SC Senate begins debate on bill to split up health agency

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)– The South Carolina Senate is moving forward with a proposal to split up the state’s health and environmental affairs agency. Lawmakers indicated Wednesday that they still have some details left to hammer out. The proposal would break up the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control into two new agencies. One would handle the state’s public health, mental health and substance abuse services. The other would tackle tasks such as environmental permitting and water resources management. Sen. Harvey Peeler and other state officials have pushed to restructure the 4,000-employee department for years, saying it’s too powerful and unwieldy.