Property tax relief, economic development and road funding will be the focus of the state legislature in the 2006 session beginning in January, House Speaker Bobby Harrell told Sea Island Rotary Club members Tuesday.

The new leader of the state House of Representatives also called for the widening of U.S. 17 and the development of a Jasper County port on the Savannah River, while laying out his priorities.

Rising property tax bills, especially on the coast, have driven legislators to hold community meetings during the break to vet a variety of proposed fixes.

The Charleston Republican said he expects the work to produce a property tax relief plan that can win approval next year.

A possible solution might be the redistribution of the tax burden from property taxes to other tax or revenue sources, Harrell said.

"It's not reducing the revenue but finding an alternative revenue stream," he said.

Last year, the state directed wayward gas tax revenues back to the highway department for road maintenance and construction. Although Harrell noted that more money is needed, possibly through reallocations from less pressing needs, an increase in the state's historically low gas tax isn't likely.

"With gas at more than $2.50 a gallon, I doubt seriously you're talking about a gas tax increase," he said.

Harrell laid out several economic development initiatives likely to be introduced next year, including increasing the staff at the Commerce Department to draw new industry and fostering businesses already in the state to give them reasons to stay.

County Councilman Dick Stewart said at the meeting that the South Carolina State Ports Authority is standing in the way of one of the state's most substantial economic development opportunities -- the construction of a $450 million deep-water shipping terminal.

The port is proposed by Jasper County and private developer SSA Marine, but the authority has sued to prevent the development while bringing forward its own plans.

Jasper officials have said they are concerned this new push is a hoax to stymie the port in difference to the successful Port of Charleston.

"We'd ask the legislature to take that bat out of the Ports Authority's hand," Stewart said.

Development of the Jasper port is of statewide importance and will be valuable considering Charleston's limited long-term growth potential, Harrell said.

"The Jasper County port has to be built," he said. "The rest of the business community needs that port built."

Traction on some issues might require two-thirds vote of the House and the Senate, making cooperation across party lines a must this year, Harrell said.

"As much as I love my fellow Republicans," he said, "we don't have enough votes to make some of this happen."