COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford will ask S.C. lawmakers next year to rewrite a seldom-used anti-drunken driving law that critics say is ineffective, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Will Folks, the governor's press secretary, spoke in response to an article in Sunday's Charlotte Observer reporting that police and prosecutors are reluctant to bring charges under the law that went into effect in 2001 and was amended last year. Although the law says it is illegal "per se" to drive with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or more, it then says a person is entitled to a jury trial at which they may present an array of defenses.

In the past 3 1/2 years, troopers have used the new law only 2 percent of the time in drunken driving arrests, the Observer reported Sunday, citing data from the S.C. Highway Patrol.

"He fully supports changing the law to make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute," Folks said. Sanford will absolutely include the request in his State of the State address to lawmakers, he said.

The governor called for tightening the law in his address this past January.

"I think a critical component of quality of life lies in not getting run over by a drunk driver on a South Carolina road," Sanford said in his speech. He said the law has "become a fertile ground for legal questions and a weak spot for the law enforcement community in attempts to arrest a drunk on the road."

The Observer reported that prosecutors, state troopers and local law enforcement officials are continuing to rely on an older driving under the influence statute that leaves it up to jurors to decide whether someone was too drunk to drive.

Meanwhile, South Carolina had the second-worst alcohol-related traffic death rate in the nation in 2002, nearly double the national average. Drinking was a factor in 52 percent of S.C. fatal wrecks that year, the latest for which figures are available.

Twice in the past four years the S.C. House has passed a pure per se law that allows no extenuating factors other than the accuracy of the blood alcohol test. Both times, the House-passed version has been substantially changed in the Senate.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said he wasn't surprised the law wasn't used much. "I am aware that there is a real dissatisfaction with the law by law enforcement," he said.