Following the money has gotten a little harder in South Carolina.
A state Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday scaled back a 27-year-old legal norm that any private entity receiving public money must disclose its organization’s records under the Freedom of Information Act.
In Domains versus Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, a 4-to-1 majority of the high court found that chambers and similar organizations that receive tax money to promote tourism need not open up their records to the public under FOIA requests.
At stake is accountability for tens of millions of dollars in publicly raised marketing dollars that flow through to private, non-profit organizations around the state annually. Read more…