Jim Davenport, a former reporter who covered South Carolina politics for more than a decade and achieved a reputation as one of the top investigators in Statehouse press corps, has died. He was 54.

Davenport spent 13 years with the Associated Press and was often the first to expose controversial decisions by state officials. The AP first reported his death Monday, saying the reporter had battled cancer for two years. He stopped regular work in March once the disease returned.

It was Davenport who first reported that then-Gov. Mark Sanford had been missing for a few days in the summer of 2009. Sanford eventually admitted he had traveled to Argentina to meet his mistress. Davenport then reported that Sanford had improperly used taxpayer funds to upgrade his plane tickets and misused the state plane for personal travel. Sanford ended up paying the largest ethics penalty in South Carolina history.

Davenport graduated from the University of South Carolina and worked various odd jobs outside of journalism for years. He eventually worked at The State newspaper in Columbia before switching to the Associated Press. His earliest years at the AP involved reporting on the Confederate flag’s removal from the Statehouse dome and South Carolina’s new ban on video poker.

He was honored with a resolution passed in March by the South Carolina Senate. The House followed six weeks later. In October, Governor Nikki Haley awarded Davenport the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor.

Davenport is survived by his wife and daughter.

At the end of the last state legislative session, Pickens Senator Larry Martin tried to get lawmakers to fix a problematic election paperwork filing law, one that ended up disqualifying more than 200 candidates from the party primaries.

Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens)

Martin, whose last-minute efforts were blocked by procedural measures, now wants to fix the confusing law once and for all.

AUDIO : Martin says his bill provides permanent fix (:28)

When he tried to push the bill through last time, some senators blocked it, saying many people had followed the law’s instructions and filed correctly, thus all must follow the same rule.

AUDIO: This time around, Martin expects no problems in passing the measure (:42)

Martin says he is talking to House members who are offering a similar bill. His bill does not  deal with the other hot-button issues for the coming session: elections and ethics.

AUDIO: Martin says he plans to keep the new law simple (:19)

Lawmakers return to Columbia for committee meetings this week.