GoUpstate.com This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.goupstate.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.


Back
Article published Jul 16, 2003
Law will make department more accountable to the people

Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill into law Monday that will enforce necessary changes on the S.C. Department of Commerce.
No longer will the department make secret deals with companies, spending taxpayers' money and then refusing to ever tell those taxpayers what they have spent.
The department now will be required to release the details of economic development agreements once the deal to locate a new business is completed.
Actually, many of the changes the bill requires have already been made. They were made voluntarily by Sanford and Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith when they took office earlier this year.
But the reforms need to be encoded in state law, so the General Assembly passed the bill, and Sanford signed it into law.
The law should serve to maintain a better sense of responsibility within the Commerce Department. In the past, the department has been accused of wasting money.
A Legislative Audit Council report last year showed that Commerce Department officials spent money with little thought to the taxpayers from whom that money had been taken. The department spent money on an expensive video conferencing system that was seldom used and was later removed. Commerce officials spent lavishly, up to $1,883 for a single chair. They spent thousands on parties, jewelry and maid service for employees.
Former Gov. Jim Hodges responded to the report with new policies for the department. But policies are more readily broken than state law. The new law will enforce more accountability.
All of the expenses of the Commerce Department must now be reported to the governor and legislative leaders.
And agreements with industries will be made public along with a financial analysis of what the state will get in return for what it is paying.
In the past, the department kept such agreements secret. The public never knew just how much the state paid to lure businesses to the state. We never knew exactly what concessions, tax breaks and subsidies were made.
Forcing the reporting and analysis of these agreements and department spending will force Commerce officials to act responsibly and to consider the interests of the people of the state.