Our SC Legislators have outdone themselves.
S.318, now rebranded as the "Delivery of Government Efficiency Commission," is the latest entry in the long-running comedy series known as "How to Waste Taxpayer Money While Pretending to Save It."
The premise? Create a new government commission to tell the government where it's wasting taxpayer dollars.
Brilliant.
The Setup—More Government to Fix Government
The bill originally promised "fiscal restraint," but that must have sounded too serious. Now it's about "delivering efficiency."
Because nothing screams efficiency like a temporary commission packed with political appointees, spending an unknown amount of tax dollars to create reports that no one is required to act on.
Yes, SC lawmakers are forming another layer of government to do the job that legislative oversight committees and all legislators are already supposed to be doing—you know, the very committees created to review budgets, identify waste, and recommend cuts.
But instead of demanding results from the existing oversight process, we get a brand new government entity that will spend a few months telling politicians what they already know—that they are the problem.
And after that? Poof. It disappears.
The Conflict-of-Interest Clause is Pure Comedy Gold
To add a little flair, the revised bill introduces a conflict-of-interest clause.
It boldly declares that commission members cannot have a direct financial benefit from the results of their own recommendations.
Ah, yes. Because before this addition, we were all deeply worried that a government commission created by politicians, filled with political appointees, and staffed by government employees might be biased.
Now, we can all rest easy knowing that the fox overseeing the henhouse has been formally instructed not to eat the chickens.
How Much Are We Paying for This?
We looked.
We checked.
We even searched the dark corners of government transparency pages.
And yet, we cannot find a fiscal impact statement explaining how much this little project will cost the South Carolina taxpayer.
So, let’s make an educated guess.
This commission might need staff, which means salaries.
It might need offices, which means overhead.
It might need third-party consultants, which means even more government contracts for politically connected firms.
It might generate reports, which means endless bureaucratic hours wasted on writing, editing, and formatting pages of recommendations that lawmakers will glance at before shelving permanently.
And all of this... for a temporary commission that at a minimum spend, two years burning through taxpayer dollars, generating expensive paperwork, and ultimately vanishing into irrelevance.
When Useless Wasn’t Useless Enough
Just when we thought this bill had maxed out its inefficiency potential, lawmakers decided to make it worse.
First, they renamed it—because nothing solves government waste like rebranding.
Then, they added a requirement that commissioners can’t be current legislators, which is just formalizing what should have been obvious. Legislators shouldn’t be investigating themselves.
And finally, they slipped in a new power play:
Legislative committees can now request the commission chair to present specific findings at their meetings.
This means that instead of actually fixing anything, legislators now get more meetings.
Because when your job is to review government spending, and you don’t want to actually do it, the best thing to do is create another government body to review it for you—and then hold a meeting about their findings.
At this point, taxpayers have paid for a temporary bureaucratic talking club, and government will still be as inefficient as it was before.
The Perfect Government Illusion
This bill is political magic.
It gives lawmakers a headline… "We created a SC DOGE—South Carolina’s Department of Government Efficiency!"
It gives bureaucrats more meetings and reports, without requiring any real savings.
It gives consultants more contracts, meaning politically connected firms will make money off of the inefficiencies they’re supposed to be eliminating.
And it gives taxpayers absolutely nothing—except the bill.
If lawmakers were serious about fiscal restraint, they would:
Hold oversight committees accountable.
Demand budget cuts.
Enforce spending discipline through repeal laws instead of adding more and more and more.
S. 318 is about wasting time while pretending to cut waste.
And that’s why this bill is a bureaucratic masterpiece.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not constitute legal or professional advice. ConservaTruth assumes no liability for any actions taken based on this content. Read more.
Subscribe to ConservaTruth's Email Newsletter for curated insights on South Carolina's legislative activities and conservative viewpoints, delivered straight to your inbox! With vetted and easy-to-understand information, our newsletter empowers you to become an informed and engaged citizen, actively participating in safeguarding our cherished Constitutional values. Don’t miss out on crucial updates—join our community of informed conservatives today!
Comments