The Hilton Head Island Republican told about 25 people at the Hilton Head Island First Monday Republican Lunch Group that he thought this year's attempt at tort reform failed because it tried to address too many problems at once.
The general issues that need to be addressed are caps on medical malpractice and punitive damages, limiting a person's liability so that it is in proportion to his or her responsibility for whatever happened to trigger a lawsuit and restricting where someone can sue.
As for tax reform, Richardson said, Gov. Mark Sanford hopes to lower income taxes from 7 percent to 5 percent and Republicans have set the stage to do that when the state's economy turns around.
Richardson said he supported eliminating income taxes for people over 65. That would increase revenue because the state would attract more retirees, who, in turn, would pay state sales tax on what they buy here.
He also said he wanted to see the legislature increase the state's gasoline tax from 16 cents to 24 cents a gallon. The current gasoline tax was put in place in 1987, he said, with no provision for it to increase with inflation.
With the tax increase the state could sell $2.5 billion in bonds for roads, he said.
"That would solve huge amounts of problems in South Carolina," he said.
Richardson complained that although Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the governor's office, the three have had "trouble reading off the same sheet of music."
If it comes to an "all out battle," he said, "all the bodies on the field are going to be ours and the Democrats are going to sit back and laugh, and it's going to hurt us."
One thing that could help stave off that possibility is reform of some of the Senate's rules that allow legislators in the minority to scuttle legislation, he said.
For example, the rules allow one senator to hold up a bill indefinitely, he said. A better option might be to allow that person to hold up a bill for a few days only. Another possible reform would be to change the rules governing filibusters to make them more difficult for the minority to sustain.
Richardson also said he thought a number of state offices that are now elected positions should be appointed positions, including the Secretary of Education. That would allow governors to pursue their own educational policies.