LANSING – In a move to help reform state government and ease budget pressures, the House voted to slash lawmaker salaries by 5 percent and end free lifetime health care for legislators.
"In these tough economic times, Michigan's lawmakers must lead by example," said State Representative Mike Simpson (D-Jackson). "Our residents are making sacrifices and struggling to make ends meet and the Legislature should share in those sacrifices. This pay cut will save the state more than $500,000 a year."
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 House Democrats' ongoing effort to reform government and cut wasteful 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.
"As Michigan faces financial challenges, we must find ways to cut government spending – doing away with free lifetime health care for lawmakers is a big step in the right direction," said State Representative Robert Dean (D-Grand Rapids). "There is no other profession in which a person earns free health care for life after working only six years. This plan will put an end to that special treatment."