COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford asked state agencies on Tuesday to save money by cutting travel expenses.

Sanford asked agency heads in his monthly Cabinet meeting to cut costs by sharing hotel rooms and following federal guidelines for how much to spend for lodging. He also wants the state Budget and Control Board and the General Assembly to adopt regulations placing a cap on room rates.

South Carolina spends $32 million a year on government travel, and $6 million of that is for hotel expenses, Sanford said.

"I think we can tighten up on the culture," said Sanford, who is known for his frugality - from his days of sleeping in his office while in Congress to the inaugural barbecue he hosted in January.

Sanford is leading by example.

On his trip to the annual Southern Gov.'s Association meeting in Charleston, W.Va., last month, Sanford said he bunked with press secretary Will Folks.

Sanford also will share rooms with Commerce Secretary Bob Faith and is flying coach on his economic development trip next week to China and Japan.

Sanford noted that Wal-Mart executives and military personnel have policies on sharing hotel rooms to cut costs.

"You're obviously not going to solve the state budget crisis simply by buddying-up or going to the federal lodging rate on hotels," he said. "What you are going to do, though, is change the default setting that currently exists in state government that essentially says, 'If it's not my money, I don't have to worry about it.' Given the budget crisis we're up against, that mind-set has to change."

The governor said he wouldn't make men and women share rooms and would be willing to allow exceptions for illness.

Some agency heads also asked that there be an "escape clause" that would allow employees to pay for their own room if they feel uncomfortable sharing.

Sanford also is reviewing travel records from various state agencies.

But officials at the state Education Department think that request and others by Republican leaders are politically motivated because Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum is seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings.

Along with the request from the governor's office for Education Department travel records, the agency is facing an audit at the request of House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville. The state Republican Party also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request last month seeking information including copies of Tenenbaum's schedule from 1999 to the present, travel records, credit card records and phone bills.

The department responded to the request by telling the party that it would have to pay before it researched documents and copied them. "The cost is so exorbitant we've had to refine our request to narrow the scope," Luke Byars, the state GOP's executive director, said. "We're anxious to find out more about these records."