Gov. Mark Sanford approached the state budget differently from any previous governor, and, not surprisingly, ended up with a budget proposal much different, too. The plan he released Thursday afternoon makes up for a $350 million shortfall with no tax increases, but lots of changes to state government.

Governors always propose an executive budget. But most of the time, lawmakers pay little attention to them. They've often been vague on details, and lawmakers have considered them "dead on arrival" at the legislature.

Gov. Jim Hodges' final budget proposal was roundly criticized as being out-of-balance and useless, because it relied on raiding trust funds and saving money from unspecified "efficiencies." Lawmakers paid no attention to it when writing their budget.

But Gov. Sanford started holding budget hearings last summer with every state agency, making each justify its programs and spending. He also appointed a commission to find ways to make government work better.

He and his staff then combined what they learned from the hearings and the Management, Accountability and Performance commission into a budget proposal that's more than 300 pages long.

Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, who chairs the House Ways and Means committee that writes the state budget, says he's very pleased with the way the governor handled the budget. He said that, in his ten years in office, "I've never seen a budget come over from the governor's office you could run government with if you adopted it in total." This one is detailed enough to do that, he says.

House Speaker David Wilkins said, "For the first time in several years, we have a realistic Executive Budget that the General Assembly can truly incorporate in writing the state budget."

But the proposal is as radical as it is detailed. Gov. Sanford is proposing restructuring many state agencies, merging some with others. The final result would be a total of 72 state agencies instead of 87.

He says, "Structure of government is incredibly important. It takes one trip to the DMV office to get a real sense of how important structure is."

For example, he would combine eight health care and human services agencies into three new ones: the Department of Health Oversight and Finance; the Department of Health Services; and the Department of Human Services.

The current Department of Health and Environmental Control would be split, with the health services going to the new Department of Health Services. The environmental protection part of DHEC would go to a new Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which would also combine the Department of Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission.

The Department of Corrections would be merged with the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services into a new Department of Corrections and Probation.

The governor says his restructuring would save $26 million.

He wants to spend an additional $29.7 million on K-12 education. Most of that, $20.4 million, would come from the state lottery and go to raise the base student cost, the amount the state spends per pupil.

He says his staff attorney says that's fine, but there's bound to be debate about whether that's legal. The lottery law says that lottery funds can be used only to supplement education spending, not replace existing resources. It could be argued that, since the base student cost has gone down over the last few years, using lottery money to bring it back up would be replacing money.

The governor is also proposing that the Adjutant General, Commissioner of Agriculture, Comptroller General, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Education and State Treasurer become positions appointed by future governors, not elected by the people. The state Attorney General would continue to be elected.

The governor's proposal goes to the state legislature, which goes into session January 13th. Over the months of the session, the House will write the first draft of the state budget, debate it, then send it to the Senate.