Caucus Press Release: House Republicans Begin Fight for DOT Reform
Feb 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
House Republicans
Begin Fight for DOT Reform
COLUMBIA -- Republicans on the House DOT Study Committee have written a sweeping bill that changes how the agency is governed and brings more accountability for spending taxpayer money.
"I must thank all of my fellow committee members for their hard work throughout the Christmas season and the first month of session," said Rep. Annette Young of Summerville, the committee's chairwoman. "We uncovered numerous problems with DOT and I hope the House and Senate quickly approve this significant legislation."
The legislation, being circulated to House members this week, makes four major proposals:
* Board. A new DOT board will consist of seven members, be required to have five years of experience in a related field, and must also live in the district they represent. A new Secretary of Transportation will be appointed by the governor. New board districts, modeled after the existing engineering districts, were created so counties are not split and the needs of the stateâs rural counties are better represented.
* Oversight. An internal auditor will report directly to the commission. The Legislative Audit Council will perform follow-up audits every three years.
* Project Rankings. The DOT will establish objective measures for ranking road projects to include: safety, economic development concerns, traffic volume, and pavement quality.
* Project Approval. The entire DOT board will must approve all contracts.
"Our restructuring plan has put key accountability components in place to ensure the department spends taxpayer dollars wisely," said Rep. Adam Taylor, the Caucus' Assistant Majority Leader. "This bill is vital in our continuing efforts to make government act responsibly."
South Carolina learned last fall that the DOT wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and consciously misled the General Assembly in order to receive more money. Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell immediately appointed a committee to reform the agency. The committee included Republican Reps. Jay Lucas of Hartsville, Phil Owens of Easley, Ted Pitts of Lexington, and Brian White of Anderson, as well as Reps. Young and Taylor.
A comprehensive funding package for repairing our roads will follow, once the reform package is approved, Young said.
"Our members have been working tirelessly over the past several months to help fix a broken system," said Speaker Harrell. "It is important we bring accountability into the reforms we make to DOT, and that is exactly what this committee has done. I applaud them on their work."
For More Information:
Jason Zacher
(864) 787-6608
-30-
Click for a PDF copy of this press release.
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