COLUMBIA -Horry County would get more influence in the state Senate under a reapportionment plan introduced Tuesday that offers the possibility of electing three resident senators.

"It's good for Horry," said state Sen. Luke Rankin, D-Myrtle Beach, whose district would be pushed westward into rural Horry County to allow for more Horry territory in the district currently held by Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Mount Pleasant.

The change would put 47 percent of Ravenel's district in Horry County, mainly the Surfside Beach-Garden City Beach-Socastee area, meaning that far less of the voting influence for the district would be in Charleston County.

The reapportionment has little effect on Georgetown County, which is still split almost in half by districts that do not have a majority of residents in the county.

Ravenel's district shrinks and becomes narrower in Georgetown County, while the district currently occupied by Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, is made larger in Georgetown County.

The portion of Horry County that is in McGill's district moves slightly but is still centered on Bucksport.

Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, would have a slightly smaller portion of Horry County to represent but would pick up a larger portion of Dillon and parts of Marlboro and Marion counties.

Senate district maps were imposed by a federal court last year after then-Gov. Jim Hodges vetoed the plan the Senate adopted. Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, announced after Mark Sanford defeated Hodges that he would redistrict the Senate because he did not think Sanford would veto the plan.

He said he wanted to repair split voting precincts and help a few senators get a district more conducive to their re-election.

Two weeks ago, McConnell said reapportionment was dead because there was not enough agreement on a plan. But more people got on board in recent days, so he brought the debate to the Senate floor Tuesday.

The push came because Thursday is the deadline for the House or Senate to get a bill to the other chamber for action this year. McConnell wants to get a redistricting bill passed to allow time for the U.S. Justice Department to review it for compliance with the Voting Rights Act and still leave time for candidates to campaign in their adjusted districts.

McConnell wants the new maps badly enough to spend the day on them instead of debating the budget, as was planned for Tuesday.

Despite a majority in favor, the debate sometimes got testy.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Hopkins, complained about spending $20,000 on consultants for redistricting when state employees are being laid off.

"The House ran under the court-drawn plan, and we can run under the court-drawn plan," Jackson said.

McConnell said he heard Jackson, who is black, was opposing reapportionment as a way to get more money for the state's black colleges. McConnell said he agreed with Jackson on the colleges and intended to do something about their funding.

"Excuse me if I fail to trust somebody who's been kicking my behind for the last two years," Jackson said.