It appears that our superhero legislators have reached a “tentative” agreement on the much-debated but much-needed DOT reform. The State’s S.C. Politics Today reports that, “House and Senate negotiators have agreed to a framework to reform the state’s Transportation Department, but the plan falls short of initial goals to make sweeping changes at the agency.”

This teaches us a valuable lesson: Never underestimate the power of the “good old boy” system in guarding corruption.

The compromise still needs to be approved by the full House and Senate. It would allow the governor to appoint the agency’s director. In addition, the Transportation Department would be required to rank and choose projects based on objective criteria such as traffic, accident rates, cost and other factors. The agency has been criticized for letting politics factor too heavily in prioritizing road needs.

But the bill makes few changes to the seven-member commission that sets policy and oversees the agency, with the only new requirement that commissioners meet professional qualifications.

The agreement came at the end of a long day of back and forth between House and Senate negotiators. In the end, both sides agreed it was better to drop some items from the bill so that the General Assembly could vote for some reform of the agency.

“We’ve improved the process,” said Senate President Pro Tem-pore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. “We’ve got three days left to get this done.”

Lawmakers return to Colum-bia for an extended three-day session this week, hoping to seal deals on Transportation Depart-ment reform, income tax cuts and approve the state budget. [S.C. Politics Today]