Small Business Advocacy Blog

State agencies are not required to receive permission from elected state officials to pursue the development of goods and services that compete with the private sector. Consequently, businesses have no protection from unfair and unjustified competition from taxpayer supported public agencies and their related organizations. The most recent egregious example of this problem is the

MAP Commission Adopts Small Business Chamber’s Concerns and Recommendations On July 7 of this year, The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce went public with data it had obtained from the SC Comptroller General’s Office. Over 1.3 billion of the state’s procurement dollars (approximately 42%) were leaving the state to purchase goods and services every year. The Small Business

USC Hotel Battle Continues Important Vote September 8th The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to the University of South Carolina’s proposed on-campus hotel turned to the radio airwaves this week. The Greater Columbia Hotel/Motel Association paid for radio ads that will run on three Columbia talk-radio stations from September 2-8. Featured in the

State Spends $1.3 Billion with Out-Of-State Businesses South Carolina state agencies purchase over $1.3 billion a year in goods and services from out-of-state businesses according to information recently obtained by The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce. The Office of Comptroller General conducted the research to generate the data at the request 9000-member statewide advocacy

The South Carolina legislative session, which ended last week, was a success for The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce and its 9000 members. While not everything on our legislative agenda was achieved, there were some victories and progress. Tech Tuition At the top of the Small Business Chamber’s legislative agenda was renewing last year’s

In January, the Public Service Commission voted to increase the electric rate by 8% on small businesses served by SCE&G. The Small Business Chamber intervened in the process to fight the 14% rate hike sought by the Company on small businesses. The process opened our eyes to the cozy relationship between the PSC Commissioners/staff and

Senate Bill 106 would have forced employers to garnish the wages of their workers who have incurred commercial debt for their personal side businesses. The employer would then have to forward the money collected to the other business owed the debt. The Small Business Chamber believes that a small business should not be forced to become a

Process still biased toward big business   On January 14, 2003, the SC Public Service Commission voted 6 to 1 for an increase in electric rates for SCE&G customers that will cost small businesses 8% more starting in February.  The company had requested a 14% rate increase on small businesses.  Other rate increases were 5% for

Three years ago this month with few resources, a handful of supporters and lofty goals, The SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce was founded.  Through dogged determination and hard work, the Small Business Chamber has grown to over 8500 members with the support of ten trade associations and hundreds of independent small businesses.  This dramatic increase in