Employees in the top three levels of 21 state agencies could be fired at will under a new rule supported by Gov. Mark Sanford.

The rule is included as a temporary provision of the $5 billion state budget bill approved by the Legislature and awaiting Sanford's signature.

The governor is expected to issue budget vetoes next week, spokesman Will Folks said, but he will keep this provision.

The change would affect departments run by the eight constitutional officers and the 13 agencies in the governor's Cabinet.

Sanford could face questions about the change today, when he speaks to the annual meeting of the S.C. State Employees Association -- which doesn't like the new provision at all.

Sanford believes "government ought to run more like a business," Folks said. "You don't hire someone to do a job and not give them the flexibility they need in hiring."

Most state jobs fall into two categories:

- Political appointees serve "at will," meaning they can be fired at any time.

- Civil servants are protected by the state's grievance policy and can be removed only under certain conditions.

Sanford believes the policy limits his ability to build an administration. Agency heads he hires are often unable to bring in their own teams because top employees are often protected civil servants.

There are 19,789 employees who work for the 21 affected state agencies. The State Budget and Control Board, which handles personnel matters for state agencies, is still calculating how many employees could be affected by the new rules.

"This gives constitutional officers and Cabinet directors much-needed flexibility," Folks said.

But it's too far-reaching, said Broadus Jamerson, executive director of the S.C. State Employees Association. The association had no problem making agency directors and deputy directors political appointees, he said, but "we are opposed to the third level."

Under the rule, employees who report to the agency director "or report directly to a person who reports directly" to an agency head are "at will."

"When you get down to that level, you start deterring career employees from working themselves into good positions," Jamerson said.

The association believes state employees will not want to advance into the upper echelons of an agency for fear of losing their jobs. Some employees fear promotion could become a tool for eliminating their jobs. If a director doesn't like an employee, he can simply be promoted to the third-highest level and fired.

The provision is not meant to threaten employees, Folks said.

"The intent is to give agency directors long-overdue authority to make decisions regarding people who are going to be an integral part of their success," Folks said. "That's the bottom line. There is no ulterior motive."

The rule expires after one year, unless it is included in the budget again next year. Sanford supported making the change in permanent law, but a deal with lawmakers fell through in the final week of the session.

Attorney General Henry McMaster supports the change. New state leaders should be able to build their own teams, his spokesman said.

When McMaster took over for former Attorney General Charlie Condon, McMaster was surprised to learn that "virtually every employee in the attorney general's office was protected," said his spokesman, Trey Walker.

McMaster was lucky, Walker said, that he inherited a team he mostly respected. "But he was not able to bring in people wholesale, because a lot of folks were protected," Walker said.

McMaster has 127 employees, and Walker estimated that 25 could be affected.