COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford won his first political victory of the year Tuesday as the Senate approved rule changes that make it more likely his agenda will at least get voted on by lawmakers.

Last June, after watching a number of his priorities pass the House and languish in the Senate, Sanford called on senators to change their rules. Top Senate Republicans have worked on new rules since going home last June.

The biggest change is a rule allowing filibusters to be cut off with 26 votes or 60 percent of the present senators voting, down from a minimum 28 votes.

"I believe these rule changes advance our state's democratic process while preserving the deliberative tradition of the Senate," Sanford said.

The new rules are expected to force more issues to votes and make Senate committees refine legislation before sending bills to the floor.

"More of the business of the Senate will be done out on the floor in a competitive environment," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. "We'll get around the gridlock."

It's not just Sanford's projects that have gone nowhere. For the past two years, Republicans and Democrats have used Senate rules to block legislation to the point that sessions have ended in the midst of filibusters.

Changing the rules is easy on the first day of the two-year General Assembly because it requires only a simple majority vote instead of the two-third vote needed later on.

And the Republicans, with 26 of the chamber's 46 seats, had enough votes Tuesday to routinely defeat amendments offered by Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Columbia, and a handful of Democrats.

"This is allowing the majority to be the majority," said Senate Majority Leader Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

But Knotts said the changes will keep senators from serving voters by stalling bad legislation. And they have loopholes. "The rules that we passed can be circumvented," Knotts said.

The rules also take power away from Democratic leaders, who will no longer be able to appoint anyone to conference committees that work out difference between House and Senate versions of bills.

The new rules could trip up Republicans, said Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston. Last year, six of seven filibusters in the Senate were started by GOP lawmakers, Ford said.

"They just wanted to show that they are in charge," Ford said.