COLUMBIA — When Republican leaders in the General Assembly first announced plans to pursue a state-level commission similar to billionaire Elon Musk’s federal Department of Government Efficiency, nobody seemed quite sure what it would do.
It would contain appointees from outside of government, House Speaker Murrell Smith told reporters. It would “eliminate, consolidate or otherwise restructure” state agencies and regulations. But when asked how it would differ from the state’s active House Government Efficiency and Legislative Oversight Committee, no one had many answers.
That committee, which serves many of the functions a proposed “DOGE” would, has kept working in the meantime.
The committee’s March 19 agenda was a packed one. Figures like Administrative Law Court Chief Judge Ralph K. Anderson III testified alongside Superintendent of Public Education Ellen Weaver. There were leaders for the state Conservation Bank and S.C. Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, who answered questions on how they handle criminal cases involving law enforcement and backlogs at their forensics labs.
Few offered much daylight for cuts.
J. Raleigh West III, of the Conservation Bank, highlighted the work his four-person staff had been doing on a limited budget to conserve virgin South Carolina landscapes. Employment and Workforce Director William Floyd focused on his office’s unemployment insurance fraud detection efforts. Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Commissioner Felicia Johnson said the agency has shed some 400 staffers over the past several years.
Asked about issues in his department, Anderson said he had few beyond some judges reluctant to transition to digital recordkeeping but that their largest issue was keeping salaries competitive enough to retain staff. Universally, all spoke of responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
Lately, though, the conversation in the Statehouse has been about restricting spending even further.
Since 2022, South Carolina’s general fund expenditures in the budget have increased nearly 24 percent — the second-highest such increase in the Southeastern U.S. according to an analysis by the National Association of State Budget Officers and outpacing both the state’s rate of population growth as well as inflation.
A budget proposal passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month goes even further, designing a spending plan the small government-favoring South Carolina Policy Council described as the “largest in state history.”
Some, citing efforts by Musk and President Donald Trump, have sought to rein in the growth. But it’s difficult.
A March 14 survey of South Carolina voters by Kansas City pollsters Co/efficient found nearly nearly two-thirds of state voters said they wanted to shrink the size and scope of government, but only 51 percent supported cutting agency budgets to do it.
In the lead-up to budget debates earlier this month, the leader of the hardline House Freedom Caucus — Goose Creek Republican Jordan Pace — presented tens of millions of dollars in amendments to slash spending for any agency he said did not support the “health, wealth and freedom of South Carolina.”
None passed.
It’s not necessarily that government keeps growing. South Carolina, as a whole, has only added 921 state employees total to its headcount since last April, according to state data, and this year’s budget is eight percent larger than last year’s. But people keep moving here and require more services.
The state’s largest spending areas are in health and education. And while state leaders have considered cutting spending in some areas — the ballooning cost of tuition mitigation for in-state colleges, for example, was one topic discussed March 19 — the conversation remains centered on covering the cost of a rapidly growing state.
But this also comes as lawmakers weigh how to increase the friendliness of what the Tax Foundation considers the 18th least competitive tax environment in the United States. As lawmakers raise spending, they are also considering how to cut taxes, which in turn finances the general fund.
Meanwhile, large line items continue to grow, presenting a tough compromise for those looking to cut the size of government. Due partially to population growth, the Department of Education’s $8 billion budget is projected to grow significantly over the next three years according to the state’s Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, far outpacing the comparatively meager cost of covering state employee salaries.
Only a small share of the state’s education funding, about 10 percent, comes from the federal government.
During her presentation to lawmakers, Weaver spoke not of ways to cut funds, but about the importance recent funding increases have had in boosting teacher retention and her own efforts to direct as much money to classrooms as possible.
“With all of those tax dollars comes a huge responsibility of stewardship for us,” Weaver told lawmakers.
