House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, pictured in the Statehouse on Thursday, May 14, 2026, proposed a change to a bill giving legislators a raise. (Courtesy of the SC House photographer’s office/Photo by Sam Holland)
COLUMBIA — After two years of wrangling with the idea of a pay increase, legislators will get automatic raises in the coming years under a bill sent to the governor’s desk Thursday.
Starting in November 2028, legislators can receive $47,500 annually, split between a salary and monthly allowance. That’s more than double the $22,400 that’s been their normal pay for decades, not including the daily stipends for meals and lodging for the days they spend at the Statehouse.
The bill passed the Senate in a vote of 24-18 and the House 59-48.
Another raise is slated to go into effect sooner.
Under a budget clause both chambers included in their proposed spending plans, legislators’ annual pay will increase to $40,400 beginning in December.
That reflects a $1,500 increase in their monthly allowance, to $2,500. Technically, that’s meant to help cover legislative expenses in their district, but there’s nothing in state law limiting how they can spend the monthly allotment.
Since both the House and Senate adopted the increase, it’s locked into the spending plan negotiators must still finalize.
That $1,500 monthly pay raise mirrors what legislators tried to do last year before the state Supreme Court struck down the increase as unconstitutional, saying legislators can’t vote to raise their own pay.
The timing of the two proposals is meant to keep that from happening again. Both take effect after voters elect a new Legislature.
Last year’s court ruling also resulted in legislators losing out on that $1,000 monthly stipend they’ve received since 1995. A separate bill, which the governor signed in February, reinstated that.
Under the bill sent to Gov. Henry McMaster, how much legislators are paid will increase every other year, following the general election, based on inflation rates. That will keep legislators from having a similar fight over their pay as costs continue to rise.
Inflation over the past three decades has made being a legislator unaffordable for all but the independently wealthy, supporters of the bill have argued. Opponents said legislators shouldn’t give themselves any sort of raise and should spend the money on state needs.
Under a change the House made, the raise won’t take effect automatically.
Any legislator newly elected in November 2028 or later would have to request the additional pay in a letter to the House or Senate clerk. It would be a one-time request for however long they’re in office. IF they don’t put their request in writing, their pay will remain the same as this year.
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That was meant to keep people from lambasting supporters of the increase publicly while privately taking the money, said House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, who suggested the change.
Before the state’s highest court put last year’s raise on pause, 44 Republicans wrote to the clerks to decline it.
“It’s time we raise the pay,” said Hiott, who’s not seeking re-election this year. “If we want to take it, you need to man up and tell the clerk, ‘I’m willing to take it.’”
Rep. Kathy Landing, who asked not to receive the raise last year, said that would give opponents more ammo, since legislators would have to explicitly request more money.
“This amendment would make us have to grovel again for whether we deserve the money or not,” the Mount Pleasant Republican said.
McMaster is expected to let the raise become law. Last year, he declined to veto the pay raise in the budget, saying he felt legislators were justified in raising their pay.
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Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
