South Carolina is a beautiful state populated by industrious people. But South Carolina trails the nation in per capita income and high-school graduation and leads the nation in violent crime, infant mortality and motor-vehicle deaths. These rankings are, in part, the result of problems within our state government.

S.C. government traditionally has had a strong legislative branch and a weak executive branch.

Our legislature has routinely created independent boards and commissions to administer portions of the government. The result is a fragmented assemblage of approximately 65 overlapping state agencies.

Over time, each independent agency has developed its own agenda and its own constituency. This has resulted in costly duplication of efforts and, at the same time, less than acceptable levels of service. Being independent, these agencies are not sufficiently accountable to citizens and taxpayers.

South Carolina elected Mark Sanford governor to change the attitude in Columbia.

Changing attitude is the first step toward changing results.

Sanford's desire for fundamental changes led to the formation of the [2003] Management, Accountability and Performance Commission. The commission's report identified specific changes to enhance accountability and performance of state government to better serve S.C. citizens.

In some areas, a change of attitude is beginning to be seen. Authorization for the sale of surplus Department of Mental Health property on Bull Street in Columbia and the sale of the money-losing State Ports Authority terminal in Beaufort are welcomed, long-overdue actions.

The most recent session of the General Assembly made progress by addressing the deficit inherited from prior years, providing funding for Medicaid from recurring sources and avoiding additional raids on trust funds. Unfortunately, legislators did not make significant progress on restructuring overlapping state agencies or prioritizing state spending.

Several bills to implement parts of the Management, Accountability and Performance Commission's recommendations were introduced in the most recent legislative session. But none passed.

Legislators received the dubious distinction of being awarded Citizens Against Government Waste's Porker of the Month award in June for overriding almost all of Sanford's 106 vetoes. The award specifically mentioned $500,000 of equipment for a Florence-Darlington Technical College building that has not been built or funded, $380,000 per year for stadium expansion to accommodate a Palmetto Bowl football game in Charleston and $250,000 for the Freedom Weekend Aloft balloon festival in Anderson.

Are we satisfied with the results produced by the status quo, or do we want a more efficient and more accountable state government?

The next session of the General Assembly can make government reform a reality. Bills already have been prepared to consolidate agency support services such as procurement, finance and personnel to improve efficiency and economy. By clustering similar agencies together within the executive branch, we can both reduce duplication of efforts and improve the quality of services. Bills also have been prepared to allow S.C. voters to decide whether the secretary of state, secretary of agriculture, adjutant general and other elective officers should remain independent of the executive branch.

Legislators should approve these bills in 2005.

Change South Carolina Now is a grass-roots citizen group that works for positive changes in S.C. government. To learn more about Change South Carolina Now and some of the things you can do to support change, go to http://www.changescnow.com/.