SC legislators pass $14.7B spending plan despite concerns over legislators' pay raise

Yahoo

28-05-2025

Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-Rock Hill, and Sen. Wes Climer, R-Rock Hill, speak on the South Carolina House floor during a joint session of the General Assembly Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. Guffey and Climer both opposed an increase in legislator pay included in the state budget. (Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina legislators sent their final budget plan to Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday despite complaints from some legislators about their $18,000 raises.
This year's $14.7 billion spending plan, which the Senate approved 37-5 and the House 88-25, includes a clause that would raise the amount legislators receive for in-district expenses from $1,000 to $2,500 per month. In a budget with no earmarks, pay raises for teachers and employees, and more than $500 million for higher education projects, the pay raise became the biggest point of contention when legislators returned Wednesday — three weeks after the session officially ended — specifically to pass the budget deal that negotiators agreed to last week.
McMaster will have until midnight Tuesday to decide how — or whether — he'll use his line-item veto powers. But he told reporters he won't strike the legislative pay raise from the budget.
Between inflation and a growing population in the state, it's likely legislators are incurring greater costs to be accessible to the people they serve and stay informed on issues impacting their districts, he said.
'I think it's justified,' said the Republican governor.
SC legislators advance $14.7B spending plan that includes pay raise for themselves
The money is meant to go toward expenses that come from legislating. However, since the payment comes with no actual rules, legislators will effectively receive an additional $18,000 per year to spend however they wish. That's an additional $3 million total for the 170-member Legislature.
House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister had some advice for colleagues squeamish about voting 'yes' to a budget that provided themselves a raise: Spend the money for its intended purpose.
'If you don't spend the money on your constituents, that is on you,' the Greenville Republican said.
It's the first raise for in-district compensation since 1995. The new in-district sum of $30,000 annually comes on top of an annual salary of $10,400 — unchanged since 1990 — plus a daily stipend of $240 meant to cover the cost of food and lodging while the Legislature's in session (which is a set amount no matter how far they have to travel to the Statehouse). They also get mileage reimbursement for a weekly roundtrip to Columbia.
House Speaker Murrell Smith gave legislators the option to turn down the extra money, an offer some legislators said they would take.
They included Rep. Kathy Landing, R-Mount Pleasant, who said the process was of more concern than the raise itself.
'I believe that there's a very good chance that this body deserves a raise at some point, because 30 years is a heck of a long time to stay at the same money,' Landing said. 'Thirty years ago, the dollar stretched a lot, lot further.'
But any potential raise should've gone through the full committee process, including public hearings and votes in both chambers, she said.
'When you go to give yourself a pay raise, it shouldn't be a last-minute situation, and it shouldn't be one that didn't have any kind of public hearing or any kind of input from the public,' Landing said.
She noted the chamber has previously rejected proposals that give themselves a raise. Senators added it during their floor debate, and the three budget negotiators from each chamber agreed unanimously last week to include it in the final plan.
Some legislators said they would donate their raise to charities.
Rep. Brandon Guffey said he would use the money to support Hungry Heroes, which feeds first responders and military personnel; Palmetto Women's Center, a pregnancy resource center; and the National Center on Sexual Online Exploitation, a cause particularly close to Guffey's heart since his son died by suicide following a sexual extortion scheme.
The Rock Hill Republican's plan is to consider what charities in his area are hurting the most financially each month and fund them likewise, he said.
The money 'gives me the ability to make those decisions,' Guffey told the Daily Gazette, adding that he took a significant cut in pay so he could spend part of the year at the Statehouse.
$500M for colleges, a bigger share for traditional public schools: How SC budget funds education
Despite Guffey's reluctance to accept the pay increase, he voted in favor of the full spending plan, joining several others who expressed concern over the raise but supported the spending as a whole.
After all, the $3 million it will cost to increase legislators' pay is a small portion of a $14.7 billion spending plan with which legislators were otherwise pleased, Guffey said.
This year's budget included a $1,500 increase in the minimum salary for teachers, pay bumps of at least 2% for state employees, a guarantee that college tuition remains frozen for in-state students a sixth year and $200 million for the Department of Transportation to repair aging bridges.
'Would we walk away without all the good that's in the budget?' Guffey said.
For others, the pay increase was too glaring of a problem to approve the overall package.
Freshman Rep. James Teeple, R-Johns Island, said he already donates his salary to two charities: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — which he credits with saving his daughter's life — and Camp Firefly, a weeklong retreat outside Atlanta for terminally and seriously ill children. Teeple, who voted against the budget, said he intends to split his $18,000 raise between those two charities.
The raise was 'a horrible wart on an otherwise great piece of fiscal policy,' said Sen. Wes Climer, a Rock Hill Republican who voted against the budget.
Climer called the implementation of a raise in a year other than an election year unconstitutional and threatened to sue the state if it remains in the final version of the budget. Dick Harpootlian, a former senator and Columbia attorney, has offered to represent Climer in that case for no charge, he confirmed.
Senior reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.