State lawmakers who were looking for details from Gov. Mark Sanford in his first State of the State address may have gotten even more than they expected. His speech lasted about fifty minutes, which is longer than most previous governors' recent ones, and covered a wide range of issues.

And he did give some details, like wanting to improve the Division of Motor Vehicles by extending the renewal period on driver's licenses from five years to ten and allowing car dealers to issue tags. He also says he supports lowering the state's legal blood alcohol limit from .10 to .08, as well as confiscating the cars of drunken drivers.

But he did not get into specific details of how he would address the state's budget crisis. "That's what we'll be doing over the months ahead, sitting down with these guys and going into excruciating detail," he told News Channel 7.

He did answer the question of whether he would support a proposal to raise cigarette taxes, with the money going to the state's Medicaid budget. He said he's against tax increases, and would support a higher cigarette tax only if the increase were offset by a reduction in state income taxes.

The speech won praise from both houses of the legislature, and from both parties. Sen. John Land, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said, "Everything he said, I'm right in line with him and I can support him. Now the devil is in the details. We're going to have to see what the details are." House Speaker David Wilkins, a Greenville Republican, said the governor's proposals have a lot of support. "I think he'll get a good bit. I think, you know, you lay out your programs then you start to work and you get as much as you can."

Some of his proposals for schools should get strong support. Spartanburg Democrat Sen. Glenn Reese says, "Two things I liked, is the conduct grades in school, which we used to have years ago when I was in school, and smaller schools." Gov. Sanford said he would support putting a limit on the size of schools, saying today's larger schools mean students spend more time on buses and less with their families, and that remote "mega-schools" speed up developmental sprawl in our rural areas.

Gov. Sanford also called for restructuring state government, and giving more power to future governors. For example, the governor would appoint some state officers that are now elected by the people, like Education Superintendent. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, a Florence Republican, says, "Well, I don't think he'll get that entire program this year. With the budget crisis we have, I don't feel the mood of the General Assembly to tackle the entire program. Probably we'll look at parts of it, maybe enact parts of it."