Our weekly Top Five feature offers big stories or views from the past week with policy and legislative implications.
- Lawmakers form study committee to deal with pension fund woes, The Post and Courier, July 28, 2016
Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman and House Speaker Jay Lucas announced Wednesday that they have created a 12-member committee to find reforms for the underfunded pension fund for state employees.
- Poor school districts say legislature violated court order, Associated Press, July 27, 2016
Attorneys for rural school districts say the court-ordered plan for fixing South Carolina’s education system isn’t a plan at all.
- Scoppe: DHEC failed to ensure public health with E. coli precautions, The State, July 25, 2016
In this opinion piece, The State’s Cindi Ross Scoppe complains about a slow response by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control for a bacterial outbreak at a popular park. An excerpt:
“The operative term for DHEC’s response is ‘involved with.’ Unlike zoo officials, DHEC was not doing a lot of testing, and it did not take immediate action to limit public exposure. In fact, the state’s health agency didn’t seem to take Mr. Stangler’s report seriously until June 10, after it received an anonymous tip about the pollution. It wasn’t until June 21 — more than a month after the initial report of elevated bacteria levels — that the agency issued an advisory against swimming at the park.
“It’s a stunning contrast between a government agency that was doing everything it could to protect the public health and one that was not.”
- Haley’s cell phone records remain out of public view, The Post and Courier, July 23, 2016
Since 2011, Gov. Nikki Haley’s campaign has paid more than $17,000 for a cell phone that’s out of public view under state disclosure laws.
- Taking a look at how much state officials are paid, CNBC, July 28, 2016
States often don’t make it easy for watchdogs to figure out salaries of state officials. But it is pretty obvious that governors generally aren’t paid the most. Included in the story is a pat on the back for South Carolina:
“South Carolina appears to be one of the only states that includes the salaries of university officials online in a format that can easily be downloaded and organized by amount. It listed the University of South Carolina football coach, Will Muschamp, as the highest-paid public employee. He has a salary of $1,100,000 for 2016.”
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