The governor gave few specifics on his agenda items, just listing the five areas he wants legislation to address. He said he would walk the public through each measure over the next few days at several press conferences scheduled around the state.

It is likely, however, that much of what he will say during that trek will ring familiar.

Reducing state income taxes, broadening school choice and restructuring state government -- all key items on Sanford's agenda last year -- again top his wish list. Each measure had vocal support from the Republican Party last session but managed to bog down and eventually die before making it to the governor's desk. This year Sanford added two new items to his agenda: tort reform and changing the rules of the S.C. Senate.

Last session, the notion of capping liability costs and reducing unwarranted lawsuits was championed by key members of the S.C. House of Representatives, but the measure failed to make it through the General Assembly.

Although he supported the idea, Sanford did not take the lead in fighting for it.

Sanford said Tuesday that such changes would benefit small businesses in particular.

"It's about staying competitive," Sanford said. "Other states have gone forward with it and we need to if we want to keep up."

Changing the Senate's rules is also a major issue for Sanford. The governor blames the rules for stopping several key pieces of his agenda last session, including his tax plan and school choice bills.

"The graveyard for many of my ideas was on the Senate side," Sanford said. "We have a political situation in there that is very good at stopping things and not very good at moving ideas forward. That has to change."

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and Sen. John Coursen, R-Columbia, backed Sanford up Tuesday, advocating changes to the rules. Both men promised to help the governor in his fight.

"This is an opportunity for what I call positive advancement," McConnell said. "These rules were once based on courtesy; now they are based on opportunity."

McConnell, who is facing Democrat Justin Kahn in the November election, has taken the lead on changing the rules.

Last session, Sanford listed 16 legislative agenda items in his "Checklist for Change." The House passed 14 of them. The Senate passed three.

Reducing the state's income tax was Sanford's top priority. The proposal, which originally called for reducing the state's highest income tax bracket by .225 percentage points annually for the next 10 years, was greatly altered during its time in the Senate Finance Committee and eventually died on the Senate floor.

It is likely the governor's new tax proposal will be similar to last year's.

Restructuring state government, an uphill battle, was killed in the Senate Judiciary Committee last session, despite support from McConnell, the committee's chairman.

The restructuring bill, which was nearly 2,000 pages long and called for the end of elections for most constitutional officers, will be pared down, Sanford said.

The new bill will focus on restructuring health care agencies and administrative functions of the state Budget and Control Board along with reducing the number of elected constitutional officers.

"We will approach it one bite at a time," Sanford said.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said the agenda mirrors what Sanford and House leadership discussed this summer while developing next year's legislative strategy. Wilkins said he is "confident the House will once again support these important reforms."

He said the House Republican caucus will announce its own agenda in December.

House Minority Leader James Smith, D-Columbia, said Sanford will face opposition from many Democrats on several items, including his school choice plan, which would offer a tax break to parents who send their children to private schools or who home school them. Last year's version of the plan was "very shortsighted and undermines our public education system," Smith said.

Opponents say the proposal is a backdoor voucher system that would take money away from public schools.

Supporters say it allows parents to choose the education that best suits their child.

The governor will be in Spar-tanburg today to discuss details of the tort reform portion of his agenda.

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