S.C. Legislators Restore $1K Monthly Allowance

Skylar Laird/S.C. Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — Legislators will once again receive $1,000 monthly expense allowances, including backpay, under a bill that received final approval Friday.

Gov. Henry McMaster will likely sign the bill into law, allowing legislators to once again get the amount they’ve received since 1995.

Both chambers approved the bill unanimously with no debate and no changes. Even those who opposed the raise didn’t intend to get rid of the pay they already received, which became collateral damage in a state Supreme Court fight.

The allowance is meant to cover expenses of the job outside the Statehouse. Legislators tried to approve their first pay increase in 30 years as part of the state budget. An amendment inserted during floor debate in the Senate raised that monthly pay from $1,000 to $2,500 — in other words, from $12,000 to $30,000 yearly.

But the state’s highest court declared that attempt unconstitutional, pointing to a prohibition on legislators raising their own pay.

The bill does not try to reinstate the raise.

Legislators continue to receive their annual salaries of $10,400, and during session they get $240 daily per diems that’s meant to cover the cost of dining and lodging in Columbia, as well as mileage for a weekly round-trip. But they haven’t gotten their additional $1,000 per month since June, when the Supreme Court paused the payments.

All legislators but one will receive a lump sum to cover what they would have received starting in July, the beginning of the fiscal year.

Ex-Rep. RJ May, who has been in jail since last summer, will not receive back pay. The bill excludes any legislator who’s convicted of or pleaded guilty to a felony during that time. That description only applies to May, who pleaded guilty in September to sending videos of children being sexually abused. A judge sentenced him earlier this month to 17 years in prison.

Other legislators who resigned over the summer for unrelated reasons will receive their allowances until their time in the Statehouse officially ended. Legislators elected to replace them will get payments dating to their swearing-in ceremonies.

The Legislature is not actually in session Friday, but the House agreed unanimously Thursday to let the final perfunctory vote for the bill’s passage to occur automatically the next day.