COLUMBIA | Gov. Mark Sanford gets at least one thing that he wants out of the state budget he's reviewing: power to decide who stays in top state jobs.

Sanford entered office earlier this year complaining his Cabinet members didn't have the discretion to hire and fire people who would be responsible for carrying out their priorities.

Current law breaks state workers into two categories: political appointees who serve at the will of leaders who hire them and civil servants who are protected by the state's employee grievance laws from losing their jobs in most cases.

Sanford wanted state law permanently changed to allow his Cabinet members to treat top-tier state workers as at-will employees.

Although a permanent law change isn't reaching his desk this year, budget writers included a temporary law change in the state's $5.3 billion budget.

That provision affects people in the top job tiers for eight constitutional officers and Sanford's 13 Cabinet agencies. For Cabinet agencies, Sanford would then have control over an agency director and two levels of workers beneath the director.

"This gives constitutional officers and Cabinet directors much-needed flexibility," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. "You don't hire someone to do a job and not give them the flexibility they need in hiring," he said.

The prospect of less job security at the top worries the S.C. State Employees Association. The association accepts making agency directors and deputy directors political appointees, but "we are opposed to the third level," said Broadus Jamerson, the association's executive director.

The new rules could put workers in the position of being promoted into positions that ultimately could cost them their jobs. Folks says there is not intent to threaten employees.

It's unclear how many workers could be affected by the change. There are 19,789 employees who work for the 21 affected state agencies. The State Budget and Control Board is still calculating how many employees could be affected.