COLUMBIA, S.C. - With state budgets now running in the black, legislators next spring will be able to spend cash in a rainy day fund for the first time in four years.

The $99 million capital reserve fund serves as the state's first line of defense against budget shortfalls. If it's not needed, legislators can spend it on one-time expenses, such as building projects.

"It's wide open as to what the projects might be, what the requests might be and what the priorities might be," said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

Legislators and other leaders already have many ideas on how it should - or shouldn't - be spent. More are expected as soon as word spreads.

"As soon as this story hits the AP wire, I expect requests to increase exponentially," said House Ways and Means Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.

Some likely will take a dim view of spending the money on projects when the state has spent the last four years making ends meet through budget cuts and raids on trust funds.

The first formal proposal likely will come from Gov. Mark Sanford, who will release his spending plan before the Legislature returns in January. Gov.'s spokesman Will Folks hinted at the track Sanford might take.

For instance, the health plan covering state workers has no reserve and legislators have raided $187 million from trust funds to balance budgets.

All told, "we're looking at $428 million in past-due obligations," Folks said. "Are you going to be fiscally responsible toward getting your house in order or are you just going to go on another spending spree?"

Others want no part of Sanford's wet blanket.

"I don't know that that would be my priority," said Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Manning.

"The reason the General Assembly tapped those funds is because they were sitting there unused," he said. "Certainly it's a debt. ... But it's hard to say it's the same kind of debt when you borrow from a bank."

Land said it would be better to put the money to use, particularly with the state falling far behind in maintenance and building at public schools and colleges. "I would put it in our public school building funds and have it sent across the state," he said.

The state's aging fleet of school buses should be one priority, said Sen. Kay Patterson, D-Columbia. Old buses "jeopardize the safety of our children," Patterson said.

"I don't think $99 million will solve that problem," Land said. He and Harrell say it's past time for the state to develop a regular schedule for replacing old buses - and put the money for doing that into the regular budget.

Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, would like to see the money used for health care, even though the constraints on spending the reserve money on one-time expenses may make that tough.

Legislators have found ways around that in the past and need to this time, Miller said, even if it's a one-time program to help people with prescription expenses. "We have people out there whose life is dependent on medication and prescriptions," she said.

The highest priority should be finding a way to help state workers, Patterson said.

Legislators in June approved the first raise for state workers in three years, however they are paying more to maintain their health insurance.

"Figure out a way to get it to them, one way or another," Patterson said.