Three years ago, then-freshman state Rep. Jim Merrill attempted to rid the Statehouse of contract lobbyists, the heavy guns that state agencies hire with taxpayer dollars to push for bigger budgets or changes in law.

Merrill wanted the practice outlawed, but his effort quickly died.

"The first time I introduced it, the lobbyists squashed me," said Merrill, a Daniel Island Republican. "I think they all looked at it and said 'This is nutty legislation, and we need to kill it.' "

But this week, after nearly five hours of debate, Merrill's bill overwhelmingly passed through the House of Representatives, a major accomplishment given the influence that the lobbying corps has held with lawmakers for decades. The measure now heads to the Senate.

If the bill becomes law, state agencies would be prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to hire outside lobbyists. It would cover all facets of government, from the highway department to all public colleges and universities.

Lobbying the Statehouse's 170 members wouldn't be totally outlawed. Agencies still could use a paid state employee to talk to lawmakers about legislation or budgets. Colleges also could use privately raised foundation money to hire a lobbyist. But no taxpayer money could be used to do it.

The effort passed the critical second-reading by an 81-23 margin.

Much of the reason for the bill advancing this year, Merrill said, is Gov. Mark Sanford's call in his January State of the State address for reigning in government use of lobbyists.

The governor's backing, Merrill said, "gave it legs."

How much the practice of hiring outside lobbyists costs taxpayers is difficult to establish. During his State of the State, Sanford cited an annual figure of $2 million.

The scope of lobbyists involvement in state government also is difficult to judge. At the start of the current session in January, about 350 lobbyists had registered with the state Ethics Commission. There may be more.

Only about 30 of them listed a government agency as their client. Colleges and universities had the most.

During debate on the bill, opponents said banning agency use of outside lobbyists would cut off a critical avenue of education and data, especially when legislation is moving fast and agency leaders can't be reached.

"I have no problem with an agency presenting information to me," Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said this week in explaining why he opposed it.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, who supported the bill, said one reason it may have passed this week after hanging around for years was because of the economic crunch that the state faces.

Sanford called Thursday's House vote "a huge step forward in what we've said all along is a critical process, making sure that our tax dollars aren't being spent in efforts to lobby the General Assembly for even more tax dollars."

Sanford, through an executive order, already banned his 13 Cabinet level agencies from hiring contract lobbyists during his term, calling the practice a wasteful conflict of interest. Merrill's bill covers the rest of state government. It does not address or curtail the use of lobbyists by the private sector.

Though the bill passed the House, it still must get through the state Senate. State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, was optimistic.

"The Senate was really waiting for a signal from the House," he said. "The stumbling block that I see really is the clock."

The session ends during the first week of June, and Grooms said the Senate's half of addressing the state budget and reapportionment matters could eat up much of the month of May.

Merrill said he doesn't want the issue to die on the vine. "This has been a three-year fight."

Schuyler Kropf covers state and local politics. Contact him at skropf@postandcourier.com or 937-5551.