The State Supreme Court agrees with the lone member of the General Assembly who said South Carolina lawmakers can't give themselves mid-term pay raises.
The justices essentially ruled that elected officials cannot increase their salaries without the permission of the people who elected them. The ruling affirms the complaint of State Senator Wes Climer. He opposed the eighteen-thousand dollar-a-year- increase the lawmakers labeled "in-district compensation."
The York County Republican released a statement in response to the ruling calling the need to litigate what he said was an obvious principle "disappointing," adding, "...not because the job isn't demanding, but because how we govern matters".
The ruling does not affect legislators’ $10,400 annual salary, which hasn’t changed since 1990, and now can't be altered until the next General Assembly session in January of 2027.