South Carolina bill would boost attorney general’s pension by more than 6 times current level

(The Center Square) – Legislation in the South Carolina House would reclassify the state’s attorney general, putting the office holder into a different pension system that pays more than six times as much as the current annual amount.

House Bill 3787 is sponsored by Republican Reps. Murrell Smith, chairperson of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Chris Murphy, chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee.

If signed into law, the bill would move the state attorney general to the Judges and Solicitors Retirement System, which is the smallest of the state’s five retirement systems but pays the highest average annual benefit, according to the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority.

The attorney general currently is part of the general state employee retirement system, which pays out $22,173 a year to more than 123,200 retirees each year. The JSRS, with 162 members, pays each one $141,679 per year.

HB 3787 would designate the attorney general as a solicitor, noting the position serves as the “chief prosecuting officer” for the state. South Carolina has 16 solicitors who handle criminal cases at the circuit court level.

Attorney General Alan Wilson, a 47-year-old Republican, was reelected to a third consecutive four-year term in 2018. The position pays $92,000 annually. He was an assistant attorney general under Henry McMaster, the governor of South Carolina who was the state’s attorney general from 2003 to 2011.

According to The Nerve, an online news site run by the South Carolina Policy Council, a spokesman for Wilson did not respond to questions asking whether the bill was Wilson’s idea or if he would participate in the JSRS if the bill becomes law. The Nerve also reported Smith and Murphy did not respond to questions.

The Nerve reported in 2014 an obscure state law allowed judges, solicitors and circuit court public defenders to “retire in place,” meaning that from age 60 to 72, they can receive their full salaries plus retirement benefits equal to 90% of their pay.

The Nerve found in 2018 that associate justices on the South Carolina Supreme Court who were eligible for this double dipping received an annual salary of nearly $149,000 plus $11,000 per month in retirement pay, an additional $132,000 per year.

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