What else will you do to reform this government, seeing as how about 2000 of the about 55000 employees in the state work for the legislature?

ANd they are all at-will employees, unlike most of the rest?

There are over 600 people in this government that make over 100k, and not one of them is a legislator, and therefore not subject to term limits or even a vote of the people.  

How do we address that?

You say "what could a part time legislature accomplish that ours hasn't".  The idea is to try to may them more accountable for the time they do spend doing their job.  They get paid $75,000 plus expenses to work 90 official days out of the year.  That is excessive.  If they can't do what they were elected to do, then they have no business running for office.

I know the argument is "but, we don't have enough time to get things done".  Well, let me switch that around a bit - when they decided to run for office, they knew what they were getting into, and they knew what would be required.  If they can't get the job done, then they aren't suited for the position, and should never ever even attempt to ask the citizens for their vote.

Michigan is only one of a few states in the nation to have a full time legislature.  It isn't needed.  They need to cut all the excessive wastes out, buckle down, and represent the people.

I'm not necessarily opposed to a part time legislature, but the punitive nature the groups with these  proposals  is what concerns me.

Forcing them to meet less will not make them work faster or harder on a budget.  Human beings always procrastinate when possible, and as a conservative, you all should understand that if they decide to agree quickly, it's for something that we won't like.  Working past their deadline in October was a good thing; there was a principled fight over taxes.  The only way out of the situation would have been to cave and raise taxes immediately.

Messiness is essential to democracy, and the more they are not doing anything, the safer we are.  You are advocating a system that will get them to "hurry up!", but not looking at the disadvantage... mainly that they will most certainly hurry up.  And do something you do not want.

The democrats favor big government.  The democrats are running half the legislature now, and could very well get the other half in just a few short years.  Do we want them to control the agenda?

Having said that, the government most certainly should've been shut down.  We blinked.  That is not something that a part time legislature would've addressed.

Voting for a budget, or the state crocodile, is not the representative's primary function.  It is to be the representative from the citizens to this government.  So you cut their pay, and you only get people in office with other jobs... you've done nothing to dismantle the current government, and you have denied the citizens the ability to seek help.  When that friend of the court case pops up, or the DEQ steals your land because some mottled/ fur bearing/antelope-beaked chameleon shows up on your front porch, or Treasury doesn't remember you filing your taxes, or you have an issue with DHS, who are you going to turn to?

By dismantling the legislature, you are empowering the executive branch. And I don't mean the governor.  I mean those several other departments that state representatives and senators spend so much of their time fighting with.

I don't care what other states do or don't do.  We have to figure out what works best here.  It very well may be a part time legislature, but we have built a huge government, most of it unaccountable to us, and by further restraining the legislature we aren't solving the problem.

And yes, they aren't doing enough to solve it either.  But that's because, as our representatives, we aren't pushing them hard enough.

We're too busy trying to destroy them and besmirch them and tar and feather them over issues that they are the only group capable of handling.

I have known many officials in Lansing, and they do not, on the average, fit the cartoon stereotypes that the "destroy the legislature" crowd seem to make for them.  

The simple fact is that if legislators are restricted in how often they can meet, they must necessarily work harder to pass the budget and do other critical legislation, rather than dithering around and waiting until the last minute, like they did this year.
And they also would not have time to pass bills like establishing a state soil, state fungus, etc. Plus maybe they would stop sticking their nose into our businesses like passing a smoke-free law.

Read all about the Kalamazoo Chamber's smoke and mirrors on this issue at:

http://www.kaltax.org/

And the proof is...?

I don't buy it.  The last-minute aspect wasn't because htey had a lot of time to do it.  The last-minute aspect was political, and would/could have still happened with a part-time legislature (and then forced them to stay longer?)

Trying to change the institution doesn't change the politics involved.