House acts on Policy Council’s SCDOT recommendations

Earlier this week, the House passed a bill reforming the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) with hopes of alleviating the systemic issues plaguing our broken roads system.

The bill, S.831, reached the House floor with language identical to the bill in a recent Policy Council report, H.5071, which made extensive changes to SCDOT by restructuring leadership and introducing public-private partnerships (P3s), while also increasing the accountability of County Transportation Committees (CTCs).

The version of S.831 that passed the House was amended to address a number of our recommendations and concerns:

SCPC recommendations adopted

• Designates the Secretary of Transportation as the sole leader of SCDOT, making the role a cabinet position nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
• Eliminates the SCDOT Commission and proposed Coordinating Council for Transportation and Mobility, cutting bureaucracy and simplifying accountability.
• Introduces P3s for new road projects to allow private companies to share the risks and upfront costs of infrastructure, speeding up construction times and reducing inflationary costs.
• Allows choice lanes like those seen in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to be added onto existing roadways.
• Removes the requirement for CTCs to spend a portion of their funds on state highways.
• CTC plans must include specific project selection criteria and must be updated every four years. CTC members must abide by the State Ethics Act and are required to live in the county they serve.

Welcome changes in the bill

• Allocates $15 million of existing SCDOT funds to a pothole mitigation program so the public can report potholes on the state highways via an app.
• Brings the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process to the state, shifting accountability to SCDOT and further simplifying accountability.
• Strengthens internal audits and requires an external audit every four years.

Recommendations going forward

While the amended bill includes many positive changes, it still lacks in key areas.

The bill fails to address the issues with the S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank (STIB), a separate agency from SCDOT that operates with limited oversight and struggles to allocate resources efficiently. STIB should be eliminated, and its financing functions should be given to SCDOT.

The bill also lacks gas tax rebates for drivers using choice lanes and toll roads, leading to effectively double taxation.

The amended bill eliminates the road buyback program meant for transferring road ownership to counties and municipalities that allowed local tax hikes without a referendum to cover increased road maintenance costs. Rather than abandoning the program, it should be reformed so counties and municipalities can only take control of secondary roads if they have the means to do so without raising local taxes.

The final version of S.831 should include some version of a road transfer program, but if the program is abandoned, then the funding allocated for the program in the state budget should be redirected towards tax relief.

S.831 now heads back to the Senate to choose whether to concur with House amendments or send the bill to conference committee.

This report may be republished in whole or in part, provided that proper credit is given to the author(s) and the South Carolina Policy Council.