S.C. House Republican Caucus Agenda

S.C. House Republican Caucus 2011-2012 End of Session Report
July 16, 2012
Rep. Tommy Pope Legislative Update
November 28, 2012

S.C. House Republican Caucus Agenda

This session was a huge success for House Republicans. We were able to pass 27 conservative reforms during our two-year session.

In addition to those 27 reforms, we also created two conservative budgets that provided more than one billion dollars in tax relief to South Carolinians, repaid much of the state’s unemployment debt, and fully funded the mandate from voters that we expand our state’s rainy-day funds. Two recent reports show a record of long-term fiscal accomplishment by House Republicans.

One of the most notable of these accomplishments is that we reduced or eliminated taxes by more than 20 billion dollars, which resulted in the conservative Tax Foundation finding that South Carolinians have the lowest tax burden in the nation.

We had many more pieces of legislation that we hoped would be implemented by the end of our session, but 14 of them unfortunately died in the Senate. Had that not occurred, there would have been even more tax cuts, namely a lowering and flattening of the income tax and the Budget and Control Board would have been eliminated. In short, we would have had even less government spending, less government opacity, and more tax relief for those who are working hard to build South Carolina’s economy.

Despite these setbacks, House Republicans had many successful breakthroughs, and managed to pass legislation that we are sure will have a positive effect on South Carolina for years to come.

Thank you for giving me the honor of serving you in Columbia.