The state Senate passed the Fiscal Discipline Act, a bill that earmarks $50 million for the state's $155 million deficit and ensures that state surpluses through 2008-09 will go to the Capital Reserve Fund. The bill now goes to Sanford for his signature.

Senators also put the final nail in the coffin on Sanford's income tax reduction plan, sending the proposal back to committee.

Those two actions were relatively direct when compared to the shenanigans that took place with the governor's Teacher Protection Act, a bill that would allow teachers to bring felony charges against students who assault them.

Before the day ended, both the Senate and the House passed versions of the bill. The victory for Sanford, however, was tainted by the presence of bobtailed amendments.

Feeling the crunch of today's 5 p.m. deadline, lawmakers spent a hectic day pushing bills through. By day's end, more than 16 bills had crossed between the two chambers, most heavily laden with amendments.

That's typical for this time of year, as lawmakers search for vehicles to get their legislation out of one house and into the other. They hope their bill will ride the coattails of a popular bill straight to the governor's desk.

Often, it can kill the entire piece of legislation.

Early Wednesday, House members passed the governor's Teacher Protection Act after attaching three amendments: the controversial gay marriage ban, new regulations for probate judges and a proposal to make it illegal for state agencies to hire contract lobbyists. All three proposals had passed the House this session, but they fell off the radar in the Senate.

House rules for bobtailing, which are more forgiving than the Senate's, allow bills from the same committee to be tacked on. All three proposals had passed through the House Judiciary Committee.

Senators got wind of the additions and were not pleased. On Wednesday, when informed of the governor's bob-tailed bill, Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, grimaced and pointed to the in-box on the Senate clerk's desk.

"We are measuring our box in feet now, not inches," he said, pointing to the stack of bills at least 12 inches high. "There is not enough time to get to everything. And there have been so many things attached to so many bills, we are not likely to pass anything else for the rest of the year."

Bobtailing, the practice of loading bills with loosely connected pieces of legislation, has caused controversy all session, The governor spotlighted the issue when he vetoed the Life Sciences Act, which carried more than 20 amendments, connected by the vague theme of economic development.

Just before adjourning Wednesday, senators approved another version of Sanford's teacher-protection proposal, this time attaching it as an amendment to a proposal to qualify members of the Coast Guard for in-state tuition.

This move, which essentially bypassed the bill sent over by the House earlier in the day, was accomplished by changing the language of the Coast Guard bill. The new version stipulated that anyone convicted of violating the Teacher Protection Act would not qualify for in-state tuition.

"We still have a good chance of getting Teacher Protection passed," said Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, one of the senators responsible for the move.

That bill is now in the House and should be addressed today.

Sanford's spokesman, Will Folks, said the governor would have to wait and see what happens to the Teacher Protection Act before deciding how he will react to it.

"The governor has a duty to uphold the constitution as it relates to the need for amendments to be connected by a single subject," he said.

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