The fate of a controversial $18,000 annual pay raise state lawmakers voted to give themselves in this year’s budget appears to hinge on how a majority of the five justices on the state Supreme Court interpret the term “per diem.”

That was the takeaway following oral arguments this week in a case brought by York County Republican Sen. Wes Climer. He argues that the $1,500 increase in monthly “in-district compensation” payments violated the state constitution’s ban on legislative pay raises without an election between enactment of the increase and the time it takes effect.

Prior to the new budget, that compensation was set at $1,000 per month — though lawmakers haven’t seen even those payments since the justices froze legislators’ pay while Climer’s case works its way through the system. I

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