Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on May 25, 2007, to establish a “graduated” school employees pension and post-retirement health care benefits vesting system, where the amount of pension and benefits a school employee receives is tied more directly to the number of years worked; and also require employees to contribute more of their salaries to the system. Under current law an employee who has only worked for 10 years (or five in some cases) can be eligible for a full pension and benefits

The vote was 20 in favor, 18 opposed and 0 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 197 at Senate Journal 64)

Click here to view bill details.

Senators Whitmer and Cherry, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill Nos. 547 and 546. Senator Whitmer moved that the statement she made during the discussion of the bills be printed as her reasons for voting "no." The motion prevailed. Senator Whitmer's statement, in which Senator Cherry concurred, is as follows: After the Governor's issuance of a letter yesterday urging both bodies of the Legislature to take action on agreed-upon efforts, the Senate Majority had two choices. One, stay true to your word and follow-up on the public promises to move legislation forward that will serve the state; or two, go back to the party politics and gamesmanship that got us into this mess in the first place. We have the opportunity to address real government reforms and pass effective legislation before we leave for summer recess. Now I gave a similar speech before you left for spring break. I know we had a marathon session before you left for Memorial Day weekend, and I'm going to say it again. Before you take a break, we should get our work done. Instead, today you are discharging bills in a retaliatory manner that doesn't get us any closer to a solution. We had a deal--a deal that envisioned compromise on both sides--but today you've made it clear that your word doesn't count anymore inside the Senate than it does outside of it. We agreed to address reforms, but these are not reforms. These are purely political posturing intended to paint Democrats as unwilling to look at changes. That's just not true. I've told the sponsor, the good Senator from the 30th District, that there are many of us who are willing and ready and open to work on these very reforms as part of the solution. I don't know about you, but if we break for summer without solving the long-term problems facing our constituents, I'm not going to have a relaxing vacation. You may be able to take a nap in a hammock while Michigan's working class are stuck with their hand out, but I can't. You might be able to tan on the beach while passing policies that burn Michigan citizens, but I won't. And you might be willing to take a dip in the pool while leaving Michigan drowning in debt, but I absolutely will not stand for it. Our timeline is real, and we are willing to stay here and work as long as it takes to do it right for the people of the state of Michigan. Local governments, schools, hospitals, almost everyone depends on a July 1 fiscal year start, and we're talking about vacation. It's shameful. It's time to stop playing these games and start working toward solutions--something we all gave our word that we would do.

Senator Kuipers' statement is as follows: I guess we know what happened in caucus for the last 45 minutes. It's time for members to put up or shut up when it comes to revenues and reforms. This is the first attempt to get at some real serious reforms that the Senate has undertaken in some time. These are not new issues. We've been debating these issues back and forth for months, and now, finally today's the day where we get to move them. It's the first step in the process. The House is going to respond with their recommended changes and then it will come back here for round two. But we can't just keep going back and forth without taking action. So I applaud the members of this body who voted in favor of the previous bill, and I would urge them do the same with this bill since it is tie-barred to the other one. It's time to start putting our money where our mouth is. We can't just keep talking and doing nothing.

Senator Patterson's statement is as follows: I would like to suggest to the Senator from the 23rd District that she is not in the House anymore. Maybe she should deliver that message--her statement--to the House members since they are not sending anything over here that even approaches reform or revenue enhancement.

Senator Schauer's statement is as follows: I rise to express my opposition for this proposal and my disappointment in the political maneuvering that's going on here in this chamber. At best, this is a one-House agreement, and I say at best, it's not even that because Democrats in this chamber aren't supporting the contents of these bills that are before us. There's not agreement with the House, and there's not agreement from the Governor, so this is certainly not moving the ball forward. Democrats have said from day one, and particularly this caucus here, that we want to solve the budget crisis in a comprehensive way that includes reforms, revenues, and cuts. Our caucus stands for a long-term solution, one that positions Michigan to be competitive for years ahead. We don't want to burden future lawmakers with the same ongoing shortfalls and structural deficit that we are grappling with here today. We've said we are willing, as the Governor is, to make reforms part of the fix as long as they are reforms that will have real savings and not hurt the citizens who can least afford it. But what we have before us is not a serious effort to comprehensively solve our budget crisis. Unfortunately, it's a knee-jerk reaction to being told that we should do the job that we've been sent here to do. We can work out a real solution that includes reforms and revenues, and we can get it done this week. We are a full-time Legislature after all. But this my-way-or-the-highway legislating isn't the solution and it needs to stop. Let's have a reality check here, colleagues. Universities are trying to figure out if or by how much they have to raise their tuition and fees, but we haven't given them any concrete numbers to base decisions on. Actually, we've delayed payments for the current year and to next year, making next year worse. Local governments are wondering what services they'll have to cut--substance abuse programs, local police or fire--yet we are considering going on vacation for a couple of weeks leaving them all hanging. That's irresponsible, it's unnecessary, and we can and should do better. Let's get back into the room. Let's get our leadership back into the room together, check our egos at the door, and get this deal done.

Senator Switalski's statement is as follows: You know, there is some merit in the proposals in front of us here today, and I could see myself supporting these reforms or something similar to them. But it requires a linkage to revenue, and I suspect there isn't sufficient trust on this side yet to cast that vote. Part of that lack of trust, I think, is that the bills weren't on the agenda today, and maybe with some additional discussion, perhaps a bipartisan agreement would have been possible. But I listened closely to the sponsor, and I hope his remarks are correct. I hope that this is the first stage in a process and that there will be further refining and improvement and that we will end up with something that can be bipartisan; that will have some sort of linkage to revenue and that both sides of the aisle can enthusiastically support.

Senator Bishop's statement is as follows: I've had a chance to listen to a lot of my colleagues for the past several months now as we've discussed the many reforms on the agenda. I've had the chance to move around the state, talk to constituents around the state, and businesses around the state. I've talked to business leaders. I've talked to taxpayers. They all expect that we do these things. They all expect that we step up and do the right thing and pass some meaningful reforms. I guess I don't understand the idea that this is in some way partisan. You all knew that from day one that this was an issue that would be considered by the Legislature. It's one that we've considered as part of our marquee, as part of this whole discussion about the budget dilemma. I think we all acknowledged at some point in time that we have to get serious about this shortfall, about our present budget situation. We've got to talk about real cuts and real reforms. This is the first step in the right direction. This matter wasn't discharged as was suggested earlier. In fact, it went through the full committee process. It's gathered steam along the way. We've had all kinds of supporters along the way, both the retirement and the health care issues. Our members have taken a lot of time to address it to speak with interested parties. This is not an easy vote for some, but we did it because we knew it was the right thing to do. I take exception with the fact that this is suggested as some kind of my-way-or-the-highway mentality when, in fact, we've really tried to work with all of you on this subject. If we really want to check our egos at the door, you may want to send a message to your Governor about sending letters to the press about policy and procedure because that is the ultimate in politics, and that will prevent anything from getting done.

I'm sorry, Mr.President, I will get back on track. This is a matter of great importance to all of us. None of us want to play politics with this. We were put in this position. Clearly, this is not something that we wanted to be on the agenda today, but it was forced upon us given the fact that we were a part of the letter recipients in this process. We have to address it. The Governor says we have an agreement. If we don't have an agreement, then someone ought to get back to the table with the Governor, your leader, and ask her what the agreement is because I'm not really sure where you stand anymore. Some of you are complaining that you weren't part of the agreement or you weren't part of the discussion. Well, go into their office and be a part of the agreement and engage yourself. This discussion has been going on for a long time now, and if you didn't know that, you got to pull your head out of the sand and figure out that this state is in great jeopardy right now. So much is happening around this country--we are in a one-state recession--so much is going on around us and we're not picking up on it. If we don't make changes right now, real changes, we will be left behind for good. It is our responsibility to step up to the plate and make some tough choices. Forget about the politics. Make the right choices because the decisions you make today will affect your state far into the future. All of this political mumbo jumbo that you want to add to the record and have printed in the Journal is not going to make one bit of difference. Make the right decision and do it for the right reason. Quit the political garbage that goes on in this place, and let's move forward together instead of leaving this state behind.

I am so disappointed in this vote. Leave the teachers alone. Look in your OWN backyard before cutting others!

Wonder if Senators get only 3 percent of full benefit for each year on job.limits since teachers have there own credit unions pay taxes,the educationcommittee -90% cost of insurance ,than future of thebenefits to teachers should be left to decision of teachers and committee's. Retired benefits are earned year after year put in by teachers anyway.Congress you go first,cut yours Thereby money earned money saved money taken out for benefits too. Why put more limits on something less then what they get now. Benefits Worse than before? We need more teachers not more limits on benefits. INTERN FOR STUDENT TEACHERS COLLEGE CREDIT COURSES IDEA- allow student teachers to intern,in schools that need teacher helpers or as part of college in tern part of college course additive. With overcrowded schools,must needed teacher help students will benefit learn more and the teachers than time wise teach better.