COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday he will work to pass legislation on income tax relief, government restructuring, school choice for parents and tort reform during the next legislative session.

Many of the items are carry-overs from last year. Sanford listed 16 legislative items as priorities last session. Of those, the House passed 14. Three of those made it through the Senate.

He laid blame for the inability to get much of his agenda approved on rules that allow one senator to block a bill. That's why Sanford said Tuesday his fifth priority next year will be to see that Senate rules are updated.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell said he was hopeful changes could be made.

"We have to make changes everywhere from how we handle business across the desk, to how we handle appointments, to how we handle conference reports," McConnell said. "Under our current rules, what was once based upon courtesy has now become opportunity."

Others agreed.

"The process in the Senate is antiquated. It's flawed, and it needs systemic changes," said Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia.

Sanford said he may alter some of the proposed legislation to help it along.

The government restructuring bill - which last year was nearly 2,000 pages long and called for the end of elections for constitutional officers and the shifting or elimination of some state agencies - will be pared down, he said. The new bill will focus on restructuring health care agencies and administrative functions of the state Budget and Control Board and would reduce the number of elected constitutional officers.

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 faces 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. The plan is "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.

Tristen Sharpe is a former Batesburg-Leesville teacher who now home schools her three children. "To be able to have the opportunity to meet my children's needs means a lot to me. There are probably a lot of other parents who would do that if they had the ability to afford that," she said.