South Carolina senator sues his own legislature over $18,000-a-year pay raise

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A state senator is suing his fellow lawmakers in the South Carolina General Assembly saying they are illegally giving themselves what is effectively an $18,000-a-year raise for all members.

The increase in the “in-district compensation” — money set aside for legislative duties that has few limits on how it can be spent — is set to go from $1,000 a month to $2,500 a month for all 46 senators and 124 House members starting July 1.

But Republican Sen. Wes Climer’s lawsuit said the raise violates the state constitution, which bans the legislature from increasing their per diem during their term. House members would get 18 months of the extra money and senators would get more than three years of payments before facing reelection.

His lawsuit compared it to asking a judge to preside over his own trial or a police officer to investigate himself.

The legal question will likely hinge on whether the extra money is considered part of a per diem for lawmakers and meant to pay their daily expenses or if it is personal income that is taxable.

Lawyers for the House and Senate have not answered the lawsuit.

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The raise was proposed by Republican Sen. Shane Martin late in the budget process in a proviso, which is a one-year order on how to spend money. The monthly stipend hadn’t changed in about 30 years, and Martin said the increase was needed to offset inflation.

Climer said Monday he and other opponents of the increase think it should have passed as a stand-alone bill with hearings and a full debate.

“Regardless of how you feel about a legislative pay raise, this is the wrong way to do it. It violates the Madisonian principles that the legislature cannot take the people’s money and appropriate it to themselves in real time,” Climer said.

Hours after receiving word of the lawsuit, the state Supreme Court ordered both sides to submit briefs before the end of the month in what appears to be an effort to make some kind of decision before the raises start when the fiscal year begins July 1.

Otherwise “we’d have to try to claw back money from legislators. And we don’t want that,” said former Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on Climer’s behalf.

Along with the in-district compensation, lawmakers also get a salary of $10,400 a year that has not changed since 1990. In addition, they get money for meals, mileage to drive to Columbia and hotel rooms while in session. Legislators are considered part-time because South Carolina’s General Assembly meets three days a week from January to May.

The House sent an email to its 124 members giving them a chance to refuse the extra in-district compensation, and 34 declined the money, House Clerk Charles Reid said in an email.

Senators could ask their clerk directly not to pay them, and Climer and two other Republicans have refused the raise, Senate Clerk Jeffrey Gossett said.

Joining Climer in the lawsuit is retired educator and Republican activist Carol Herring. She said the raise going into effect immediately is counterproductive to being a good servant.

“I am concerned we are sending people to Columbia to serve in the General Assembly, and somehow it is seen more as a job than part-time service to our state,” Herring said.