LANSING – In a move that will help ease state budget pressures, House Democrats today voted to slash lawmaker salaries by 5 percent and end free lifetime health care for legislators, a move that will help ease state budget pressures.
"In these difficult economic times, our working families are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table," State Representative Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) said. "We cannot stand idly by while our residents make sacrifices just to get by. We must lead by example and develop long-term solutions that will keep our economy moving in the right direction."
The House passed a resolution calling on the State Officers Compensation Commission (SOCC), the body in charge of determining legislator salaries, to decrease lawmakers' salaries by 5 percent beginning with the 2009-10 legislative year, the earliest allowed under the constitution.
The legislation also will:
- Cut the salaries of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State.
- Urge the SOCC to refrain from enacting salary increases that exceed the average increase in state employee pay.
- Reduce health care benefits for the Legislature and the Lieutenant Governor.
Today's resolution is a continuation of the House's ongoing effort to cut government spending. The House passed a plan earlier this year that cuts the State House budget by 5 percent, or $3 million. The plan requires lawmakers and their staffs to pay more for health care, prohibits State Representatives from using state funds for out-of-state travel and cuts positions in the Michigan House to eliminate redundancies.
"I can think of no other profession in which a person receives free lifetime health care after working for only six years," said State Representative Joan Bauer (D-Lansing). "We must find ways to cut government spending, and it's time that we ended this special treatment for lawmakers and shared in the sacrifice."
Byrum cast her vote just one week after giving birth to her first child, Blake.
"The birth of my son has only strengthened my commitment to making Michigan an even better place to live, work and raise a family," Byrum said. "This plan is the right thing to do to move our state forward."