Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on January 29, 2009

The vote was 27 in favor, 11 opposed and 0 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 63 at Senate Journal 0)

Click here to view bill details.

 

Senators Cherry, Jacobs, Switalski, Scott, Brater and Clark-Coleman, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No. 132.

Senator Cherry’s statement, in which Senators Jacobs, Switalski, Scott, Brater and Clark-Coleman concurred, is as follows:

This bill that we just passed included eliminating health care benefits for Appeals Court and Supreme Court judges. I believe since those folks are not term limited and can work an unlimited number of years, they certainly deserve to have health care. So I voted “no” specifically for that reason.

While I believe that we should be understanding that we could be providing, as we have talked about today, some kind of a rating service in terms of the amount of money that people pay for their health care benefits, I really believe that when people are there and term limits are not in effect for those offices, we should not be eliminating their benefits.

As a taxpayer who 'contributes' to this pension, and is a retired non-union non- government employee, I have a question.

What is a pension????

In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment.

Hope that helps.