Government De-Structuring?

Yesterday the Senate passed what many are calling the most significant restructuring plan this state has seen in decades. By a vote of 44-0, the South Carolina Senate passed H.3066 – a bill creating a Department of Administration and dissolving the anomaly that was the state Budget and Control Board.  Unfortunately – and despite all [...]

Government restructuring – Reform or status quo?

  South Carolina elected officials claim to be restructuring government, but is anything changing?  Are we moving toward real separation of powers, or is the status quo being preserved?  Below are the major problems with the current plan, and the solutions that would finally make South Carolina’s government fully accountable to the citizens. Bonding authority Problem:  [...]

Getting restructuring right – or wrong?

  The state Senate is currently debating what could turn out to be the most important piece of government restructuring legislation to come along in a quarter-century. Among other things, the bill would create a Department of Administration, putting some executive functions where they belong (under the governor), and eliminate the Budget and Control Board. [...]

Creating a Department of Administration – An Update

A new amendment to the Department of Administration bill has hit the Senate floor. Although it’s a moving target, here’s an overview of what the bill would do with state government’s most basic functions. Download as pdf by clicking here. Eliminated: Budget & Control Board, State Financial Affairs Authority The Senate’s first shot at eliminating the [...]

Restructuring Done Right: Separate and Diffuse Power, Concentrate Accountability

The Senate is currently considering legislation (H 3066) that would eliminate the Budget & Control Board (BCB), devolving the BCB’s responsibilities to a cabinet-level Department of Administration and a newly created entity called the State Financial Affairs Authority (SFAA). The Budget & Control Board would also continue to manage the state retirement system until July 1, 2013, at which time the BCB would be abolished and the retirement system would come under the purview of a new agency, the Public Employee Benefit Agency.

Stimulus Dollars Not Going to Teachers and Law Enforcement

Last session, legislative leaders argued South Carolina needed every dollar of the state’s $2.8 billion federal stimulus package to save jobs for teachers and law enforcement personnel. Faced with such dire needs, Gov. Mark Sanford’s suggestion to use $694 million in stimulus funds to pay down the state’s $8.2 billion debt sent legislators into a [...]

Fact Sheet: Restructuring Done Right: Separate and Diffuse Power, Concentrate Accountability

The Budget & Control Board is the only agency of its kind in the nation – a legislative/executive hybrid with vast powers and virtually no accountability. After 61 years, lawmakers are finally considering ways to eliminate it. Yet current plans don’t fully resolve the core problem – which is the concentration of power and the diffusing of accountability. Here are the kinds of reforms that would address that problem directly and decisively…

Senate Finance Committee Deletes Some of the House’s Best Budget Ideas

The Senate’s response to fiscal Sanity? Delete. The Senate is wrapping up their budget debates…So far it is $100 million more than the House version. Here’s a quick look at how the Senate Finance Committee has purged some of the House budget’s best ideas.

Games Legislators Play: Tricks, gimmicks, and fuzzy accounting in the 2011-2012 budget

Irresponsible government spending doesn’t always happen in the open. Sometimes it’s hidden by a smokescreen of complicated budgeting practices. Take this year’s Senate Finance Budget . . . .

Executive Branch Reforms for 2011

The concentration of power in South Carolina’s legislature is such that the executive branch is generally unable to institute major reforms without the cooperation of the Legislature, whether stemming from good will or public pressure. Still, the executive branch could implement several initiatives – especially as related to good budgeting practices, health care and job creation – that would, not only complement a reform agenda in the Legislature, but make South Carolina more free and prosperous in concrete ways.