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SFAA director says treasurer's request to discuss bond approach was removed after members declined
Summary
Grant Gillespie, director of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, told the Senate subcommittee that a Treasurer’s Office request for an "update by disclosure counsel" was removed from the SFAA agenda after members said they were uncomfortable and lacked sufficient information.
Grant Gillespie, director of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority (SFAA), told the South Carolina Senate Finance Constitutional Subcommittee that the Treasurer’s Office requested an agenda item for the SFAA meeting on Feb. 4 to allow disclosure counsel to provide an update related to an ongoing SEC matter and bond issuance plans.
Gillespie said the Treasurer’s Office requested the item in January and that the placeholder on the SFAA agenda read "update by disclosure counsel." He said liaison review occurred and that some members questioned why the item would need to be in executive session. "It seemed that the majority of the board doesn't want this on the agenda," Gillespie said, and he notified members the agenda item would be taken off unless members objected. The item was removed.
Committee members pressed Gillespie about the reason for members' reluctance. Gillespie said members wanted more information about what they were being asked to hear and did not feel comfortable placing the item on the public agenda as described. Finance committee staff told the subcommittee that the Treasurer’s Office later submitted an agenda item with a description but that staff had not seen that version prior to the liaison review and that it may have been created afterward.
The discussion moved to whether a legal briefing by disclosure counsel would be appropriate for executive session under FOIA. Gillespie and the committee’s counsel explained that legal advice can be given in executive session and that doing so would be lawful in many circumstances, but multiple senators and staff said the standard for invoking executive session is high and requires sufficient information to justify closure. Quentin (finance staff) said staff had "almost no information to go on" when asked to advise whether executive session was warranted.
Senators asked whether the Treasurer was seeking to stop issuing long-term general obligation bonds in favor of bond anticipation notes. Gillespie said he did not have a definitive answer on whether the Treasurer currently could or could not issue GO bonds.
The committee did not take formal action on the matter during the hearing, but senators used the exchange to press for clearer agenda language and earlier sharing of details before liaison review. Several members said the Executive Session request and the subsequent removal of the item raised transparency concerns.
Ending: Senators said they will seek clearer disclosures on future agenda requests and expressed interest in further oversight of bond-issuance decisions.
