Current Legislation

We need as many MEA members and supporters as possible at the Capitol in Lansing Thursday to hold legislators accountable for their actions on several bills that will directly affect all public education employees, including you.

You are invited to MEA briefings Thursday for updates on pending legislation. The briefings are at 8:30 a.m. at MEA headquarters in East Lansing and at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Room 428 of the Capitol.

Lawmakers plan to vote on bills dealing with public employee health insurance (House Bill 4572 and Senate Bill 7 and bills to curb collective bargaining for all public school employees and dismantle teacher tenure (House Bills 4625-4628).

Michigan Capitol

It’s crunch time in Lansing, where lawmakers have just two session days – and a packed schedule – remaining before heading home for most of the summer.

They hope to complete work on legislation dealing with public employee health care and bills that curb collective bargaining and dismantle teacher tenure. All MEA members will be negatively affected by these bills.

This week is expected to be another busy one in Lansing, as lawmakers push to pass several bills before a long summer recess. The agenda includes legislation dealing with collective bargaining, teacher tenure, and public employee health care.

Lawmakers could take final action on a four-bill package to gut collective bargaining and tenure laws. House Bills 4625-4628 already passed the House and are pending in the Senate.

MEA supports efforts to overhaul teacher tenure as outlined in Senate Bill 503, sponsored by Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw. The bill is an alternative to the House bills, which go beyond teacher tenure to take away collective bargaining of many new subjects, including evaluation and merit pay.

Michigan House of Representatives

Yesterday the House passed HB 4087 which ends legislative retiree health care for legislators elected after 2007. Under this legislation, future lawmakers and most of those currently serving in the Legislature would no longer be eligible for the benefit.

• Late today, the House approved HB 4572, calling for a hard cap on the amount of insurance a public employer could pay for its employees. The vote was 58-51.