The state Supreme Court has put a hold on an in-district pay raise for South Carolina lawmakers set to take effect with the budget on July 1.
That means lawmakers will not get a bump to their "in-district compensation" that would have effectively raised their pay $18,000 a year.
In a three-page unanimous order, the state's high court on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction and demanded that state Treasurer Curtis Loftis hold onto the funds, pending a final order.
The first payout with the raise was set to go out to lawmakers on July 16.
York Republican Sen. Wes Climer and retired York County educator Carol Herring sued early this month and said that the $2,500-a-month in-district pay increase violated the state Constitution, which says that no General Assembly can increase the "per diem" of its own members.
Lawmakers currently receive $1,000 a month for in-district expenses — money that is intended to be used to cover costs associated with legislative district work that can include travel, newspaper subscriptions and office supplies.
"For a General Assembly to vote to give its own members public money is akin to a judge presiding over his own trial, or to a police officer investigating his own alleged conduct," their complaint said.
The S.C. House is up for reelection every two years. The next election is in 2026.
The Senate is reelected every four years, with the next election set for 2028.
"Regardless of how you feel about a legislative pay raise, this is the wrong way to do it," Climer told reporters June 9 outside of the law office of his attorney, former Richland Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian. "It violates the Madisonian principle that the Legislature cannot take the peoples' money and appropriate it to themselves in real time."
My wife and I are raising five kids. We budget. We plan. We make hard choices. Most of the folks I represent are doing the same thing. That’s why this pay raise rubs people the wrong way. It’s not just the money . It’s the timing, the method and the fact taxpayers didn’t get a…
— Wes Climer (@WesClimer) June 18, 2025
Lawmakers had not raised their in-district pay since the mid 90s.
The in-district pay — money that is added on top of lawmakers' $10,400-a-year salary and $240.07 daily per diem for lodging and food — is directly deposited into lawmakers' bank accounts. The money is taxed like income, and no receipts for reimbursement are required, Climer said.
The raise was proposed by Spartanburg Republican Sen. Shane Martin and added to the state's more than $14 billion spending plan as a proviso, or one-year budget attachment.
Martin was not immediately available for comment.
The in-district raise "is not a raise in members of the General Assembly's salaries or per diem rates, but, instead, provides an increase to the long-standing allowance available to members for their home district legislative activities, which is not prohibited by the South Carolina Constitution," attorneys for the House argued.
The purpose of the in-district money is "to reimburse legislators for their work and responsibilities in their home districts outside of Columbia and from which they were elected," Senate Clerk Jeff Gossett said in a signed affidavit.
Climer and others argued that the raise should have gone through the normal legislative process with a standalone bill, rather than included in the state budget.
More than 40 legislators, all Republicans, rejected the raise.
A few who kept it said they would have donated the money to charity.
The base pay for South Carolina lawmakers is among the lowest nationally.
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, a Columbia attorney, said it's why the part-time Legislature has become a place for the "the rich, the retired, and the retained."
"If the Supreme Court rules against it, I am of the opinion that all it will do is continue to keep, for years, it will continue to keep legislators who come from especially out(side) of Columbia, from having the ability to serve financially," Rutherford said. "And you don't realize how broke you're becoming until it's too late. And there are a number of young, mostly Republicans, who have been elected over the years and had to leave because they couldn't afford to serve."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Who had opted out of the in-district raise?
SC Senate
- Sen. Wes Climer, R-York
- Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort
- Sen. Jason Elliott, R-Greenville
- Sen. Billy Garrett-R (represents parts of Greenwood, Lexington and Saluda counties). The Senate Clerk's Office said Garrett declined the raise unless/until the Supreme Court rules the raise constitutional.
- Sen. Michael Johnson, R-York
- Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield
- Sen. Michael Reichenbach, R-Florence
- Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken
SC House
- Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland
- Rep. Gary Brewer, R-Charleston
- Rep. Brandon Cox, R-Berkeley
- Rep. April Cromer, R-Anderson
- Rep. Sylleste Davis, R-Berkeley
- Rep. Sarita Edgerton, R-Spartanburg
- Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort
- Rep. Doug Gilliam, R-Union
- Rep. Thomas Lee Gilreath, R-Anderson
- Rep. Val Guest, R-Horry
- Rep. Patrick Haddon, R-Greenville
- Rep. Bill Hager, R-Hampton
- Rep. Lee Hewitt, R-Georgetown
- Rep. Bill Hixon, R-Edgefield
- Rep. Harriet Holman, R-Dorchester
- Rep. Chris Huff, R-Greenville
- Rep. Jay Kilmartin, R-Lexington
- Rep. Kathy Landing, R-Charleston
- Rep. Brian Lawson, R-Cherokee
- Rep. Randy Ligon, R-Chester
- Rep. Josiah Magnuson, R-Spartanburg
- Rep. Ryan McCabe, R-Lexington
- Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood
- Rep. Cody Mitchell, R-Darlington
- Rep. Alan Morgan, R-Greenville
- Rep. Weston Newton, R-Beaufort
- Rep. Melissa Oremus, R-Aiken
- Rep. Jordan Pace, R-Berkeley
- Rep. Fawn Pedalino, R-Clarendon
- Rep. Heath Sessions, R-York
- Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter
- Rep. Mark Smith, R-Berkeley
- Rep. David Vaughn, R-Greenville
- Rep. Joe White, R-Newberry
- Rep. Paul Wickensimer, R-Greenville
- Rep. Mark Willis, R-Greenville
