Senate could vote on retirement, health care bills TODAY
Contact your state senator IMMEDIATELY to stop these attacks -- including an even more damaging retirement proposal than the governor's plan.
March 24, 2010 - The Senate could vote as early as today on legislation that would force thousands of veteran school employees into retirement -- WITHOUT the governor's proposed small increase in their pensions -- and a separate measure that would require school employees to pay 20 percent of the cost of their health insurance.
Please contact your state senator right away via your personal email or home/cell phone. Tell him or her that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
These bills fail to address the need for real solutions to Michigan’s budget crisis. They are just the latest schemes to try to balance the budget on the backs of public employees. Instead of ramming major public policy changes through so lawmakers can leave Lansing for spring break, tell your senator to take the time necessary to help find adequate, equitable, and stable funding for public education and other public services.
Please take five minutes to contact your senator, and share this news with a colleague – if you don’t act, who will? Action is needed TODAY to stop this reckless legislation.
Here’s a quick summary of the bills that may be voted on in the Senate as early as today:
Senate Bill 1227 would keep the current 1.5 percent multiplier – the governor's proposed small increase in the pension multiplier has been eliminated. The punitive elimination of dental and vision coverage for those who retire after Sept. 1, 2010, remains, as does an outrageous increase of 3 percent of salary to pay for the mismanagement and underfunding of the pension by the state. What’s more, employees hired after July 1, 2010, would be put in a “hybrid” combined pension/defined contribution plan. The minimum retirement age would be age 60.
The State Budget Office estimates that this bill will cost school employees/retirees $3.52 billion over the next 10 years, or about $352.5 million per year!
Senate Bill 1046 would require public employees pay 20 percent of the cost of their health plan. If a district offered both a wellness plan and a health savings account, then the employee portion would be 15 percent.
What’s needed in Lansing is courage, not recklessness. Again, please take a few minutes to contact your senator and urge a colleague to do the same!
March 24, 2010