(Columbia) June 18, 2003 - Governor Mark Sanford, after examining the 2003 fiscal year spending plan submitted by lawmakers has proposed some changes. See Gov. Sanford's vetoes here>>

The governor on Wednesday released his vetoes of the $5.4 billion state budget that takes effect July 1st. Sanford had until June 30th to decide on vetoes. He made 22 vetoes, amounting to millions of dollars.

Sanford says his first state budget vetoes are meant to send a message to lawmakers. He wants them to tighten and restructure state government. Sanford says he vetoed items that lawmakers set aside to get funding only if the state's revenues exceeded estimates.

Sanford says such "wish list" funding is a bad way to budget money. House Speaker David Wilkins says lawmakers had to deal with the worse state budget year in half-a-century and had to use desperate measures. But overall, Wilkins says the minimal vetoes shows the governor was satisfied with the budget.

Among the governor's vetoes was $1200 set aside for the state poet laureate. The governor says that person has agreed to serve without an honorarium.

Sanford also vetoed over $300,000 for litter control, saying the Palmetto Pride program now gets over $2.5 million in court fines annually.

The governor also nixed $99,00 for the Commission on Women, which he says will be staffed by part-time support from his office.

And, $2 million the legislature took from trust funds or restricted accounts was also vetoed. The governor said the state should honor commitments to utilize trust funds and restricted accounts for their intended purposes.

The legislature won't be able to consider overriding any of the governor's vetoes until January, because it failed to pass a special session by the June 5th adjournment date. Sanford refused to call a special session, which would have cost an estimated $75,000 a day.

Reporting by David Stanton
Updated 5:35pm by Chris Rees with AP