Would you vote to quadruple SC lawmakers salaries?

A S.C. House member wants to quadruple state legislators’ pay in an effort, he says, to open up politics to ordinary citizens.

State Rep. John King, D-York, has prefiled legislation that would let voters decide whether to increase S.C. legislators' annual salaries to $42,830 from $10,400.

“You have to understand if we don’t increase the amount of money that legislators are paid, we won’t get the best and brightest minds in South Carolina because those people have to take care of their families,” said King, a funeral home director who has been in the House since 2009. “People won’t give up their jobs for $10,400 a year.

“The whole premise behind this is to open it up for all South Carolinians to feel like you can run and be elected.”

In addition to their $10,400-a-year salaries, S.C. legislators also get $12,000 for in-district expenses. They are reimbursed for mileage costs, and receive $140 a day for hotel accommodations and food costs while the Legislature is in session.

But King says S.C. legislators are paid part-time for round-the-clock work, adding their pay is well below regional and national averages. The $42,830 figure he proposed matches what Alabama legislators are paid.

Raising lawmakers’ pay also might discourage them getting into ethics trouble, King said. Suspended state Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley, this week was indicted and accused of using his public office to pocket at least $1.3 million.

“It will keep people honest,” said King. “Because so much is going on around the country when it comes to ethics, it will keep legislators honest.”

King’s proposal calls for a statewide referendum in 2018, allowing voters to decide on the pay increase.

“I don’t want us as legislators to arbitrarily come up with this,” King said. “This is not about John King. I’m thinking about people who would follow me, who would love to run for office.”

This is not King’s first pay-raise proposal. In 2012, the York County Democrat prefiled legislation that would have raised state lawmakers’ annual salaries to $50,000. That proposal went no where.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Would you vote to quadruple SC lawmakers salaries?."