Tag: PA312

Automatic wage increases, a term that can only be associated with those on a government paycheck, are actually being considered in a bill sponsored by 'Republicans.'  HB5097, as the Mackinac Center reports, will exempt certain PA312 of 1969 covered employees from PA54 of 2011.

".. House Bill 5097, which has 23 co-sponsors, would exempt law enforcement and fire department employees from the law. Specifically, the exemption would apply to employees who are covered by Public Act 312 of 1969, which is a compulsory arbitration law.

Perhaps next, they might propose an automatic wage increase for farmers?  Without the heroic acts of farmers none of us might eat! What about plumbers? Fighting fire without water wouldn't work too well.  How about auto makers, etc.. ?

According to Mackinac there are 18 Republicans co-sponsoring the legislation.  Reps: Kevin Cotter, Hugh Crawford, Kevin Daley, Jeff Farrington, Frank Foster, Ken Goike, Nancy Jenkins, Eileen Kowall, Ken Kurtz, Andrea LaFontaine, Matt Lori, Lisa Posthumus Lyons, Mike McCready, Rick Outman, Peter Pettalia, Wayne Schmidt, Pat Somerville, and Dale Zorn.

Five Democrat Reps: Vicki Barnett, Paul Clemente, Brandon Dillon, Tim Greimel, and Henry Yanez.

SB 1072  Expands PA312 beyond its original scope and is being pushed NOW as we speak.  In June, as it was passed out of the house:

Rep. Haines, having reserved the right to explain her protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:

"Mr. Speaker and members of the House:

I support binding arbitration for police and firefighters, but I believe this bill expands binding arbitration beyond what was originally intended.

I also have serious concerns that the unintended consequence of the bill will be that local governments will not be able to afford to provide services, and as a result people will lose their jobs and public protection will be undermined.

I have written on PA312 in the past.  It is suitable to be thrown out only, but expanding its scope???

Representative Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) spoke in support of the bill and in his actual floor speech said:

"If cities are losing these awards they need to hire better city managers."

I have written on PA312 before.

Might there be a solution?  Given that the law states unfunded mandates to municipalities are NOT supposed to happen, (A current lawsuit by Charlevoix commissioners is now ongoing) This may well set up the state for a bigger fall than it has been headed for already.  

Better Managers? or perhaps better legislators..

Rick Jones is running against Randy Brink in the 24TH DISTRICT STATE SENATE primary.

The other part of the problem is with mandates from the state, but with no money provided as required alongside the mandates.  Revenue sharing is not as it is supposed to be.  Cap Con reports on the upcoming problem with benefits, as well as the revenue sharing aspect.

Public employee compensation is just one factor on the cost side creating trouble. Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman and research intern Adam Rule noted last year that annual state and local government employee benefit costs in Michigan had grown to $5.7 billion higher than if government employees were receiving benefit packages comparable to their neighbors who work in Michigan's hard-hit private sector.

And the problem is a comparatively recent trend, with $2 billion of the $5.7 billion total gap opening up just in the five-year period between 2002 and 2007.

Is your local government NOT planning its finances prudently?  Is there a sense of "we better get it while we can" in play?  And has your community not received revenue sharing that it had planned on for budgeting?