Leatherman Claims Haley Protecting B&CB

Friends of South Carolina,

Are you tired of no one taking responsibility for the huge unfunded liability of our state retirement system?

And how about our nearly bankrupt Department of Transportation?  Who is taking responsibility for that fiasco?

And wasn’t it just last year that Corrections, Social Services, and Health and Human Services all ran a deficit?  Who is responsible?

These all go back to the Budget and Control Board!

But who on the board is responsible?  None of the five members are held accountable.

If you want real responsibility and accountability, it is critical that you call your state Senator today!

You can find who your Senator is and get his contact information by following this link.

The Budget and Control Board is on its way to elimination, but Senator Hugh Leatherman is trying to bring it back!

Tell you Senator that you don’t want H3066 to revert to the committee report.

I’ll explain why.

South Carolina’s Budget and Control Board is unique in the nation.  No other state has anything like it.

It runs much of state government through:

• procurement;
• control of the retirement system;
• the authority to recognize deficit spending and to make budget adjustments mid-year;
• approving bonds for the state.

It is staffed by two members of the legislature and three members of the executive branch… specifically, the Governor, the Comptroller, the Treasurer, the Senate Finance Chairman, and the House Ways and Means Chairman.

It is largely unaccountable because of its make-up… how do you hold a five member board accountable, two of which aren’t even subject to state wide election.

Most folks recognize that it needs to be eliminated and its functions split between the legislative branch and the executive branch.

At the end of last session, your calls and e-mails helped amend H3066, the Department of Administration bill, in order to eliminate the Budget and Control Board.

Hugh Leatherman is stomping mad because of it.

He is trying to convince the Senate to bring it back!

He is telling the Senate that Governor Haley supports keeping the Budget and Control Board around!

I hope he is wrong, but Haley is not yet denying it.

I hope she steps up and reaffirms that she still favors complete elimination of the Budget and Control Board.

Please be patient as I explain more below.  The twists and turns of the state Senate defy short summarization!

But remember, what you need to do today is contact your Senator and tell him you don’t want them to return to the committee report on H3066.

You can find who your Senator is and get his contact information by following this link.

Initially, the committee report on H3066 created a Department of Administration without eliminating the Budget and Control Board.

Yes, you read that right; it created a new government agency without eliminating the one everyone thought it was going to replace.

A timely report from The Nerve alerted us to that problem.

We quickly put our support behind an amendment that had been crafted by Senators Massey and Sheheen, asking our Senators to amend H3066 with it.

Because of your extraordinary effort making phone calls and writing e-mails, the Senate amended H3066, so that when passed, we were told, it will eliminate the Budget and Control Board.

It was near the end of session last year and we were rushed.

And to be fair, the Massey-Sheheen amendment is a step in the right direction.

It does eliminate the Budget and Control Board, but it replaces it with a very similar agency called the State Financial Affairs Authority.

I call it Budget and Control Board Lite.

The State Financial Affairs Authority, like the Budget and Control Board, is governed by a board that consists of two legislators and the same three members of the executive branch.

Because of its hybrid make up, it will still be largely unaccountable to the people.

It, too, must be eliminated.

It will have the same accountability problems as the Budget and Control Board does today.

In order to function properly, with proper responsibility, and most importantly, proper accountability, all functions of the Budget and Control Board, and the Lite version, must be transferred to either the executive branch or the legislative branch.

That is what must be done!

We still have work to do to push this bill in the right direction, so that we restructure our state government correctly.

We don’t want any halfway measures!

But, right now, Senator Leatherman is working hard to go in the other direction!!!

He is pounding the podium in the Well of the Senate demanding that they revert back to the committee report!

That’s right!  He wants to wipe out the Massey-Sheheen amendment and revert back to the original committee report.

He wants to keep the Budget and Control Board.

He says he has Haley’s support!

So please, today, contact your State Senator, and tell him not to support Leatherman’s demand to bring back the Budget and Control Board.

Tell your Senator not to support Leatherman’s demand to revert to the committee report on H3066.

You can find who your Senator is and get his contact information by following this link.

And, you might want to put in a call to Haley’s office and ask her to repudiate Leatherman’s claim!

Ask her to reaffirm that she supports complete elimination of the Budget and Control Board, and even its Lite version, the State Financial Affairs Authority.

Her office phone is 803-734-2100.  The Governor’s website doesn’t show an e-mail address anymore, but I believe this one is still good NikkiHaley@gov.sc.gov.

Sincerely,

Talbert Black, Jr.

P.S.  State Senator Hugh Leatherman is trying to void an amendment that moved us in the right direction to eliminate the Budget and Control Board.  He says he has Haley’s support!  Unbelievable!

Please call your State Senator today and tell them not to support Leatherman’s demand to revert to the committee report on H3066.

You can find who your Senator is and get his contact information by following this link.

You might even want to call Haley’s office and ask her to publicly deny Leatherman’s claim to have her support, lest the other Senator’s believe him! 803-734-2100; NikkiHaley@gov.sc.gov