GREENVILLE, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford signed the Fiscal Discipline Act of 2004 into law Monday, accomplishing one of the items on his "Checklist for Change."

The governor said the bill is the first step in an ongoing fight to control state government spending.

"Clearly one of our top priorities as an administration has been to get state government thinking more like a business and budgeting more like a business - this bill takes us significant steps in that direction," Sanford said.

The act authorizes using $50 million from the General Reserve Fund to partially offset the state's $155 million deficit. This accompanies the $89 million already appropriated by the General Assembly in this year's budget to pay down the debt.

The act also provides that the remaining $16 million of the deficit will be paid in full out of the Capital Reserve Fund in the next fiscal year.