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The State House Gavel
The State House Gavel shares updates about the South Carolina General Assembly, including legislative actions, debates and discussions. Featuring news and interviews, so you have access to the latest developments in policy and decisions that shape South Carolina’s future.

The State House Gavel: Senate OKs lawmaker pay raise, SC's election agency to share voter data with DOJ

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,
Gavin Jackson
Published April 29, 2026 at 6:28 AM EDT
in the Senate chamber at the South Carolina Statehouse on April 28, 2026.
GAVIN JACKSON
in the Senate chamber at the South Carolina Statehouse on April 28, 2026.

It's Wednesday, April 29.

The House gavels in at 10 a.m.

The lower chamber, as we reported Tuesday, will plow through likely dozens of amendments on the Senate-approved Department of Transportation modernization bill — S. 831 — which a House committee amended with the language of its proposal, H. 5071.

The Senate returns at 1 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, told colleagues the intention is to work through House legislation.

You're reading The State House Gavel, your daily reporter notebook by Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson that previews and captures what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse.

Notebook highlights:

  • Senate votes to raise legislative pay with timing change
  • After months of negotiations, State Election Commission votes to engage with Department of Justice over voter data
  • Sine death? The risks without a sine die agreement
  • Protest erupts over Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette's planned commencement speech at S.C. State University. How she responded and what others are saying back
Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.
Andre Bellamy/SCETV
Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.

Why a GOP senator is pushing for legislative pay raise

The South Carolina Senate on Tuesday voted 24-18 to pass legislation that would raise raise legislative pay starting with the 128th General Assembly, when both the House and Senate are brand new.

The bill — S. 933, sponsored by Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg — would effectively raise all 170 members' base pay to $47,500, adjusting for inflation but not to exceed 5%.

"It's been in my heart to do what's right for the General Assembly," Martin told SC Public Radio Tuesday. "Nobody ever takes care of the General Assembly, and you get to where you get expenses reimbursed, but you end up spending twice what you're getting reimbursed."

"I want to leave this place better than I found it," Martin added.

Legislative pay varies from state to state but South Carolina lawmakers — the legislature is a part-time legislature, though lawmakers meet throughout the year, in addition to responding to constituent needs — are on the lower end of the pay scale.

Lawmakers receive a base pay of $10,400, plus $1,000 per month for in-district expenses, and other mileage and per diem.

Neither the base nor in-district pay have risen since the 90s.

Under Martin's bill, lawmakers' base pay would rise to $15,000.

And in-district pay would go from $12,000 a year to $32,500.

A fiscal impact by the state Revenue and Fiscal Affair's Office shows a cost of nearly $4.3 million, broken down by about $3 million for the 124-member House and $1.1 million for the 46-member Senate.

Martin has continually advocated for higher legislative pay, repeating often that the legislature should not be only for the "rich, the retired and the retained."

"Probably after my first term, I told my wife, I said, 'I'm not taking the postcard vote.' If I believe it and it's the right thing to do, I'm not going to hide behind the fact that somebody might not like it and I might get dinged on the postcard. The postcard's coming anyway," Martin said. "So, what I found is you tell the truth always, and you don't have to remember, well, did I vote for that just because it looked good or did I vote against it and really want it to pass? I feel like this is the best thing for the General Assembly to take care of this legislative compensation, so that members get their expenses covered, they're not going in the hole, but you're not getting rich."

Martin tried last year to raise in-district pay to $2,500 through a budget measure. It was eventually tossed out by the state Supreme Court, which ruled the legislature could not increase its own pay, rather the pay of a future General Assembly.

Martin and colleagues have tried a similar move this year in the budget, with slight tweaks, explained by lawmakers as a placeholder in case his standalone bill doesn't move forward.

Martin added of his bill, "I've told people before, my next opponent can at least afford to run."

Republican Sen. Shane Martin presides over the Senate on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Columbia, S.C.
Jeffrey Collins/AP
/
AP
Republican Sen. Shane Martin presides over the Senate on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Columbia, S.C.

State elections agency to share voter data with DOJ

After months of negotiations, the State Election Commission voted 4-1 on Tuesday to enter into an agreement with the Department of Justice to release South Carolina voters' data with the federal government.

The DOJ's demands date back to last year, a request that was part of a multi-state ask for the Justice Department to review potential cases of ineligible or non-citizens on states' voter rolls.

The memorandum between the State Election Commission and the DOJ states that the state will turn over the data, then return the information to the State Election Commission for review.

That data of the state's roughly 3.3 million voters will include names, birth dates, home addresses, driver's license numbers and the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers.

"It is a top priority of the SC State Election Commission to protect the private information of our voters, specifically Social Security numbers," the SEC said in a statement after the vote.

The agreement, the SEC says, will require a highly secure encryption process to protect voters' information called "hashing." That process, according to the SEC, protects sensitive voter data by using a unique digital fingerprint that can show the information without revealing its original content.

"In contrast, encryption is a reversible process used to protect data so it can be unlocked later with the right key. In this way, the SEC continues to put protecting voter’s information high on our priority list," the State Election Commission said.

South Carolina's elections agency, now run by Director Conway Belangia, plans to send the data, which can only be viewed by the DOJ, in the next several days

Read more:

South Carolina State Election Commission Chairman Robert Bolchoz signs a resolution during the April 28, 2026, commission meeting to authorize the body to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Dept. of Justice. The DOJ requested sensitive voter roll information months ago identify potential cases of ineligible or non-citizen voters on the state’s rolls. Under the MOU will obtain publicly available information along with the last four digits of a voter's Social Security number securely encrypted through a technique called hashing. The state will review any DOJ findings under the agreement.
GAVIN JACKSON
South Carolina State Election Commission Chairman Robert Bolchoz signs a resolution during the April 28, 2026, commission meeting to authorize the body to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ requested sensitive voter roll information months ago, aiming to identify potential cases of ineligible or non-citizen voters on the state’s rolls. Under the agreement, the DOJ will obtain publicly-available information, along with the last four digits of a voter's Social Security number securely encrypted through a technique called hashing. The state will review any DOJ findings under the agreement.

No sine die, no problem?

With eight days left on the South Carolina legislative calendar, the full General Assembly has yet to pass a resolution that would outline what lawmakers can return post-sine die to do.

And with the 5 o'clock May 14 deadline on the horizon, it's unclear based on conversations with various lawmakers whether the legislature can or will get it done, or whether they believe the legislature needs one.

Background: The Senate passed a sine die resolution earlier this year, a rather uneventful procedural matter that typically happens every year so the legislature can give itself a cushion to handle the budget, any conference committees and vetoes from the governor once the legislature's official calendar ends.

Without one, the legislature is at the whim of the governor, who can call (or refuse to call) the General Assembly back into session for any matter at any time.

Look ahead: Legislators tell us the risk is that a resolution can get bogged down with individual lawmakers' or a group's particular priorities. But the risk without it? They say conference committees could pile up in the last days of the session, complicating the calendar with a time-restricted deadline. There is separate legislation specific to the budget beyond May 14. That bill has not moved through the full General Assembly.

The South Carolina Statehouse
GAVIN JACKSON
The South Carolina Statehouse

Lt. Gov. Evette responds to SC State student protest

Students at South Carolina State University, the state's only public four-year historically Black university, protested on Tuesday against the planned graduation speech from Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor.

An online petition against her invitation, which the university has not formally announced for May 8, grew to more than 5,300 signatures by Wednesday morning.

"Throughout our history, we have been at the forefront of advocating for social justice, equality, and education that truly represents and supports our community," the petition states. "Inviting a speaker whose actions and policies do not resonate with the ethos of our university undermines this legacy."

Evette's response?

Through her campaign and social media channels, Evette referred to the student protestors as "woke mobs" she said who are "coming after me for being a champion of eliminating radical DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) scams on college campuses."

"So bring it on. Just like President Trump, I’ll never back down or bend a knee to the woke radicals," she said. "I’m ending DEI on campuses once and for all."

Evette's response has received backlash on its own.

In return, Democratic lawmakers in both chambers criticized the lieutenant governor's response, arguing her words were partisan and disrespectful toward the students and school.

"You know what to do," state Rep. Hamilton Grant, a Richland Democrat who graduated from S.C. State, told students via social media.

"The students deserve a ceremony centered on them, their future, and their success," said Sen. Deon Tedder, a Charleston Democrat who also graduated from S.C. State. "Further, a potential commencement speaker should not insult or attack the students they wish to address further."

Evette said she planned to "have a lot more to say" later, later doubling down in a response on X that in part said, "Well, they are going to really hate my speech because it does the thing they hate the most - telling the truth.

Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters after receiving the endorsement of Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.
Meg Kinnard/AP
/
AP
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters after receiving the endorsement of Gov. Henry McMaster, R-S.C., in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Columbia, S.C.

Statehouse daily planner (4/29)

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Maayan Schechter
Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter) is a news reporter with South Carolina Public Radio and ETV. She worked at South Carolina newspapers for a decade, previously working as a reporter and then editor of The State’s S.C. State House and politics team, and as a reporter at the Aiken Standard and the Greenville News. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated from the University of North Carolina-Asheville in 2013.
See stories by Maayan Schechter
Gavin Jackson
Gavin Jackson graduated with a visual journalism degree from Kent State University in 2008 and has been in the news industry ever since. He has worked at newspapers in Ohio, Louisiana and most recently in South Carolina at the Florence Morning News and Charleston Post and Courier.
See stories by Gavin Jackson