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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.3536 Type of Legislation:Concurrent Resolution CR Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19990216 Primary Sponsor:Inabinett All Sponsors:Inabinett, Breeland, J. Brown, Carnell, Davenport, Gourdine, J. Hines, M. Hines, Lee, Lloyd, Mack, Mason, Moody-Lawrence, Phillips, Pinckney, Rutherford, Whipper Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\bbm\10082som99.doc Residing Body:House Current Committee:Ways and Means Committee 30 HWM Subject:Legislative pay increases, House and Senate committees to study appropriations for; General Assembly History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ House 19990224 Co-Sponsor removed (Rule 5.2) by Rep. Hayes House 19990216 Introduced, referred to Committee 30 HWM Versions of This Bill
REQUESTING THE STAFFS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE AND THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO STUDY THE ISSUE OF INCREASING LEGISLATIVE PAY AFTER THE ELECTION IN THE YEAR 2000 AND TO REPORT BACK TO THEIR COMMITTEES AND TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BY JUNE 1, 1999 ON THEIR FINDINGS.
Whereas, the legislators of the South Carolina General Assembly have not received a salary increase since 1991; and
Whereas, the demands on each legislator increase dramatically each year as there are more frequent subcommittee and committee meetings debating more complex issues of grave social consequence; and
Whereas, the House and Senate floor debates require more time and attention of each legislator; and
Whereas, many legislators serve on more than one county legislative delegation which is an added demand on their time and energy; and
Whereas, South Carolina is a smaller State in population and area and very proud that its legislature serves in a part-time capacity, because this allows the legislators to remain close to the people of their district since they work and live there full time; and
Whereas, legislators develop the skills of being able to handle many subjects at one time, being able to operate under pressure, negotiating, and seeking consensus; and
Whereas; the legislator's job is unique in that it requires expertise in the proactive group decision-making process; and
Whereas, of the forty-two states where legislators receive annual salaries, the South Carolina legislators, with their annual salary of $10,400 rank thirty-seventh in that list; and
Whereas, one well-known political scientist, who is an expert on legislative politics, Alan Rosenthal of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University, has been quoted as saying, "Lawmakers are not compensated adequately for the time they give to the job and for the sacrifices they make in terms of outside income and careers"; and
Whereas, the Ways and Means committee and the Senate Finance Committee have the manpower and expertise to study objective methods of determining and increasing legislative pay such as setting the salary at the seventieth percentile or at twenty percent above the median salary for the State, or establishing an automatic index, or surveying other states and setting South Carolina legislative pay at the rate of other similar states, or tying lawmaker salaries to a particular yardstick salary. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the members of the General Assembly request the staffs of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to study the issue of increasing legislative pay after the election in the year 2000 and to report back to their committees and to the General Assembly by June 1, 1999 on their findings.
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