When Governor Mark Sanford disappeared to Argentina to see his mistress, some may say he left the state in danger of disarray without anyone in charge. A Full House Judiciary Committee voted to censure the governor for this, but he still faces 37 ethics violation charges in January.
Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell says he has a pre-filed bill, Senate Bill 901, that makes sure the actions that Governor Sanford took when he left the state without power in June doesn’t happen again with future governors.
“And that has to do with making sure we don’t have a repeat of what we had occur last summer, and that is where the governor becomes incommunicado, SLED doesn’t know where he is, he hadn’t informed the lieutenant governor,” says McConnell.
McConnell explains what the bill does: “Provide an orderly process by which if the governor is incommunicado, they can’t get a hold of him, then the lieutenant governor can act instead. If he’s out of the country and an emergency is declared, then he can act instead. And the safe guard is, in each particular instance the would have to, SLED would have to certify they don’t know where he is and they haven’t been able to get a hold of him for a few hours,” says McConnell.
The senator says the bill would bring clarity.
“What it would do is simply clarify it so we don’t sit here in the event if we were to have an emergency if something come up and not have somebody to make a decision,” says McConnell.
The legislative session begins in January when lawmakers will discuss the bill.
