(A) In any fiscal year, the ratio of the number of permanent state positions to the total annually up-dated resident population of the State may not exceed that ratio of permanent state positions as existed in fiscal year 1980-81 compared to the total resident population of the State as determined by the 1980 decennial census. The number of permanent state positions shall be based on full-time annual equivalency funded in whole or in part by appropriations of the General Assembly as defined by the South Carolina Classification and Compensation System or its successor.

(B) To insure compliance with subsection (A) of this section, the Executive Budget Office shall annually and prior to December first determine the total number of permanent state positions based on full-time annual equivalency and the total resident population of the State for which data are available.

(C) The Governor may not present to the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives and the committee may not introduce any appropriation bill which provides for an increase in state employment in excess of the ratio prescribed in subsection (A) of this section. The committee may alter the specific positions created or eliminated so long as the total employment remains within the prescribed limitation.

(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (A) of this section, the General Assembly may declare an emergency and suspend the employment limitation for any one fiscal year for a specific number by a special vote as provided in this subsection by enactment of legislation which relates only to that matter. The authorized state employment for the fiscal year following the suspension must be determined as if the suspension had not occurred and, for purposes of determining subsequent limits, must be presumed to have been the maximum limit which could have been authorized if such limitation had not been suspended.

The special vote referred to in this subsection means an affirmative vote in each branch of the General Assembly by two-thirds of the members present and voting, but not less than three-fifths of the total membership in each branch.

(E) When an appropriation bill is under consideration by the House of Representatives or the Senate, the presiding officer of either House of the General Assembly shall not allow to be introduced an amendment to the bill which increases the number of state employees unless there is attached to the amendment a certificate of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office that the increase in state employees is within the limitations prescribed.

HISTORY: 1984 Act No. 487, Section 3; 2005 Act No. 164, Section 10.

Code Commissioner's Note

At the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to the offices of the former State Budget and Control Board, Office of the Governor, or other agencies, were changed to reflect the transfer of them to the Department of Administration or other entities, pursuant to the directive of the South Carolina Restructuring Act, 2014 Act No. 121, Section 5(D)(1).