statehouse watch

Gov. Henry McMaster has rejected creation of a massive “data warehouse.” This Orwellian plan would contain sensitive information on South Carolinians.

McMaster also vetoed another plan to give $750,000 to two nonprofits favored by three House members. One sits on the board of trustees of one of the nonprofits.

In March, the SC Policy Council revealed the gift requests by House members for projects that didn’t originate with the state agency that would receive the tax dollars.

The Policy Council, a government watchdog, reported lawmakers wanted to create the “South Carolina Industry, Workforce and Education Data Warehouse.” It would link “person-level data” on children and adults from multiple state agencies.

The database would be modeled after the existing “South Carolina Health and Human Services Data Warehouse” which contains Medicaid patients’ private health records.

A privacy expert who reviewed the “data warehouse” plan was concerned about the lack of people’s privacy protection.

“State agencies would be required to turn over the personal information of South Carolina citizens for any reason or no reason at all,” McMaster said. “This provides no official oversight for the decisions made by the data warehouse committee, no requirement that citizens consent to their personal information being released and quite frankly no one to say ‘no’ or pull the plug.”

McMaster encouraged lawmakers to go back to the drawing board to ensure sufficient controls to protect citizens’ privacy.

He also turned down $250,000 for the Charleston Library Society’s Beaux Arts Building, and $500,000 for the South Carolina Children’s Theatre.

This would send taxpayers’ money to private nonprofits “perfectly capable of raising further dollars without taking them from taxpayers,” McMaster wrote.

“South Carolina has well-defined needs which should take precedence.”

McMaster issued 42 vetoes after lawmakers dragged their feet in passing the budget. This forced state agencies to continue operating under the 2017-18 budget.

It’s unclear when lawmakers will take up McMaster’s vetoes. They are expected to return to Columbia in September.

Brundrett is news editor of the SC Policy Council newsletter The Nerve. Contact him at 803-254-4411 or rick@thenerve.org