Gov. Mark Sanford took a giant black marker and checked off a list of his legislative priorities approved in the House and then pointed out the blank spaces remaining for the Senate.

At a State House news conference, the governor said the oversized “Checklist for Change” was necessary to emphasize his point that time is running out and the Senate needs to act quickly.

“We created what we call the checklist for change so that we stop, pause, look at where we are and look at the number of days that we have left and make sure that we’re on track to accomplishing things,” Sanford said.

The General Assembly meets for one more month.

“The House has accomplished, as you can see, a number of things that are on the checklist for change,” Sanford said of the 16 items on the list.

Among the 11 bills passed in the House were income tax relief, tort reform and charter school reform.

But the legislation has been “held hostage” in the Senate, which spent weeks debating a strong seat-belt law that ultimately failed to pass, Sanford said.

“It’s important to stop and realize, indeed, there are only 16 days left, and a lot of things have to happen in a relatively short period of time to move forward on the checklist for change,” Sanford said.

State Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, said it would be difficult to support Sanford’s agenda if he continues to hurt relationships with senators. “That’s what he did when he thanked the House,” Jackson said. “It’s very offensive.”

State Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said the Senate does not deserve the bad rap.

“The Senate moves slower than the House — and fortunately — because many of the bills that come over here are not perfect; they need work,” said McConnell, R-Charleston. “It takes us longer because we allow more debate.”

McConnell said the Senate should get credit for the effort it put into Sanford’s government restructuring proposal.

“We took the bull by the horns, devoted enormous amounts of energy to the restructuring effort; that was a 1,900-page bill,” said McConnell, the bill’s co-sponsor.

Only pieces of Sanford’s restructuring plan have a chance to become law this year after a Senate committee agreed to only shift or merge the responsibilities of some state agencies.

“I’ve not seen a major restructuring come out of the House,” McConnell said. “We can send some skinny bills out, too.”

State Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken, who supported Sanford’s restructuring plan, said the Senate would give the governor’s agenda a chance, but, “I’m not predicting any outcomes.”

McConnell said Sanford’s top priority, a plan to reduce the state’s income tax, has a chance to pass. A Senate committee approved a version of Sanford’s plan Thursday.

Sanford praised Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman’s leadership on the income tax plan.

“It goes and filters down to the plethora of small businesses in South Carolina and would very much go a long way to doing something about the jobs and economy problem that we do have in this state,” Sanford said.

House Democrats said Sanford’s checklist of priorities fails to address the needs of education, health care and the environment.

“This list, arriving days before the end of a two-year session, is more of a pathways to poverty than a meaningful vision for our state’s future,” said House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Richland.