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FRIDAY'S EDITORIAL

Governor may get some ‘real reform'

THE ISSUE: Governor's State of the State address

OUR OPINION: Sanford will need compromise to achieve 'real reform'

Gov. Mark Sanford called Wednesday night for "real reform" in South Carolina, a consistent message from a reform-minded governor.

As much as change does not come easy — and certainly not in government — it appears the governor may achieve some success this legislative year on long-standing goals in education and legal reform.

He won't get a full plate, though.

First, there is education. Sanford proposes a tax credit for parents who send their children to private schools. He's not likely to get it, given even the focus of Republican legislators.

What he is more likely to get is a change in the state's charter schools law.

Before the governor spoke on Wednesday, the House gave its approval to creation of a new statewide school district that would oversee charter schools. The Governor's Office would control the new district.

Republican argument for the change from local oversight of charter schools centers around the tax dollars following the child in whatever school, an approach similar to Sanford's.

Democrats counter that school-choice options, including charter schools, simply serve to undermine public education and take money away from the state system.

On the legal system, the governor continues to insist that tort reform is needed to foster business growth in the state and protect physicians from lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Tort reform is not a new issue — and is one that Senate leader Glenn McConnell has said he is determined to see through the upper chamber, where measures have stalled in recent years.

It appears that some measure of change will come, most likely in the arenas of venue and punitive damages.

South Carolina law allows attorneys to relocate civil cases with relative ease. The celebrated example is Hampton County, recently ranked by one tort-reform advocate as a "judicial hell hole." Cases are tried there because juries have been sympathetic to defendants in their verdicts and awards. Limits on jury shopping are likely.

Putting a cap on punitive damages in civil cases is more a matter of deciding the level of the ceiling than whether to have one.

In the Senate, where the test will come, Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, said it's important to help the medical profession with the way lawsuits are brought, "but yet not trample on the rights of victims."

Democrats are already countering that South Carolina continues to attract physicians, not lose them, citing statistics compiled by the Budget and Control Board.

"South Carolina ranks 34th in medical malpractice rates and doctors are coming to South Carolina, not leaving. It's insensitive and disrespectful to rush ‘tort reform' legislation through the Senate while victims of the Graniteville train disaster are still trying to piece their lives back together," Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin, looking to score his own political points, said after Sanford's speech.

Add tax reform to the list of Sanford's priorities and the battle lines are drawn. The governor wants to undo the state income tax, while so many lawmakers of both parties are more focused on property taxes and the sales tax on food.

Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Harry Ott of Calhoun County told The Associated Press: "I was disappointed he spent no time whatsoever talking about property tax relief. Folks back home are demanding that we acknowledge that we need some property tax relief."

For the majority, the powerful speaker of the House, Rep. David Wilkins, said much of Sanford's agenda mirrors that of Republicans in the Legislature. If relations remain cordial and the governor shows more of a willingness to compromise, he may get a measure of that "real reform."