Ports Authority Restructuring Plan Takes Another Step Through State Senate
Fast Movement Shows Senate’s Commitment to Port Stability
Columbia, SC – February 3, 2009 – A plan to bring significant reform to the State Ports Authority passed a key legislative committee today. S.351, the State Ports Authority Restructuring Act, moved through the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday, receiving a significant majority vote. The bill now heads to the full Senate.
Sponsored by Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, the plan ensures more accountability from the State Ports Authority (SPA), creates additional oversight and restructures the SPA’s governance, management, and planning structure. Senator Grooms says “the plan creates the level of stability that world-class businesses expect from a world-class port.”
“The South Carolina Senate realizes that we need to run the SPA more like a business with the strictest accountability, stability, and transparency,” Grooms said. “This restructuring bill ensures that we have a long-term strategic plan to create jobs for South Carolina.”
The restructuring plan:
• Demands stability and strong management.
• Emphasizes long-range and strategic planning, oversight, accountability, and transparency.
• Increases stability by ensuring that Board members can only be removed with just cause.
• Ensures that Board members have experience relevant to the Port’s mission. The plan sets all duties and qualifications for the Board members and the Executive Director.
• Creates an Advisory & Oversight Board to assist in developing a long-term policy for Port success. The Advisory & Oversight Board will carry out oversight duties and provide annual reports to the General Assembly.
• Requires the SPA to create a twenty-year strategic plan, which must be reviewed by the General Assembly.
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