South Carolina prices and inflation

Wages and cash benefits can be components of household money income. Census income is measured before taxes, so tax relief alone is not an increase in this statistic; the provision does not determine the statewide median. This connection does not establish causation. An action after the measurement period cannot explain an earlier observed value.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Median household income. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

Section 2-3-20. (A) Beginning with the 128th General Assembly, members of the General Assembly shall annually receive as legislative compensation fifteen thousand dollars at a daily remuneration rate in accordance with Article III, Section 9 of the State Constitution and an in-district legislative service allowance of thirty-two thousand five hundred dollars as adjusted pursuant to subsection (C). Members of the General Assembly shall also receive mileage at the rate provided for by law for the actual distance traveled in the most direct route going to and returning from their homes on weekend adjournments of the General Assembly at the place where the sessions of the General Assembly are held. The terms of this provision shall be subject to limitations imposed by the State Constitution. […] (C) The legislative compensation and the in-district legislative service allowance provided for in subsection (A) shall be adjusted biennially after elections for the House of Representatives by an amount equal to the increase of the consumer price index using the chained methodology during the two previous years not to exceed five percent. The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Authority shall calculate the biennial adjustment, publish it on its website, and transmit the amount of the adjustment to the Senate and the House of Representatives prior to the second Tuesday in January in the appropriate years. (D) For the members of the 128th General Assembly, to be eligible to receive the increased compensation, as compared to the 126th General Assembly, set forth in subsection (A), as adjusted by subsection (C), a member must file a written statement accepting the increase with the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Clerk of the Senate, as applicable. A member who does not file a statement of acceptance remains entitled to receive compensation in the same amount as a member of the 126th General Assembly received. A member's filing or failure to file a statement of acceptance may not be based on, conditioned upon, or affected by the member's vote for the increase allowed in subsection (A).

Wages and cash benefits can be components of household money income. Census income is measured before taxes, so tax relief alone is not an increase in this statistic; the provision does not determine the statewide median. This connection does not establish causation. An action after the measurement period cannot explain an earlier observed value.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Median household income. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

Section 2-3-20. (A) Beginning with the 128th General Assembly, members of the General Assembly shall annually receive as legislative compensation fifteen thousand dollars at a daily remuneration rate in accordance with Article III, Section 9 of the State Constitution and an in-district legislative service allowance of thirty-two thousand five hundred dollars as adjusted pursuant to subsection (C). Members of the General Assembly shall also receive mileage at the rate provided for by law for the actual distance traveled in the most direct route going to and returning from their homes on weekend adjournments of the General Assembly at the place where the sessions of the General Assembly are held. The terms of this provision shall be subject to limitations imposed by the State Constitution. […] (C) The legislative compensation and the in-district legislative service allowance provided for in subsection (A) shall be adjusted biennially after elections for the House of Representatives by an amount equal to the increase of the consumer price index using the chained methodology during the two previous years not to exceed five percent. The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Authority shall calculate the biennial adjustment, publish it on its website, and transmit the amount of the adjustment to the Senate and the House of Representatives prior to the second Tuesday in January in the appropriate years. (D) For the members of the 128th General Assembly, to be eligible to receive the increased compensation, as compared to the 126th General Assembly, set forth in subsection (A), as adjusted by subsection (C), a member must file a written statement accepting the increase with the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Clerk of the Senate, as applicable. A member who does not file a statement of acceptance remains entitled to receive compensation in the same amount as a member of the 126th General Assembly received. A member's filing or failure to file a statement of acceptance may not be based on, conditioned upon, or affected by the member's vote for the increase allowed in subsection (A).

H. 5419 proposed suspending the gasoline and diesel motor-fuel user fee and road tax for 30 days following approval, then reinstating the statutory rates. It addresses a tax included in South Carolina pump prices. The official history records committee referral and later sponsor additions, with no enactment; the proposal did not establish a tax holiday or lower the measured regional price.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Lower Atlantic regular gasoline price. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

Section 1 would suspend the motor-fuel user fee and road tax for thirty days, then reinstate the rates set by law. Section 2 requires governor approval for effectiveness.

Wages and cash benefits can be components of household money income. Census income is measured before taxes, so tax relief alone is not an increase in this statistic; the provision does not determine the statewide median. This connection does not establish causation. An action after the measurement period cannot explain an earlier observed value.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Median household income. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

Section 41-1-125. (A) An employer shall, at a minimum, pay employees a wage at an hourly rate as provided in this section for all hours worked in this State. Only those individuals entitled to receive the federal minimum wage under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its implementing regulations are eligible to receive this state minimum wage. The provisions of Sections 213 and 214 of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, as interpreted by applicable federal regulations and implemented by the United States Secretary of Labor, are incorporated herein. (B) The minimum wage must be implemented as follows: (1) Beginning January 1, 2026, the initial state minimum wage is established as eight dollars and seventy five cents per hour. (2) Beginning January 1, 2027, the state minimum wage increases to nine dollars and seventy five cents per hour. (3) Beginning January 1, 2028, the state minimum wage increases to ten dollars and ten cents per hour. (4) Beginning January 1, 2029, and annually thereafter, the state minimum wage increases from ten dollars and ten cents per hour based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the South Region or a successor index as calculated by the United States Department of Labor. The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation annually shall calculate and post the adjusted state minimum wage rate and the effective date on the internet website of the department before October fifteenth of each year. To the extent funded in the annual general appropriations act, the department annually shall provide written notice of the adjusted rate and the effective date of the adjusted state minimum wage to all employers by November fifteenth.

Attorney General Alan Wilson declared an abnormal gasoline-market disruption on May 11, 2021, activating statutory prohibitions on unconscionable prices after the Colonial Pipeline shutdown. His office confirmed that the declaration expired at the end of May 26, 2021. This was a temporary gasoline-market protection, not a general price cap, tax change, or explanation of the August 2026 regional price.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Lower Atlantic regular gasoline price. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

The May 11 announcement activated the state price-gouging statute following the pipeline disruption. A separate May 26 announcement confirmed expiration that day.

Act 40 increased the state motor-fuel user fee by 2 cents per gallon each July from 2017 through 2022, bringing the 16-cent base to 28 cents. This is a South Carolina tax component of tax-inclusive pump prices. The General Assembly overrode Governor McMaster’s veto on May 10, 2017. The law does not set the full gasoline price or explain the six-state Lower Atlantic average.

Retained South Carolina evidence context: Lower Atlantic regular gasoline price. This record’s connection to the topic does not establish an effect on the measured result.

Section 2 schedules six annual two-cent increases beginning July 1, 2017, and directs the additional revenue to the Infrastructure Maintenance Trust Fund.