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Once it became clear that COVID-19 could overwhelm our hospitals, Governor McMaster temporarily waived SC regulations that restrict hospitals and their ability to add capacity to their facilities. According to current law, SC hospitals and medical practices cannot add any beds to their facility without obtaining approval from the state. Why do we put these

We hope this message finds you safe as South Carolina slowly but surely moves towards the “next normal.” Governor McMaster has now allowed indoor restaurant dining and has set a date of next week for the opening of close-contact businesses like hair and nail salons.  We’re encouraged to see folks able to get back to work

Palmetto Promise signed onto a letter to Capitol Hill calling on lawmakers to give COVID relief to private schools. Some of the requests in the letter include:  “Temporary education tax credit.” Families paying private school tuition for the 2019 and 2020 tax years should get a 50 percent tax credit on that tuition.  “Temporary charitable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COLUMBIA, SC (May 12, 2020) – Palmetto Promise Institute, an independent public policy research foundation, released a report today outlining 12 steps to jumpstart South Carolina’s economy. “These 12 common sense ideas are the spark our state’s economic engine needs,” Palmetto Promise CEO Ellen Weaver said in releasing the list. “Each one

Palmetto Promise Institute surveyed South Carolina’s independent schools to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them and how they have responded. You can view detailed survey results by clicking here. Here are a few of the survey’s findings: Participation Rate A total of 220 schools received the survey. 157 schools from every corner of

Palmetto Promise Institute joined the Mackinac Center along with several other State Policy Network partners calling on Congress to not bailout state or local governments for budget issues not associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read the letter below.  May 8, 2020 Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority leaders Schumer and McCarthy: The

Governor McMaster clearly wants the state back open for business. He also clearly wants no sudden spike in coronavirus that could overwhelm our hospitals and cost lives. While we can’t entirely eliminate this risk, we can work together to smartly manage it. This means moving quickly away from an ambiguous “essential v. non-essential” approach and

Palmetto Promise polled private schools on how their operations—instructional, financial, and otherwise—have been affected by COVID-19. We released the results, paired with projections about the range of potential impacts of declining private school enrollment and possible school closures on public school budgets in a first-of-its-kind SC-specific analysis.   This survey sparked a long-overdue public conversation

H.R. 6336, the “Increasing Hospital Capacity to Fight the Coronavirus Act of 2020,” introduced by Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), and others would ensure states are not penalized by Medicare or Medicaid for necessary capital expenditures that “violate” suspended Certificate Of Need (CON) laws. The CON issue, which is included in the