A special House committee that's been working for months on a plan to overhaul the state Department of Transportation is almost ready with its plan. Rep. Annette Young, chair of the House DOT Study Committee, says the bill should be ready this week.

The state Senate is working on its own plan. Both started after a Legislative Audit Council report said the DOT has wasted millions of taxpayers' dollars.

Gov. Mark Sanford says restructuring the DOT is his top priority for this legislative session. He and lawmakers say the way the agency is set up means there's no accountability.

Right now, an executive director runs the agency. The director is hired by the Transportation Commission. Those commissioners are chosen by state lawmakers, one from each Congressional district.

"There is no accountability at this time," says Rep. Young.
The plan her House committee is working on would create a new position of Secretary of Transportation, who would run the agency and chair the commission. The governor would appoint the secretary, with approval by state lawmakers.

There would be more commissioners, and instead of representing Congressional districts that are sometimes spread out across the state, they would represent DOT service districts.

One of the main parts of the plan is a requirement that the DOT rank all projects and put them on a public priority list.

Rep. Brian White, R-Anderson, a member of the DOT Study Committee says, "Hopefully, just having the compact districts and the General Assembly having a little more oversight of the priority of projects, we'll have a little bit more say so. 'Well, no, my folks don't need that project.' Just simply because the commission wanted it doesn't mean that's what's warranted and needed in that area."

The House plan also would provide more oversight because internal audits would go to the entire commission instead of just the executive director as they do now. And there would be a regular, independent audit by an outside firm every few years.

Rep. Young says the bill would mean a lot to the people of South Carolina. "It will mean more accountability and it'll mean their tax dollars are going to be spent for the right projects instead of the way they've done in the past," she says, saying "good-'ol-boy politics" used to determine which roads got paved.