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by WILL FOLKS
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There are many underlying reasons for the perpetual failure of South Carolina’s broken state government: an antiquated constitution, self-dealing “leaders” with no moral compass and a galling lack of electoral competition, to name just a few. But the driving force behind the status quo – the crude oil fueling its inexorable expansion in the Palmetto State – is spending.
In other words, it’s lifeblood is your money… more often than not money that’s being used against you.
This media outlet has documented extensively over the years how “Republican” lawmakers join with Democrats to blow billions of dollars in new money each year – including surplus funds that should’ve been pumped back into the economy (i.e. back into your wallets, pocketbooks and small businesses). The result of this conscious decision by these so-called “conservatives” not to let you keep more of your money? Reckless spending growth… which dramatically outpaces population and inflation expansion in the Palmetto State each year.
But it’s more than just how much of your money is being wasted… it’s what lawmakers are wasting it on.
In addition to billions of dollars doled out in crony capitalist subsidies, South Carolina’s government infringes upon its private sector by running its own port, its own power company and its own hospital system. And if you decided to click on any of those three hyperlinks, you’ll have learned government is doing precisely none of those things well.
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Meanwhile, taxpayers are subsidizing the ongoing indoctrination of future generations via a sprawling, increasingly woke higher ed industrial complex – something FITSNews argued should have been privatized years ago.
Beyond all of that, though, is the enormous bureaucratic bloat, enabled by the reflexive re-upping of the same maze of broken, byzantine agencies – a splayed array of ineffectual, oft-obsolete fiefdoms replete with waste, duplication and corruption.
“Republicans” and Democrats in South Carolina mindlessly reauthorize these agencies each year – and just as mindlessly shovel increasing stacks of taxpayer cash into them. Not only are these fiefdoms effectively exempt from justifying their continued existence, their apparatchiks are rarely compelled to justify the automatic funding increases they receive.
Everything is rubber-stamped… one-way ratcheted.
Oh, and on top of all that inertial, institutional waste is the annual parade of political pork… which legislative leaders leverage to purchase the loyalty of their subordinates on the bigger spending items.
Add it all up and you have a government playing the game of subtraction… from your bank account.
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RELATED | S.C. NEEDS TRUE SEPARATION OF POWERS
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Again, there’s literally a ton of things lawmakers could be doing to eliminate the waste and duplication, to rein in the excessive and unnecessary, to modernize the antiquated and inefficient – and to overall get a handle on runaway spending and unchecked government growth in South Carolina. They’re doing absolutely none of those things, though. In fact, they are actively refusing to do the things they are supposed to be doing.
Late last month, one of South Carolina’s most important government watchdog organizations called out lawmakers for their failure on one of the most critical policy points. The legislature’s ongoing refusal to adhere to zero-based budgeting – or ZBB as the cool kids call it – was the focus of a piece from the S.C. Public Interest Foundation (SCPIF), a group founded by the late government gadfly, Ned Sloan.
“Zero-based budgeting was designed to prevent unchecked spending growth by requiring agencies to justify every dollar from scratch each year,” SCPIF’s treatise noted.
“Current unlawful budgeting methods assume prior spending levels are appropriate and only scrutinize increases,” the piece continued. “Zero-based budgeting requires agencies to build their budgets from scratch each cycle, defending every dollar requested. Zero-based budgeting is so important to fiscal accountability that South Carolina enshrined the practice into law.”
That’s a reference to S.C. Code of Laws (§ 2-7-65), which instructs governors to “require (agencies) to justify the entire amount of money they are requesting” prior to making executive spending recommendations to the S.C. General Assembly.
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“It is the intent of this section that each state agency, department or institution shall be required to justify its recurring expenses, as well as any new or additional expenses,” the law continues.
“For nearly 30 years, this law served South Carolinians well, promoting efficiency and protecting taxpayer dollars,” SCPIF noted. “However, since 2009 — amid the Great Recession — elected officials have ignored this mandate, reverting to incremental budgeting that justifies only new spending. This failure has allowed the state budget to balloon exponentially, eroding public trust and burdening future generations with unsustainable debt and taxes.”
The last governor to implement zero-based budgeting was Mark Sanford, who according to SCPIF “adhered to it and vetoed numerous spending items that did not comply.” As for current governor Henry McMaster, he “has been silent on ZBB since he took office in 2017.”
The group did credit McMaster, however, for issuing an executive order (.pdf) back in June which “required all state agencies to disclose all official and unofficial funding requests within 48 hours of the General Assembly ratifying the Annual Appropriations Act.”
“With the issue of earmarking now on the Governor’s radar, perhaps the issue of zero-based budgeting compliance will receive similar attention,” SCPIF speculated.
Rather than just criticizing the current system, SCPIF is offering a solution – notably new legislation which would impose consequences when agencies “don’t comply with the process.” Non-compliant agencies could “automatically lose the opportunity to increase their budget from the prior year, or lose a painful percentage of funding, or responsible agency employees (could) lose their jobs,” the group proposed.
Hopefully, such measures will be included in a 2026 “ZBB Enforcement Act,” which would not only impose strict ZBB protocols (and provide for the aforementioned punishments) but also establish a robust “oversight and reporting” mechanism to ensure sustained accountability. Of course, if the governor and state lawmakers are already refusing to follow one ZBB law… what’s to prevent them from refusing to follow another?
Luckily, one of SCPIF’s core functions is to haul government agencies into court when they fail to follow the law… which is why the group’s decision to draw a bead on this issue is worth watching on multiple fronts.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
One other issue, SC is, and always has been a “taker” state – meaning we receive more money from the federal gov that we contribute to the federal government. SC, and most other southern states, are the welfare queens of the union.
Zero Based Budgeting, if done correctly, could save this state potentially Billions of dollars. There is not the will in the General Assembly or the Governor’s Office to do a real ZBB in SC. This would uncover duplicative programs and repetitive funding of projects after they have been completed. All it takes is for the Chairmen of the Finance and Ways and Means Committees to direct it as the Appropriations Bill is compiled and moves along. There is a way, but there is not the backbone or the will to do so.