COLUMBIA, SC (WMBF) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has inked a bill Thursday aimed at addressing the near billion-dollar deficit of the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
A spiraling shortfall of the fund has recently led state leaders to ask for nearly $1 billion in borrowed funds from the federal government to cover the deficit.
The language of the bill will now allow the state to begin repaying its debts and making abuses of the Unemployment Insurance Fund more difficult of an act.
"For too long, the Employment Security Commission was a separate island of the government with little accountability, and that lack had real-world consequences," Sanford said in a prepared statement. "Although we addressed those structural problems earlier this year, we're still faced with the reality that South Carolina has had to borrow $1 billion."
In 2000, Sanford said the Trust Fund had a year-end positive balance of $800 million. In 2010, records reveal the state has had to borrow $890 million from Washington, representing a $1.7 billion negative swing under the Employment Security Commission.
The bill was moved through the General Assembly by Sen. Greg Ryberg and Rep. Kenny Bingham.
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