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House to Take
Up Taxes, Maybe Teacher Bills
Gongwer News Service, December 12, 2005
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While House
committees will meet throughout the week before adjourning for
the year, the full chamber will only see action Tuesday, as it
finishes up tax cuts for Michigan manufacturers. Proposals to
reform the state's welfare and teacher retirement benefit
systems may come up for action, a Republican spokesperson said
Monday.
The Republican-controlled House for sure will go through its
final steps in approving Senate bills (SB 203, SB 909 and SB
910), as the Tax Policy Committee is expected to report the
legislation out on Tuesday morning.
What is less certain is whether a package of legislation aimed
at revamping the state's welfare system by putting a 48-month
cap on cash assistance for able-bodied adults will go through,
or if an extension for the current system will be granted (HB
4121).
Calls to Rep. Jerry Kooiman (R-Grand Rapids) and Sen. Bill
Hardiman (R-Kentwood), the two key Republican leaders on the
reform effort, were not returned. A Republican spokesperson said
the package was still being finalized on Monday as the lawmakers
had met this weekend to discuss it.
Senate officials said they will wait on the House to make its
decisions on how to proceed with the welfare proposal, but if
needed legislation exists to extend the current December 31
deadline to end the current system.
Also up for question are a bundle of bills that would change the
teacher retirement system from a pension-based program to a
401(k)-style for new hires and allow school's to create
insurance pools. Although not tie-barred together, House
Republicans said the bills are "conceptually" linked. On Friday,
the House Education Chair Rep. Brian Palmer (R-Romeo) said that
if more disagreements between lawmakers and education lobbyists
were not cleared up, then the proposal would be dealt with next
year.
As of Monday, people from both sides of the aisle were unsure
whether Tuesday would be a marathon day or not. Democrats are
expected to not fight that tax cut proposal, even though it does
not tie up the tax loopholes they wanted, saying the decision to
move forward without that provision would be up to the governor.
House Democrats are urging that the Legislature extend the
moratorium on new landfill construction, which is set to expire
at the end of the year. They will hold a press conference on the
issue Tuesday in the capitol before the House convenes at 10
a.m.
Matt Resch, spokesperson for House Speaker Craig DeRoche
(R-Novi), said he expected an extension of the moratorium to
come up as a Democratic amendment to a package of bills aimed at
allowing the state to ban the importation of trash from places
such as Canada if Congress approves the measure (SB 783, HB
5176, HB 5177 and HB 5178). The Senate bill is on second
reading, while HB 5176 was laid over on December 1. The other
remaining bills were laid over that same day.
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