South Carolina lawmakers lose raise and $1,000 a month in pay after court ruling

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled authorities lawmakers improperly gave themselves a $1,500 a period rise successful a ruling that besides volition extremity up cutting the wage of legislators by thousands of dollars.

The justices ruled unanimously Wednesday that the wealth that is called “in-district compensation” counts arsenic wage and truthful the summation can't commencement until General Assembly faces predetermination again astatine the extremity of 2026. The fund point earlier this twelvemonth made the rise immediate.

It besides tied the rise to the $1,000 that each 46 senators and 124 House members person for their expenses meaning until the General Assembly tin walk different proposal, their paychecks volition drop by $1,000 a month.

The suit was brought by a Republican legislator who voted against the connection on with 1 of his constituents.

During arguments earlier the authorities Supreme Court past month, attorneys for the House and Senate emphasized the rise was for expenses and not wage and was exempt from the waiting period.

The justices alternatively sided with Sen. Wes Climer's lawyer who argued lawmakers themselves called it compensation and since they aren’t required to supply immoderate receipts oregon documentation, it is salary.

In their opinion, the justices wrote they recognize the compensation hasn't been raised since 1994 and “the existent amounts appropriated for either are paltry successful examination to the time, energy, and effort it takes to service South Carolinians arsenic a authorities legislator.”

But they besides pointed retired until this twelvemonth the General Assembly scrupulously honored the law request that lawmakers' salaries not beryllium raised until the adjacent legislature is seated.

“Where a legislative enactment intelligibly contravenes our constitution, we person a work to state the legislative enactment unconstitutional,” the justices wrote.

The ruling means erstwhile the part-time lawmakers instrumentality to the South Carolina capitol successful January, they volition get a lump sum of $10,400 to relationship for their $260 a time compensation for each of 2026. The members besides tin get expenses for mileage to thrust to Columbia and a edifice room.

The determination to adjacent instrumentality distant the $1,000 a period they person been getting for deacdes took legislators by surprise. Some lawmakers said they person had to usage their own backstage salaries for municipality halls, instrumentality needed to assistance constituents oregon communal expenses to service the public.

During the arguments successful October, the justices laid retired ways lawmakers tin hole the problem.

They said legislators could person officially called the rise an disbursal money alternatively of compensation. They could person held disconnected paying the other wealth until 2027 aft the adjacent predetermination for each members of the General Assembly, oregon they could person separated the rise successful the fund from the wealth lawmakers already get paid truthful it each wouldn’t person gone away, the justices said.

The in-district compensation rise was archetypal suggested toward the extremity of the fund process by Republican Sen. Shane Martin. He spent astir 30 seconds connected the Senate level saying the archetypal rise successful 30 years was needed due to the fact that ostentation and a satellite wherever determination are much expenses means the magnitude was nary longer adequate.

South Carolina already has immoderate of the lowest compensated legislators successful the country. Comparing wage is hard due to the fact that it includes salary, expenses and mileage, but the operation of $22,400 for wage and in-district expenses is good beneath different states with part-time legislatures similar Alabama and Tennessee, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

It is simply a batch much than the $100 a twelvemonth positive mileage that New Hampshire lawmakers get, but good beneath California and New York, wherever being a legislator is considered a full-time occupation with a wage implicit $100,000 a year.