SC House member from York County wants to quadruple lawmaker pay

One S.C. House member wants to quadruple state legislators’ pay in an effort, he says, to open up politics to the everyman.

State Rep. John King, D-York, has prefiled legislation that would let voters decide whether to increase S.C. legislators' annual salaries to $42,830 from $10,400.

“You have to understand if we don’t increase the amount of money that legislators are paid, we won’t get the best and brightest minds in South Carolina because those people have to take care of their families,” said King, a funeral home director who has served in the House since 2009. “People won’t give up their jobs for $10,400 a year.

“The whole premise behind this is to open it up for all South Carolinians to feel like you can run and be elected.”

In addition to their $10,400-a-year salaries, S.C. legislators also get $12,000 for in-district expenses. They are reimbursed for mileage costs and receive $140 a day for hotel accommodations and food costs while the Legislature is in session each spring.

But King says S.C. legislators are paid part-time for round-the-clock work and that their pay is well below regional and national averages. The $42,830 figure he proposed matches what Alabama state legislators are paid.

King’s proposal would create a statewide referendum in which 2018 general election voters would decide on the pay increase.

“I don’t want us as legislators to arbitrarily come up with this,” King said. “This is not about John King. I’m thinking about people who would follow me, who would love to run for office.”

This is not King’s first pay-raise proposal. The York County Democrat in 2012 prefiled legislation that would have raised state lawmakers’ annual salaries to $50,000.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 10:08 AM with the headline "SC House member from York County wants to quadruple lawmaker pay."