SC lawmakers float more than $25k pay raise for themselves. Here’s why

South Carolina lawmakers are trying to more than double their own pay this year after a raise inserted in the budget last year was stripped by the state Supreme Court.

“We’re not trying to get rich down here, but we’re trying to be compensated and at least somewhat break even in our expenses,” said state Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg, during a hearing for the proposal.

Currently, members of the General Assembly make $10,400 annually and $1,000 monthly for in-district expenses. Under a bill proposed by Martin, those categories would be combined and total compensation for South Carolina lawmakers would be $47,500 annually.

Pay could also increase every two years after House elections. Raises would be based on the consumer price index, but it could not exceed 5%, under the proposal.

The $47,500 would cover lawmakers’ compensation and any in-district services, so the bill would give House and Senate members a $25,100 raise.

Lawmakers tried to raise their monthly in-district pay from $1,000 to $2,5000 in this fiscal year’s budget, but state Sen. Wes Climer, R-York, and a retired Rock Hill educator sued over the increases, arguing it was illegal for lawmakers to raise their own pay in the middle of their term. The state Supreme Court struck the pay hike.

The Supreme Court’s ruling also eliminated all in-district compensation because of how the one-year budget provision was written. This year, state lawmakers restored their monthly $1,000 compensation for this fiscal year.

The $25,100 raise bill passed a preliminary panel of Senate lawmakers Tuesday 3-2. Climer and state Sen. Rex Rice, R-Pickens, voted against the pay hike. It next goes to the full Senate Finance committee

Before the vote, the panel agreed to tweak how retirement benefits would be calculated under the new pay to avoid “holes.”

Martin argued raising lawmaker pay would allow the General Assembly to be fair, since their compensation hasn’t risen with inflation. Martin and state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews, D-Colleton, also said the low pay stymied who could serve in the General Assembly.

“You’re setting it up for a system where only certain people will be able to remain here,” Matthews said. “But we need all areas of our society to legislate.”

Typically, only individuals who can support themselves outside their work in the General Assembly, which meets three days a week for several months of the year, can serve, Martin said

“That’s why I said you got to be rich, retired or retained to be down here,” Martin told reporters after the vote.

But Climer, who opposes a pay hike, argued shifting when lawmakers met, to weekends spread throughout the year, would allow more people to participate. Better timing for working people would be a more powerful incentive than pay, he argued.

Climer is running for Congress to replace U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, who has released an ad in his campaign for governor taking lawmakers to task for raising their own pay.