REFORM was the word of the day for today’s show; state pensions, SC state legislators’ pension shenanigans and welfare in South Carolina got our attention in the need for reform.

In September, the Legislature found out that the state’s pension fund is in serious trouble.  The experts reported that there is a $17 billion gap in the pension fund.  A variety of factors combined to create this short fall from higher than prudent expectations of investment returns to retirees drawing pensions for more years  than factored because of longer life expectancies.  The Legislature has some hard decisions in front of them, decisions that will pinch the wallets of state employees and possibly the rest of us taxpayers.  Gov. Haley has made it clear that she does not believe that the tax payers should be on the hook to help make up the short fall, but if we want well qualified teachers, law enforcement personnel and the like, tax payers might need to kick in a little more.  The bottom line is that we need to urge our elected officials to act on the pension problem and not kick it down the road.

We couldn’t talk about the state’s pension fund without chastising our legislators who in 2002 passed a one sentence law doubling their take of tax payer money without actually raising their salaries.  The law allowed Senators and Representatives who had served 30 years to forgo their annual salary of $10,400 and begin receiving their pensions which ended up totaling more than double their salary.  USAToday broke this story last week in an article about this practice across the country.  Sen. David Thomas from Greenville got news coverage on this because he is drawing a pension of $32,390.00, meaning that since 2005 he’s made $148,435.00 than he would have with his salary.  He was not alone in this.  28 senators and representatives take advantage of this sweet deal.  While the salary of the our legislators is low, solving them issue should not require sneaking in the back door.  Urge your representatives in Columbia to repeal this law and vote on raising their salaries.

We were excited to report on reform coming to welfare in South Carolina, not at the hands of the Legislature, but by the actual agency tasked with administering welfare in our state.  The Director of the Department of Social Services has set a goal of reducing welfare rolls in SC 50% by next June.  She hopes to reach this goal not by simply turning people away, but by a concerted effort to help folks get a job.  She has identified specific actions that each case worker and each job developer will be doing to be more effective.  It is refreshing to see a government agency examine its performance and take concrete actions to improve it.  The efforts of this agency in concert with the Governor’s focus on improving training options will only improve South Carolina.

Jason and Eric are going to be locked-up for a good cause on Oct. 20th, to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  We started the show this morning by interviewing Jody Thompson, the executive director for the Greenville District.  She encouraged all our listeners to donate to this worthy cause and to bail Jason and I out too.  You will find a link on the top of the page that will direct you to where you can give donations.  Please take a minute and give a few dollars, the MDA does amazing things helping out those burdened with Muscular Dystrophy.