The Budget and Control Board must go!

Friends of South Carolina,

I have not said much about the Department of Administration bill before today.  I had hoped it would silently die.

Why?

It doesn’t eliminate the Budget and Control Board!

It creates a new department without eliminating the one everyone thinks it will replace. One Senator calls the Budget and Control Board “The Five Headed Monster”.  It is past time for it to go!

Check out this article by Eric Ward at The Nerve.  It has a great analysis of the bill and the proposed new department.

In part, he says:

Two key points are in order here, based on the legislation:

Number one: Even if a Department of Administration comes to pass, it would not replace the state Budget and Control Board, as some proponents would like. Yes, the BCB would still exist.

Number two: A Department of Administration would create hundreds of thousands of dollars in new, annually recurring costs while generating an undetermined amount of yearly savings.

Yes, that means that such an agency could end up consuming more tax dollars than it saves.”

If we are not able to eliminate the Budget and Control Board, what is the point of creating a new department and growing the size of government?

So what has changed to make me sing now, on the last day of the normal session for this year?

Senator Tom Davis has introduced an amendment, P4A, to the Department of Administration bill that would eliminate the Budget and Control Board!

Contact your Senator today and tell him to support Senator Davis’ amendment number P4A.

You can find who your Senator is and his contact information by clicking on this link.

Some call it a poison pill!  I call it a life saver!

Without this amendment, the Department of Administration is just another growth in government.

Today is the last day of session… so we need to be quick.

This amendment gets me excited about the Department of Administration bill.  If this amendment passes, then I’ll be supporting the Department of Administration with vigor!

The Senate will meet from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  Senator Davis has been working hard to gain support for this amendment, and reports that he is very close!

So, if you want to shrink the size of government please contact your Senator right now and tell him you support eliminating the Budget and Control Board with amendment number P4A by Senator Davis!

You can find who your Senator is and his contact information by clicking on this link.

Let’s don’t create a new department without eliminating an old one.

Eric Ward ends his analysis with these words:

Given the complex reshuffling in the legislation and its division of some BCB components, it is unclear whether the bill would foster greater efficiency in state government.

Moreover, it comes with a definitive, seven-figure projected price tag but no quantified, guaranteed savings.

“This thing’s going to cost us $2 million,” Sen. John Scott, D-Richland, said during the committee meeting, citing the fiscal impact statement.

But although the bill would not eliminate the Budget and Control Board, it could be a big step toward that end. And some lawmakers do want to go all the way and deep six the BCB.

“I have lost all confidence in the Budget and Control Board’s ability to govern anything,” Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said at the Judiciary hearing.

Massey was decrying a $225 million deficit the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services is running. He said the BCB failed to stave off the deficit and then authorized it.

The senator went on to say he favors dismantling the Budget and Control Board “and completely eliminating that body.”

Thanks for all you do!