Gov. Sanford Calls on Senate to Act on Restructuring

Press Release

Gov. Sanford Calls on Senate to Act on Restructuring

GOVERNOR THANKS HOUSE FOR MOVING ON ISSUE, ASKS SENATE TO MOVE FORWARD

Governor Mark Sanford today called on the S.C. Senate to act quickly on the issue of Constitutional officer restructuring, and thanked the House for passing the measure last week.

Last week the S.C. House passed a measure that would allow South Carolina voters to decide for themselves whether to continue electing the Superintendent of Education and the Secretary of State or to have future governors appoint those positions. As well, the House measure would allow voters to decide whether future Lieutenant Governors would be separately elected, or run on the same ticket as future governors.

The House vote came after a Pew Institute study gave South Carolina a B- in the overall effectiveness of our government, citing lack of executive control as one of the primary factors in the grade.

"First off, I'd give real credit to the House - particularly Speaker Harrell, Chairman Harrison, and Majority Leader Merrill - for the incredibly hard work they put in to move this issue forward," Gov. Sanford said. "We'd ask the Senate to move quickly on this as well, because at the end of the day, it's about a very simple concept - whether we give power to the people of South Carolina to decide on the structure of their government. While there have certainly been some supporters of this idea in the Senate, in the past what we've unfortunately seen in that body is a minority of Senators working to protect an antiquated, inefficient and unaccountable government structure. I'd ask the Senate to do as the House did, and show some faith in the voters of South Carolina by giving them a chance to decide this issue for themselves."

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