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Nothing Moves
On Teacher Benefit Reforms
MIRS, December 13, 2005
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After all was
said and done, a lot was said and nothing was done in regard to
GOP attempts to change the structure of teacher benefits in
Michigan.
As Tuesday began, the predictions were upbeat about a four-bill
package that would have allowed school districts to form
education health care pools without the oversight of the
Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA).
The issue pitted the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and
its insurance-wing, the Michigan Education Special Services
Association (MESSA), which opposed the legislation against those
who supported it — most notably the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) and nearly all of the House Republicans.
However, by mid-afternoon the word was that there had been
Republican defections and the bills were in trouble. None of
these bills were even brought up today.
"They (the Republicans) didn't have the votes to pass the health
care legislation," MEA Director of Government Affairs Al SHORT
told MIRS. "We had enough votes to get our amendments on. If
they don't have enough votes to pass it, there's no use in them
putting it up."
Short said a compromise could have been reached, but the
Republicans didn't like what he had to offer.
"They still wanted to mess with MESSA," Short said.
On the issue of school employee retirement reform legislation,
HB 4947, the prospects for passage in the House hadn't looked
good going into the day, and they never got any better.
Initially, HB 4947 would have changed Michigan's teacher school
employee retirement system to a defined contribution structure.
The battle over HB 4947 is what kept the House in session all
day on Dec. 1. On that day, the legislation was stripped of the
defined contribution wording, and negotiations between House GOP
leadership and the MEA were officially going to get under way.
"We haven't even gotten close to an agreement on the retirement
issue," Short told MIRS, in reference to those negotiations.
MIRS asked Short if today's lack of action on the two pieces of
legislation should be interpreted as a victory for the MEA.
"No, it's still there," Short said. "It will just carry over
into next year. There was no reason it had to be done by Dec.
31. It could still happen in January, February or March. We'll
still be talking. The issues aren't going away."
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