COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford's taking office last week has injected new life into a pair of bills that Rock Hill Sen. Wes Hayes has so far been unable to shepherd through the legislature, Hayes says.

One is a campaign finance reform measure that would require everyone who spends money to influence an election to report it. The other would end the state's use of minibottles for sales of liquor by the drink.

Currently, political parties can raise and spend money contributed directly to them, instead of to candidates, without having to disclose who gave it and where it went. Also, individuals can spend an unlimited amount of their own money -- as video poker tycoon Fred Collins did in the 1998 governor's race -- without having to say how much or what for.

Former Gov. Jim Hodges, whom Sanford ousted after one term, had previously vetoed a similar campaign finance bill that he said was unconstitutional. Sanford favors the measure and has said that campaign filings should be available instantly on the Internet.

Although the House and Senate each passed a version of campaign finance reform last year, last-minute wrangling prevented final passage. Hayes was one of the bill's principal authors.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, has said that campaign finance reform will be a top priority this year. He and other Republican legislative leaders predict that now that they control the Governor's Mansion as well as both legislative chambers of the General Assembly, the measure will pass in some form.

The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based advocacy group, released a report in September that said South Carolina's system of regulating and enforcing campaign finance laws is among the nation's worst.

The other measure Hayes is pushing would end South Carolina's 30-year affair with the minibottle, the little 1.7-ounce container that the state constitution says is the only legal way to sell mixed drinks.

While bar owners want to use big bottles to reduce costs, Hayes is pushing the bill as a public safety measure. He says the minibottle makes too strong a drink and contributes to drunken driving.