Stop raiding trust funds

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A weak economy and declining revenues are influencing state lawmakers to do things they shouldn't do. One of the worst things is the raiding of state trust funds, such as those devoted to cleaning up nuclear waste. More than 50 so-called restricted funds have been gutted in the past two years to the tune of more than $100 million.

These funds are set up for emergencies or to achieve specific long-term goals. The state is engaging in financially risky behavior.

Lawmakers have raided a number of environmental funds intended for the cleanup and recycling of oil, tires and hazardous waste. Money also has been taken from the Heritage Land Trust, intended to be used to buy historical sites and vital habitats.

Perhaps the worst-hit account has been the Barnwell Extended Care Fund, which is for monitoring and maintaining the low-level nuclear waste site near Aiken for the next century and a half. Last year, the Legislature sequestered $38.5 million from the Barnwell fund. This year, the state has used $48.7 million. Next year, the Legislature is likely to take several more million dollars from the fund. Environmental groups rightfully warned of serious environmental safety risks associated with taking the money.

The state uses the trust-fund money to balance its books, but the money is borrowed and will have to be repaid. It's a covert method of engaging in imprudent deficit spending. The state, in effect, is going deeper into debt while seeming to balance its budget. The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported that the House budget recently approved will use $43 million in interest earned from various restricted trust fund accounts.

A whole host of other small and large trust funds were raided last year. In order to take money from the special-purpose funds, the Legislature had to change the law, lifting restrictions. The Insurance Reserve Fund Trust was gutted by $23 million. A Workers' Comp Trust Fund lost $1.8 million. A Patients Compensation Fund was cut by $1.5 million. The South Carolina Housing Trust Fund was cut by $892,569. A National Guard Pensions fund was raided to the tune of $771,748. The list goes on and on.

It's a disturbing pattern on the part of the Legislature: pilfering special funds to make up for its imprudent budgeting practices, particularly its politically popular but reckless tax relief during the 1990s.

Lawmakers are taking money that was not intended to be used for the state's general operating expenses. By gutting trust funds, lawmakers are plunging the state deeper into debt, setting themselves up for trouble when the fund money might be needed and eroding the integrity of the budgeting process.