Lawmaker who writes SC budget calls for more transparency in shadowy spending
A lead writer of the state budget said on Monday that he fully supports shedding light on a years-old process that has allowed lawmakers to spend thousands, in some cases millions, of tax dollars through vague budget earmarks on projects back home.
Going further, S.C. House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith told reporters at the Columbia Rotary Club that he supports stronger oversight, including from state agencies, to ensure the money lawmakers request gets spent appropriately and isn’t wasted or abused.
“Anything that makes the budget process more transparent should be supported,” said the Sumter Republican.
Detailed in a recent investigation by The State newspaper, the current practice of spending tax dollars through vague grant programs will be scrutinized when legislators return to Columbia next Tuesday for the last year of a two-year legislative session. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told The State recently that he plans to fast-track a bill through his Senate Rules Committee that would require earmark spending to be disclosed publicly.
Smith didn’t outright endorse Massey’s plan, telling reporters he has not spoken to Massey since that report published on Sunday.
Massey’s proposal could find support, however, particularly in his chamber, after The State found that legislators crammed at least $20 million in pet projects in the state budget that took effect July 1. Those secret earmarks ultimately help leaders pass a budget once it gets to the floor for debate.
At least four senators have publicly pledged to support the measure since the news report.
“I would hope that everybody would see the wisdom in transparency,” Massey said.
Smith said he didn’t think there would be “much opposition” to making the budget spending practice more transparent.
However, he worried vital health care nonprofits, for instance, that get tax dollars through the earmarks could get caught up in a debate. Smith also defended sending money to local governments, more specifically counties in rural areas that do not have a tax base.
“Especially in health care, we work with nonprofits in order to provide health care to the citizens in this state,” Smith said. “I don’t want them to get caught up ... because these partnerships that we’ve built up over the last five, six, seven, eight years will fall victim to a much larger debate over ... transparency.”
Smith said he anticipates a long budget debate this year, as lawmakers write a budget that will include a new $815 million in annual dollars and another $1 billion specifically for one-time spending in a $10.2 billion spending plan that is the state’s largest in years.
“We have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure they’re (tax dollars) spent in an appropriate manner,” Smith said. “If state agencies weren’t doing that, then we’re going to make sure that’s done. There needs to be accountability because, again, this is not our dollars. This is taxpayer dollars and they ought to be spent (on) what they’re appropriated for.”
