Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Port Restructuring Bill
The State Senate today overwhelmingly passed legislation that restructures the State Ports Authority. Senate bill 351 sets new qualifications for SPA board members, ensures transparency in port actions, and provides new oversight of the State’s most important economic development and job-creating tool.
“We put our best foot forward for the people of South Carolina and the 250,000 residents who depend on our ports for their livelihood,” says the bill’s primary sponsor, Senator Larry Grooms (R-Bonneau). “The question before us was, ‘How do we compete in a 21st century market knowing we have a port model that’s broken, a model that’s lost some business, a model that port customers tell us may be headed in the wrong direction?’ The Senate today answered by saying, ‘We modernize, we update, we innovate. We compete with the best of the best and offer a quality service.’”
S.351 sets the qualifications and background that gubernatorial nominees for the SPA board should have before they may serve. Those with maritime, shipping, finance, business, law or management experience could serve on the nine-member board. The bill also:
· provides for a diversity of interests on the board;
· prohibits conflict of interest transactions;
· requires that compensation for the executive director and division directors are approved in a public vote; and
· ensures the SPA develops long-range development and financing plans.
“Change is coming,” says Senator Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston), one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “Let’s not look back at old political battles. Let’s be about the businesses of creating opportunity, hope, and quality of life. Our port has distinct advantages and unique features that make it attractive to customers across the globe. We’ve refocused the port and set it on a new course where professionalism is the rudder.”
“This is a win for the waterfront community, for the Lowcountry, for the Palmetto State,” adds Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston), another co-sponsor. “It builds on our earlier work with the people of our port-area communities who realize the SPA’s importance for everyone.”
The bill further sets a mission for the Ports Authority, and affirmative duties for the board and the executive director. It allows the governor to remove board members for cause, and sets their terms at five years. S.351 also calls for the SPA to move expeditiously to develop the SPA’s new container terminal in North Charleston, and to continue plans to develop a port in Jasper County.
The bill has the support of much of the state’s business community. It passed on a bipartisan 31-14 vote and now moves to the House.