since the start of the recession…”
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!