Sunday, April 20, 2025
Pre-filed bills for an upcoming session of the SC General Assembly always provide interesting reading, especially in an election year.
Three definitely caught our eye in recent weeks.
Sen. Katrina Shealy is evidently trying to give her friend Gov. Nikki Haley a campaign issue by filing a bill that proposes to eliminate the state’s income tax over a five-year period.
The “Big Talk” television show will feature a one hour special “Talking Big Trash” Sunday December 29th and Sunday January 5th.
The show is a response to the Horry County Council ordinance that will amend the county’s solid waste flow control ordinance if it passes two more readings.
Since county council introduced the ordinance, opponents led by Horry County Solid Waste Authority officials and several council members who blindly support the HCSWA have been spreading rumors about how much the amendment will cost the county.
S.C. Supreme Court Justice Donald Beatty told solicitors to obey the law and now those solicitors, with Attorney General Alan Wilson’s support, want him to recuse himself from criminal cases and cases involving lawyer misconduct.
According to a September 2013 speech Beatty gave to a solicitors’ conference in Myrtle Beach, he said, “The court will no longer overlook unethical conduct, such as witness tampering, selective and retaliatory prosecutions, perjury and suppression of evidence. You better follow the rules or we are coming after you and will make an example.”
Reportedly, Wilson cited case law in a letter to 13 solicitors around the state that he said he would use to support an argument for recusal.
Seven months after the Edward Snowden leaks about National Security Agency spying started becoming public, President Barack Obama is now saying some changes in programs may have to be made.
A Blue Ribbon panel appointed by the president, Review Group on Intelligence and Communication Technologies, recently published a 309 page report.
One of the conclusions in that report were that the NSA program of vacuuming information about phone calls and other electronic transmissions within, into and out of the U.S. was, from all available evidence, worthless as a tool to fight terrorism.
I had to let out a hearty laugh recently when I saw that the House of Representative passed the budget compromise measure.
Especially when so many of my political friends were jumping for joy that bipartisanship is not on life support after all in Washington, D.C.
Forgive me for not blowing out my knee while jumping for joy.
Instead, I laughed because the budget compromise is just another prime example of a bill that was passed but never truly read.
A S.C. District Court judge has put off further hearings for three months with respect to remaining litigation funds from the Southern Holdings case while he considers various motions that have been ignored since 2008.
One of those motions regards the missing approximately $60,000 that was never included in an accounting provided to the court by attorneys John Rakowsky and Adrian Falgione. Rakowsky’s trust fund was allegedly used for the accounting.
According to information provided to the court, LawMax, Litfunding and Resolution Settlement Corporation advanced at least $125,000 to Southern Holdings plaintiffs’ attorneys Rakowsky and Falgione to be used for funding expenses, not including lawyer’s fees, associated with the case.
Another hearing on litigation funds held over from the Southern Holdings case will be held in court in Richland County today.
This case has been ongoing since 2008, after the Southern Holdings plaintiffs tried to get the remaining funds held by their attorneys, Lexington chief magistrate judge John Rakowsky and co-counsel Adrian Falgione, released.
However, as with everything that touches the Southern Holdings case, this hearing will inevitably leave more questions than it will provide answers.
Even the amount of the funds in question remains very much a mystery. There appears to be at least $60,000 missing from Rakowsky’s accounting.
It seems the SC Public Pension Fund can’t help but make news. Unfortunately, most of it is not good.
In a recent article by asset international’s Chief Investment Officer magazine, the New York City and SC public pension funds were highlighted.
Both New York City and South Carolina spent approximately $500 million in fees last year and both are drawing considerable criticism for expending such amounts for public pension fund management.
By a margin of one vote, Horry County Council moved to benefit future generations of county residents by approving first reading of an amendment to the county’s solid waste flow control ordinance.
The amendment will remove construction and demolition debris from flow control regulation.
By taking this step, the HCSWA estimates it will lose approximately 35,000 tons of C&D waste from going to its Hwy 90 landfill. It must be noted, that estimate is purely speculative, but any loss of waste experienced by the HCSWA extends the life of the landfill to the benefit of future generations of Horry County residents.
A panel of four senators began hearings last week on the complaints of SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis about the SC Retirement System Investment Commission.
Panel co-chairman Sen. Joel Lourie said he hopes the panel can settle the complaints of the treasurer about what Loftis calls corruption and wasteful spending at the SCRSIC.
Since taking office and becoming a statutory member of the SCRSIC, Loftis has complained about the high fees paid by the commission, the low investment results despite these fees and the perks enjoyed by employees as well as the cloak of secrecy surrounding the decisions the employees make.
Speak Up…