SC Lawmakers Working To Overhaul State Government

In her Wednesday night State of the State address Gov. Nikki Haley once again called on lawmakers to put aside politics and pass a bill that would restructure the executive branch and create a Department of Administration.

Thursday, lawmakers from both parties agreed that the bill, now on the Senate floor, is the right way to streamline state government as they worked on divvying up responsibilities for a second day.

Several senators estimate the work will take a couple of weeks, but that “the devil is in the details.”

Those details include what to do with the responsibilities of the Budget and Control Board, which the bill dissolves, thanks to an almost unanimous amendment made before session adjourned last June.

Under current law the board is a hybrid of elected executive officials and lawmakers: the governor, treasurer, comptroller general, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

All administrative duties, like IT, building maintenance, car fleet upkeep and human resources would shift to the new Department of Administration, a cabinet agency with a director appointed by the governor.

Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, said centralizing executive powers and responsibilities with the governor and his or her appointees, could mean quicker solutions and less finger pointing if things go wrong.

“You’re putting the responsibility for the operations of many agencies in the governor’s office and then the buck stops there and that’s the key. When you have to buck stopping at multiple people it stops nowhere.”

But the most time consuming issue will be deciding who will take on the duty of overseeing the state retirement system. Debate centers on exactly who should sit on a new board of trustees, which will likely include financial experts as well as actual retirees and those who represent them like the State Employees Association.

“You definitely have more input because you’re going to have people that are from the system that will be part of the board of trustees, so you’ll have a voice right at the top,” Ryberg said.

He said giving the system a new governing body is the first step to righting the financially wayward system that has $13 billion in unfunded liability to the state’s retirees.

Part of the reason lawmakers wanted to get rid of the Budget and Control Board was that it has allowed state agencies to run similar deficits, digging the state further into debt.

Sen. Shane Martin was particularly bothered that the board, which he called a “five-headed monster,” allowed the Department of Health and Human Services to operate with $222 million of debt last year, mostly because of Medicaid payouts.

“The people send us here to represent them through the appropriations process and we didn’t get a chance to touch that money. That money was already spent. That was $222 million that we had that we could’ve used for something else. We could’ve funded prisons, or education or other core functions of government,” Martin said. “There’s not an appropriations process if all an agency has to do is go to the Budget Control Board and get their deficit forgiven.”

He said the same principle that governs households and businesses should apply to the state: spend only what you have.

Some think it should be up to the governor to decide agency budgets with some legislative oversight, like Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens.

“It’s a dual responsibility. I think you give the governor enough responsibility to order across the board reductions until the legislature is back in session and then the legislature aught to address it. But frankly, most operating deficits can be easily managed, usually it’s half a percent of total general funds,” Larry Martin said. “Language is being worked on to be sure deficits are brought to our attention early and there won’t be any surprises. It will be done in a way that we can react to it.”

But others, like Sen. Harvey Peeler, want language that deficits are not an option.

“This bill will not pass the Senate if it will allow agencies to run deficits. That’s a bill killer. The days of agencies running deficits are over.”

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, who ran against Haley for governor in 2010, is supporting the bill which is a central part of her administration’s goals, and even co-authored the part that did away with the Budget and Control Board. He said both sides of the aisle want to get the restructuring right the first time.

“What it should mean is having a government that we can be proud of in the future that works better. I tell people we need to improve the structure of state government if we’re going to be proud of our government and have a government that actually works and we then have to have leaders who do a good job. I’m hoping that when we put into place a modern system of government maybe we’ll be better leaders to run the state as well.”

There have been some hang ups with getting updated versions of the 100-page bill to lawmakers along with a large amendment that’s up for consideration that makes changes to nearly every part of the bill. Several lawmakers said they’ll be better prepared to debate a large change on Tuesday after reviewing over the weekend.