House leaders plan to introduce sweeping legislation next week that would attempt to spark economic development by freeing the state's three research universities of many state regulations.

The yet-to-be-filed bill would also create a state agency, the South Carolina Research Oversight Council, to coordinate the activities of the University of South Carolina, Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The new agency would have the power to guide the missions of the universities and allocate bonds for construction projects.

If approved by the General Assembly, the measure would free the three schools from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the state agency that governs public colleges and universities.

"There's a lot of bipartisan support for this, and a lot of folks are signing off on it," said House Ways and Means Committee chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, the bill's chief sponsor.

Harrell and House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, will further outline details of the bill at a press conference with the presidents of the three universities Tuesday.

The effort comes after months of talks between lawmakers and school officials, who argue they need more flexibility than allowed under the current system if they're to function as economic engines for the state.

One of the bill's main components would be to loosen regulations that some say make it difficult for universities to partner with private businesses who want to use cutting-edge research for commercial products.

University officials say the research universities need to be released from regulations in contract negotiations and the purchase of goods and services that state agencies must follow.

"The key to industry clustering is strong, vibrant research institutions," said Jim Fields, executive director of the Palmetto Institute, a local think tank dedicated to economic development. "We're not giving (the universities) the resources and flexibility they need to make that happen."

Regulatory relief is especially significant for USC, which plans to build a 5-million-square-foot public-private research campus in Columbia.

Two planned research buildings, financed by private dollars, can't be built unless lawmakers pass the bill, USC president Andrew Sorensen said.

"The regulatory relief is the important part that we need now, and if we don't get that part of it, it will be a huge setback," he said.

What's not clear is whether the bill will pick up enough support to pass in a legislative season already bogged down in budget debates.

The legislation also could be expensive because, among other things, it proposes providing state health insurance for graduate students with assistantships.

Harrell said he doubts it would cost much, but said no analysis has been done yet.

Gov. Mark Sanford earlier said the idea of spinning off the research universities into a new agency was worth exploring, but stopped short of supporting the idea.

Some leaders at the state's other colleges and universities are already vehemently opposing the plan.

"There's a consensus outside the three research institutions that this is an inappropriate and self-serving way to move the agenda of higher education in the state," said Anthony DiGiorgio, president of Winthrop University and chairman of the state's Council of Presidents, of which USC's, Clemson's and MUSC's presidents are members.

DiGiorgio said that while he empathizes with the schools' desire for freedom, the entire higher education system should be realigned.

"If they drop out, it would in the long term not contribute to a solution, but it could contribute to the problem," he said.

If approved, South Carolina would become the only state in the nation to have a separate agency overseeing research universities, said Richard Novak, executive director of the Center for Public Higher Education Trusteeship and Governance.

Novak said one potential problem with the proposal is lack of public accountability because the new agency would be led largely by trustees from the three institutions.

"All coordinating agencies and governing boards need to streamline as much as possible and become more entrepreneurial," he said. "But at the same time, there is the public interest that needs to be watched out for."

The proposed Research Oversight Council would be made up of an executive director and a nine-member committee.

The committee would include an appointee from the governor, the Senate and the House, as well as six members of the school's boards of trustees.

The proposed legislation is just one of several proposals lawmakers are eyeing this year that would reshuffle the way the state's higher education system is coordinated.

Rep. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, is sponsoring a bill to form a more powerful governing board, while another one would spin off USC's two-year branch campuses and group them with the state's technical colleges.

Sanford's education task force recommended strengthening the Commission on Higher Education.

The commission itself recently announced it would finance a study by an outside group examining the best way to run higher education in South Carolina.