LANSING – In a move to help reform state government and ease budget pressures, State Representatives Terry Brown (D-Pigeon) and John Espinoza (D-Croswell) voted for a plan today that cuts lawmaker salaries by 5 percent and ends free lifetime health care for legislators.
"While our state fights to recover from these tough times, everyone has to make sacrifices, and legislators should be treated just like everybody else," Brown said. "Cutting legislators' pay will save the state half a million dollars a year, which can be used for services that our residents and our communities need. This is a good start to cutting the amount we spend on government, but it can't be the end."
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 legislators' 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.
"Free lifetime health care is a ridiculous luxury for public servants and one that our state cannot afford," Espinoza said. "This plan shows more respect for taxpayers' hard-earned money and reminds legislators that they must serve the interests of the people they represent, not their own pocketbooks."