An Upstate lawmaker plans to introduce legislation in the next 30 days aimed at adding prosecutors and investigators to fight insurance fraud, a move that comes as Gov. Mark Sanford has proposed adding about $600,000 to the 2005-06 budget for the state's insurance fraud task force.

State Rep. Daniel L. Tripp, R-Greenville, said he also is exploring the idea of certifying private investigators who work for insurance companies. That way investigative reports produced by insurance companies could be sent directly to the attorney general's office for possible prosecution and eliminate the need for State Law Enforcement Division agents to do separate investigations of the same cases.

"I don't want to fund a bunch of prosecutors and then have the investigatory side be a bottleneck," Tripp said. "I don't want to push something through that looks good on the surface but may not be sufficient and effective."

Insurance fraud can range from something as simple as underreporting the number of miles you drive in your car to save a few bucks to more complex schemes such as intentionally misclassifying the type of work a business' employees do to avoid paying higher premiums required for more dangerous jobs.

Tripp's efforts, which follow failed attempts last year by the General Assembly to pass insurance fraud reform, come as the governor's proposed spending plan calls for increasing the budget for the state's fraud task force from about $1.3 million to $1.9 million. That money, officials said, is part of the governor's efforts to add $54 million to the state law enforcement budget so more than 400 lawenforcement personnel can be hired. The General Assembly must sign off on his plan.

"It is a lot like putting money into preventive health care," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said. "A dollar spent on prevention could save $100 on treatment down the road."

Industry experts and law enforcement officials point out that complaints of insurance fraud are rising, up 61 percent in South Carolina in the last five years.

In 2003, the last year data were available, 844 complaints of fraud were registered in the Palmetto State, totaling about $3.7 million in estimated losses to the industry.

Although the governor's proposed budget adds money for the fraud division, it comes at the expense of other money in the attorney general's budget, according to agency spokesman Trey Walker. Once the losses in other areas are factored into the budget, Walker said, the gain is closer to $330,000. That figure, he said, still is higher than the $250,000 requested to fund four more prosecutors to help with issues that include securities fraud, child exploitation and environmental crimes.

The attorney general's office still is hoping the solution to fighting insurance fraud will be legislated or paid for with outside funds, Walker said.

He said that has worked for other areas, including private parties raising money to fund the dogfighting task force and using private practice attorneys to help prosecute domestic abuse cases.

"There is not enough state funding to do what we need to do," Walker said. "We are leaving no stone unturned in trying to find novel and unique ways to add additional prosecutors and agents to the fight."