| Lawmaker promises productive session COLUMBIA - A lawmaker key to shaping how the South Carolina Senate does business said Thursday that its rules would change during this year's session, which starts Tuesday. "The Senate the last couple years has not tended to the people's business," said Sen. Larry Martin, a Republican from Pickens County who is chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. He was referring to how important bills became log-jammed in the Senate when members filibustered on its closing days at the end of the past two sessions. "The rules in the Senate will be changed this year," he said at a meeting with members of the media to discuss budget and judiciary issues. "I don't think there's any doubt about it." The forecast is welcome news to Gov. Mark Sanford, who has failed to push most of his top priorities through the Senate, including plans to lower the income tax from 7 percent to 4.75 percent in six years and restructuring state government. Both initiatives are included in the executive budget that Mr. Sanford unveiled Wednesday, but powerful lawmakers key to putting the state's budget together offered differing opinions on the proposals. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Darlington and Florence counties, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the state needed a tax plan that "balanced" where South Carolina gathered revenue. But, he said, the issue needs more discussion. Mr. Leatherman's counterpart in the House, Rep. Bobby Harrell, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said the plan likely would pass the House, which it did last year. The Ways and Means Committee creates a draft budget and sends it to the Senate for review. Mr. Harrell also said he would support a referendum that asked voters if they wanted the governor's office to appoint some constitutional officers rather than elect them. The governor contends that government would run more efficiently if officers such as the superintendent of education were included in his Cabinet. The lawmakers would not discuss Mr. Sanford's budget in detail. It is 346 pages long, and they said they hadn't had time to closely examine it. Mr. Harrell, however, said he didn't think the governor's plan to make cuts to higher education in order to fund K-12 education would make it through the Legislature. "I'll be surprised if we cut higher education," he said. "We like to say K-16 instead of K-12."
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
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