Members of the South Carolina General Assembly are one step closer to a major pay raise after approving their 2026 budget, which includes a provision to more than double their salaries.
Lawmakers currently make $1,000 a month and have not seen a salary increase since 1990.
If Republican Gov. Henry McMaster (SC) signs the bill, lawmakers will make $2,500 a month, with few limits on how the money can be spent.
“The anticipation is you will spend that on your constituents, doing the job they’ve elected you to do and going to the places they have asked you to go,” Republican House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister said. “If you do not spend the money on your constituents, that’s on you.”
Legislators will see their raise starting July 1.
While McMaster possesses a line-item veto, lawmakers do not anticipate him vetoing their salary increase. As a result, lawmakers are expected to return to work in January 2026.
However, not all lawmakers agree with how they went about legislating their pay raise.
“If there is going to be a pay raise, the people, by way of elections, ought to decide who does and who does not get that raise,” Republican state Sen. Wes Climer told the Associated Press.
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In 2014, then-Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) vetoed a bill that would have increased lawmakers’ salaries by $1,000.
The $14.5 billion budget also includes provisions for a teacher pay raise, renovations for state technical schools, and funding to lower the state’s top income tax to 6%.