SC lawmakers approve higher hotel reimbursements for themselves

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

South Carolina lawmakers apparently don’t believe in “slumming it” while in Columbia during legislative session weeks.

Buried in the fiscal 2015 state budget passed Wednesday by the General Assembly is an amendment specifying that lawmakers be reimbursed for their hotel stays during session weeks at the “average daily rate for hotels in the Columbia Downtown area” as of this fiscal year, as defined by the Columbia Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau.

If Gov. Nikki Haley doesn’t veto Proviso 91.4 (F), lawmakers would get reimbursed for their hotel stays – courtesy of S.C. taxpayers – at rates that are at least 37 percent higher than the current federally authorized reimbursement rate, a review by The Nerve found.

at The Nerve.