COLUMBIA - After years of standing out as an ink-free oddity, South Carolina is about to fall into line with nearly every other state in the union.

Gov. Mark Sanford is poised to take the historic step of making tattoo parlors legal. Sanford has said he would sign the bill as long as it protects public safety.

If he approves the measure, Oklahoma will be the only state left that makes it illegal to get a tattoo.

Some lawmakers saw South Carolina's refusal to join other states in allowing tattooing as a proud testament to its legacy of prickly independence, from secession in 1860 to its present-day refusal to make motorcyclists wear helmets.

One opponent, Rep. John Graham Altman, compared pro-tattoo arguments to those used in legalizing abortion. "You pass this, and you will be unleashing a plague on our state," the Charleston Republican said.

The tattoo measure is a victory for Sen. William Mescher, the Berkeley County Republican who had fought for the change for most of his Senate career. He had introduced bills to legalize tattooing every year since 1994, only to see them blocked by opponents.

Mescher said the state's tattooing ban dates from a World War II-era scare over hepatitis, a blood-borne disease. But he said that because of the ban, young people were getting illegal tattoos under unsanitary conditions.

Most people interviewed in Myrtle Beach were in favor of lifting the ban.

"I'm all for it. People that want a tattoo have been going to North Carolina for a long time," said Adam McKee, 24, of Myrtle Beach. "It's the same thing as people going across the border to buy beer on Sundays before they changed that law. The revenues from that I'm sure are huge. This will be too."

The law will require tattoo artists to use disposable needles, complete courses in infection control and be Red Cross-certified to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation. People under 18 can't get tattoos, and those between 18 and 21 must have a parent's permission.

The House and Senate passed different versions of the tattoo measure earlier this year. Thursday, conferees from the two chambers agreed to keep the House's stricter age limits while accepting Senate language that lets local governments keep tattoo parlors away from churches and schools.

The full House and Senate then each passed the compromise bill.

But it appears that one piece of South Carolina won't be changed for at least another year: the requirement that bartenders pour drinks from minibottles, rather that from normal-size liquor bottles. Only South Carolina has such a law; efforts to repeal it are expected to fail.