Information on the current legislation and legislative news.
Posted on 05/15/12 at 6:02pm
HB 4059 hasn’t seen much action since it was first introduced by Rep. Knollenberg (R-Troy) in January 2011 and passed by the House in April, but the bill to prohibit public employers from paying for full-time release union officials will again see the light of day at tomorrow’s Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee meeting.
Posted on 05/15/12 at 5:56pm
A major sticking point in SB 1072—eliminating the Personal Property Tax (PPT)—has been no plan for replacing the lost revenue for local governments and school districts. Last week the Senate approved Republican amendments that would remedy the situation—at least in part.
Posted on 05/14/12 at 11:37am
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The latest assault on public school employees, SB 1040, comes under the guise of fixing the problems with the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS).
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In reality, SB 1040 makes dramatic cuts to employee pension benefits while drastically increasing the out-of-pocket costs for both active and retired members. This is not fixing the problem, but rather shifting the cost from school districts to employees.
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Mid-career and new employees are struggling with wage cuts, increased pension and health care costs and student loans.
Posted on 05/14/12 at 11:01am
The latest version of SB 1040—legislation that attacks school employee retirement benefits—will be taken up tomorrow by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Despite the fact that there is no specific language yet for the bill, MEA continues to monitor the bill’s progress and is providing an updated analysis and talking points reflecting the change so far.
One of the most significant changes is the move to prefund health care and guaranteeing a member’s right to receive health care upon retirement. Prefunding has been a sore point since the Legislature under Gov. Engler decided to stop that practice. Current legislators are quick to claim that the current system is suffering from a $47 billion unfunded liability, but they are slow to remember their predecessor’s decision to stop supporting it.
Another change to SB 1040 reduces the contribution rate from 5 percent to 4 percent for members in the Basic Plan and from 8 percent to 7 percent for those enrolled in MIP.
Posted on 05/07/12 at 5:28pm
Late Friday, Gov. Snyder, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, and House Speaker Jase Bolger announced some significant changes to SB 1040—the bill to drastically change school employee retirement benefits.
The changes were reported in news stories and releases. No substitute bill has been offered yet. When one is available, MEA will provide a full analysis of it.
With the changes, public school employees hired before June 30, 2008 will still qualify for full health care coverage once they've been employed for 10 years. And employees won't have to wait until they reach 60 years of age to qualify for retiree health care coverage.
Posted on 05/04/12 at 12:27pm
SB 619 is on its way to Gov. Snyder for his signature after the Senate concurred with the House on the expansion of cyber schools. The vote was 23-14. Just as in the House, the bill did not receive immediate effect so SB 619 won’t go into effect until April 2013.
Posted on 04/26/12 at 7:03pm
In a split 2-2 decision, the Board of State Canvassers failed to approve the Public Act 4 referendum that would have put the repeal of the controversial Emergency Manager law on the November ballot. That tie likely means the proponents of the repeal –which MEA supports –will be taking their case to court for a final ruling.
Posted on 04/26/12 at 6:54pm
Update: Rep. Kate Segal (D-Battle Creek) lost her request to reconsider the vote on SB 619 to expand charter schools, but she was successful in her request for a roll call vote on the immediate effect of the bill. The 57-52 vote failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority, so SB 619 will not go into effect until next spring.
April 26, 2012—House Republicans managed to strong-arm enough votes to barely pass SB 619—legislation to expand cyber schools—on a 56-54 vote. Thanks to intense lobbying efforts from MEA members and many other groups, the bill was vastly improved from the original passed by the Senate.
Fifteen amendments were offered, but only six Republican ones were adopted. There was no debate or explanation of any of the amendments.
With the amendments, the bill now reads:
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Through Dec. 31, 2013, there can only be five statewide authorizing bodies for cyber schools. The number can double the following year, but there can be no more than 15 after Dec. 31, 2014.
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Cyber school enrollment can’t exceed 2,500 in the first year; not more than 5,000 in the second year; and no more than 10,000 in the third year and beyond.
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The Department of Education can stop the authorization of any new cyber schools if the number of students enrolled is more than 1 percent of the total student enrollment in public schools for the 2012-13 school year. In 2014, the limit is 2 percent.
Posted on 04/25/12 at 8:34pm
Budget season is in full bloom in the Legislature, with votes being held on budget bills moved by various appropriations committees. In most cases, those committees were stingier in their proposals than Gov. Snyder’s $48.2 billion proposed budget.
A budget must be in place by Sept. 30, but legislators plan on beating that deadline by having one in place by June 1.
While both the House and the Senate want to give more money to K-12 districts than the Governor does, they don't agree on how the money should be spent. Under the Senate proposal, richer districts would get $100 more per pupil and low-funded districts would get $200 more.
Posted on 04/20/12 at 8:41am
This week, the Senate Finance Committee began hearing testimony on SB 1065-1072, a package of bills that would eliminate the personal property tax (PPT) on industrial equipment collected by local governments.
