COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Gov. Mark Sanford wants to scuttle the state's traditional pension plan for a new program as a way of curing problems in the South Carolina Retirement System.

Sanford is applying what he learned from years as one of the U.S. House's leading advocates for privatizing Social Security and studying pension systems in 50 countries.

A theme emerged as he studied those systems. Traditional retirement, or defined-benefit, plans are a "great system for the first generation," Sanford said.

"But the history of every defined benefit plan, not just in this country but frankly around the world, has been that they've run into problems down the line - not because there's a fault with the system, but because of the nature of politics," he said. "People want to add bells and whistles."

South Carolina's plan has that and more. It requires cost-of-living adjustments; allows retirees to return to jobs and draw pay and retirement checks; lets people retire with full benefits after 28 years. On top of that, a program intended to retain the state's best teachers has grown out of control, becoming a benefit for all workers.

In his state of the state speech last week, Sanford said legislators recklessly added benefits without enough regard for the financial impact.

Now the system is "a ticking time bomb for state retirees and if we stay on the present course, the cost-of-living adjustments that they've been counting on won't be there."

Part of Sanford's prescription "lies in moving new employees from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan," he said.

Defined contribution plans, including the 401(k), don't offer retirees guaranteed payouts. Employers and workers put money into investments and retirees get what's there at retirement or when they move to other jobs.

The programs have not been used much in government. Traditional plans cover about 90 percent of the nation's public employees, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.

Michigan is the only state that has closed its traditional pension plan to newcomers, said Keith Brainard, research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. Plans catering to segments of the public work force also have closed to new workers Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, he said.

When Michigan closed its traditional program to newcomers in 1997, it gave workers a chance to cash out of that plan and put their money into the defined contribution plan. But about 94 percent stayed put, Brainard's group said.

In the private sector, smaller companies are moving away from traditional pension plans as federal regulations have become increasingly demanding, Brainard said.

So far, Sanford's proposal has had a lukewarm reception among legislators.

"I'd be real hesitant," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said. Harrell, is one of the retirement system's five trustees.

"We are certainly are not in support of that," said Broadus Jamerson, director of the South Carolina State Employees Association.

The state already offers an optional defined contribution plan, Jamerson said.

That has created a problem, he said. Contributions to that system are siphoning money away from the traditional pension. "It is somewhat like depriving the body of nourishment and then turning around and complaining that the body is sluggish," Jamerson said.

If new employees weren't prevented from joining the traditional plan, the financial conditions of the current retirement system would get worse, Jamerson said.