Michigan Federation of Teachers & School Related Personnel
|
Michigan Federation of Teachers & School Related Personnel
|
|
Capitol Report Archives June, 2005 May, 2005 April, 2005 March, 2005 February, 2005 January, 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Go to current Capitol Report for links to complete archive. Voting Records 2003-04 |
Pension and Retiree Health Care Threatened State-Run Health Care Plan for Education Employees (SB 55 & 56) K-16 Coalition Planning Citizen Initiative for Funding Guarantee Senate Passes its Version of School Security Start School Year after Labor Day
Links to current Legislative Action Alerts
may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top Pension and Retiree Health Care Threatened Under House Bill 4947 (Palmer, R-Romeo), approved by the House Education committee, all new education employees would be forced to become members of a defined contribution, rather than a defined benefit pension, and would pay at least 10 percent of their retirement health care costs. The bill would amend the Public School Employees Retirement Act to replace the defined benefit retirement system with a defined contribution retirement system, beginning July 1, 2006. Employees who were hired prior to this date would continue to be part of a defined benefit retirement system, although they would have the option of electing, instead, the defined contribution retirement system. The Public School Employees' Retirement System (MPSERS) provides a pension and health insurance to nearly a half-million people--more than 338,000 active members, and about 150,000 retirees and beneficiaries. This includes public school employees, community college employees, and employees of some universities. The MPSERS plan is administered by the Office of Retirement Services in the Department of Management and Budget. Currently, the traditional defined benefit pension system guarantees a lifetime pension benefit for those employees who are "vested" in the system (those who have at least 10 years of service), and the amount is based on a formula that multiples the employee's years of service times his or her final average compensation times 1.5 percent. Generally speaking, the system is funded by contributions made by employing school districts on behalf of their employees. The portion of the system devoted to pensions is actuarially calculated to ensure that the system has enough assets to pay benefits to current retires. The portion of the system devoted to health care has been funded on a pay-as-you-go basis for about the last decade. By contrast, in the proposed new defined contribution system, a school district would contribute a fixed amount to each employee - 4 percent of his or her salary, plus a matching contribution of up to 3 percent, if the employee contributed an equal amount. Thus, a school district's contribution rate would remain steady at (at most) 7 percent of payroll. (An employee could contribute an additional 3 percent, but that would not be matched by the employer.) The employee would take responsibility for investing his or her own account in a 401(k)-style plan, and bear the risk of whether the amount invested would grow enough to provide an adequate retirement income. The employee would be fully vested in the employer match funds after four years. House Bill 4947 would also create a graded premium for the health insurance coverage provided to retirees. After 10 years of service (but less than 30 years), the retirement system would pay a portion of the monthly premium equal to 3 percent times the member's years of service. The amount covered would increase by 3 percent annually, up to 90 percent coverage after 30 years of service. Under the bill as reported, purchased credits would count toward vestment in the pension account, but not toward coverage for health care. Current school employees would have until July 1, 2007, to decide whether to remain in the current system or convert to the defined contribution plan. House Bill 4947 is currently awaiting action on the floor of the House. This bill is opposed by the MFT&SRP, as well as the Michigan AFL-CIO, SEIU , MEA, RCC, AFCME Council 25, IUOE Local 547, and MCEA because:
Action Needed: Contact your state legislators in opposition to House Bill 4947. For your convenience, a form letter on this issue appears on our website at: http://www.mftsrp.org/legislative.html#hb4947. Return to Top State-Run Health Care Plan for Education Employees (SB 55 & 56) The Virginia-based Hay Group is scheduled to outline its findings at a hearing in Lansing on July 26. Senator Johnson said she wants at least three hearings on the plan before lawmakers begin to consider what action to take on the proposal. There are four types of health plans that cover Michigan school district employees. Traditional Fee- For-Service (FFS) plans permit the employee to select any available physician or hospital for treatment. Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) are networks that contract with the health plan to provide services at a discounted rate. Employees pay less for PPO network provides that for non-network providers. Point-of-Service (POS) plans also use networks and require that patients have a primary care physician act as a gatekeeper to determine if treatment is needed. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) require that all treatment be provided through their physicians and hospitals. The Hay Group recommends the state offer no fee-for-service system, creating instead a PPO and several HMOs. They estimate the total savings at between $146 million and $281 million. They offer the following three options:
Return to Top K-16 Coalition Planning Citizen Initiative for Funding Guarantee The MFT&SRP agrees with the K-16 Coalition's belief that the legislature is either unable or unwilling to resolve the education funding crisis in Michigan by providing necessary funding stability for Michigan education - kindergarten through university. Michigan's Constitution provides for an initiative by citizens to bring specific legislation to the legislature. The process requires approximately 257,000 registered voters to sign an initiative petition. Once the petitions are certified by the Secretary of State, the initiative can be presented to the legislature - both House and Senate. After receiving the certified initiative petition, the legislature has 40 days to act on the proposed legislation. Both the House and Senate, by simple majority vote (56 votes in the House and 20 votes in the Senate) can vote YES or NO. The legislation cannot be amended, changed or modified - only an up or down roll-call vote within the 40 days. If the legislation is approved by both the House and Senate, it takes "immediate effect" and is not subject to the Governor's signature or veto. If either the House or Senate cannot achieve 56 votes or 20 votes respectively within 40 days, the statutory initiative is automatically placed on the ballot at the next general election where the citizens will decide the issue. The K-16 Coalition has been reviewing, discussing and analyzing various strategies for moving the major elements of SB 246/HB 4582 into the initiative process. They are considering a new version of the proposal that would:
Return to Top Senate Passes its Version of School Security The Senate version of legislation aimed at minimizing the chance that a sex offender can come into contact with children in school passed the chamber almost unanimously. The general theme of the package is to both ensure that background checks of school personnel are conducted, so that no one charged or convicted on criminal sexual offenses is hired by a school, and prohibits persons convicted of sexual crimes from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of a school. Senate Bill 601 would do the following:
Senate Bill 612 (S-2) would require a person who was employed by, applied for a position with, or worked under contract in a school district to report if he or she were charged with or convicted of certain crimes in one business day. Senate Bill 129 requires that no person convicted of a crime on the registry or on probation for such a crime live, work or loiter within 1,000 feet of a school. The bill does not affect those persons already living within 1,000 feet of a school, though it would prohibit such a person from initiating contact with a minor. Also not affected would be individuals under 19, attending school and living with their parents. Senate Bills 613, 614 and 615 require owners and employees of child care centers to report charged crimes and convictions. The bills also require background checks of family members of the owners of small day-care centers that operate out of a home. Senate Bills 605, 606, 607 and 608 set sentencing guidelines for people convicted of taking employment or volunteer assignments where children are present, change sentencing guidelines to reflect increased penalties, require individuals on the registry to notify police when they move and allow certain kinds of evidence in cases, respectively. The House passed a similar multi-bill package the day before the July 4th recess. The Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel, in consult with Mark Cousens, is working with the legislators to amend this bill package to ensure school employees and children are protected. Return to Top Start School Year after Labor Day Under House Bill 4803 (Gaffney, R-Grosse Pointe), as passed by the House, public schools in Michigan would not be able to start their academic year until after Labor Day. However, the requirement would not apply if the school district or public school academy has a collective bargaining agreement in place, as of the effective date of the bill, that requires a start date earlier than Labor Day. Once that agreement expires, that district or public school academy would have to start the year after Labor Day. The Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel, along with other educational organizations, oppose this bill. Those supporting this legislation include businesses and the tourism industry desiring to increase their own revenues during this time period. This bill now moves to the Senate for Committee action. Return to Top |
