Sanford asks for help restructuring in speech

Thu, Jan 18, 2007

Associated Press

COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford asked for help from lawmakers to restructure state government in his first State of the State speech of his second term Wednesday night.

"We still have many miles to go in improving our state and the lives of people in our state," he told the General Assembly.

Sanford called for government streamlining, an income-tax cut, tougher DUI laws and for legislators to begin addressing a property insurance crisis along the state's coast.

The governor, who once brought squirming piglets into the State House to protest the budget, said it is "undeniable that I have had some made major differences" with the Republican-controlled General Assembly over the last four years.

But Sanford said his first term has taught him "in amazingly concrete terms that in South Carolina, the governor can propose but that it is up to the legislative branch to dispose."

The best ideas fall prey to "whoever can speak the loudest or the longest" and individual legislators will have to step forward "if we are to have real hope of bringing change to South Carolina," Sanford said.

"We believe the number one thing we could do this year to better our state government — and consequently people's lives in South Carolina — is to update and change our government structure," the governor said.

The 41 minutes speech broadcast statewide also hit on themes Sanford has emphasized his four previous State of the State speeches: controlling spending and making the state a better place to live and bring businesses.

Sanford was interrupted a couple of times for applause.

First was when he discussed tougher DUI laws. "Tragically, people are being robbed of their lives in South Carolina because of our relatively anemic DUI laws in this state," Sanford said.

A few minutes later, applause broke out again when Sanford called for legislators to work on consolidating school districts, limiting them to one a county.

The state's 85 school districts "in some instances, the throwback to the era of segregation," Sanford said.

The governor also asked the Legislature to begin to tackle the coastal insurance crunch with market-based efforts, including setting up catastrophe savings accounts and a catastrophe fund with money from businesses and people on the coast. He said people should get tax deductions when they make their property more hurricane resistant.