Gov. Mark Sanford will take up restructuring once again next session with a persuasive case for the consolidation of health and human service agencies. The plan would streamline services, make the agencies more accountable and cuts costs by millions to state taxpayers. How can the Legislature refuse?

The governor wants to merge the operations of seven existing agencies, each with its own administrative staff, into three Cabinet-level agencies to eliminate administrative duplication and serve clients more efficiently.

A similar plan was recommended by the state's Legislative Audit Council three years ago, noting that it would allow agencies to use the same computer system, and would eliminate the necessity of clients being shuffled from one agency to another.

The governor estimates his proposal will save taxpayers $13 million a year.

Gov. Sanford has made other recommendations to strengthen the Cabinet form of government, initiated by former Gov. Carroll Campbell. Those include shifting most of the responsibilities of the State Budget and Control Board to the executive branch. And he still hopes to get legislative approval for a referendum to make several state constitutional officers, including the state superintendent of education, appointive rather than elective.

Each proposal has strong merits, but each also has significant opposition in the Legislature.

In contrast, the proposal to overhaul health and human services already has been given an informal endorsement of the chairmen of the Legislature's budget committees, according to The Associated Press. It deserves the broad support of the General Assembly.

Consolidating agencies with similar missions is a winning idea; the only losers would be the bureaucrats who are performing duplicative work at the public's expense.