Capitol News
March 9, 2025
Lansing SERA has a Facebook page (“Lansing SERA”) where newsworthy items related to State employee retiree interests are occasionally posted.
SCRAP THE CAP UPDATE
Upon SERA’s inquiry, we are told by Sen. Sarah Anthony’s office that the actuarial study about alternatives for defined benefit State retiree annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) is near completion. Sen. Anthony (D-Lansing) is the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and sponsored the boilerplate in the General Government budget bill authorizing the study.
LAME DUCK HOLDOVER ISSUES
Nine Hostage Bills Update — Recall that new 2025 Republican leadership in the House did not send to the Governor nine bills that had been approved by both Democratic-controlled chambers in the waning hours of lame duck session in December 2024. Four of the bills were measures SERA supported including House Bill (HB) 6058 of 2024 to make 80 percent the floor rather than the ceiling for public employers to pay for public employee health care premiums. The State Employees Retirement Act requires State retiree health care premiums to be the same as active State employee premiums, so non-Medicare eligible State employee retirees could benefit by this change if the bill became law. HBs 4645 – 4667 of 2024 to allow State corrections, conservation officers, and some others to participate in the State Police retirement plan, a hybrid plan with both pension and 401k components, was also among the bills in limbo.
The Senate filed a lawsuit to compel the current Republican House Clerk and Speaker to present the bills to the Governor. On February 27, Judge Sima Patel issued a mixed opinion and order (Senate v. House COC Docket No. 25-000014) holding that Article IV, Section 33, of the Michigan Constitution mandates all bills passed by the Legislature must be presented to the Governor within time to allow 14 days for the Governor’s review prior to the first date that they could take effect – even those passed during a ’lame duck’ session in an even year. However, the procedures to do so are a legislative function in which the court declined to interfere based on past precedent decisions. She also held that the Constitution didn’t specify the person or entity responsible for presenting the bills, and the court would not be making the determination on that issue either.
Democratic and Republican leaders both issued statements declaring victory, likely signaling an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Vulnerable Adult Bills — Senate Bills (SBs) 111 through 114 of 2025 were introduced on February 27, 2025, and had a first hearing on March 6 during which SERA registered its support for the bills. SBs 111 – 114 are reintroductions of SBs 922 through 925 of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session that SERA also supported in Committee, but the bills didn’t make it through on the last chaotic days of the House’s lame duck session.
SBs 111-114 would enhance protections against financial exploitation, abuse, and neglect of vulnerable adults, including those over 60. Specifically, they would create a process for certain elder and vulnerable adults to petition a circuit court to enter an elder and vulnerable adult personal protection order. They also would allow a county or region to create a vulnerable adult multidisciplinary team that would work within that area to protect against and bring awareness to vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Additionally, the bills would include embezzlement from a vulnerable adult during and after the vulnerable adult’s life as a violation of racketeering and expand the way that penalties for the fraudulent use or attempted use of a vulnerable adult’s money or property could be calculated.
NEW APPOINTEES
Governor Whitmer has appointed a new member of the Michigan Civil Service Commission (MCSC) and two new members to the State of Michigan Retirement Board (SOMRB).
Appointed to the MCSC is David Berridge of Dimondale who succeeds former Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (R-Grand Rapids) to represent Independents for a term expiring December 31, 2032. He recently served as chair of the SOMRB. He is the former director of public service and special projects coordinator for the City of Lansing and Michigan Department of Transportation. Previously, he was the vice president of the Scientific and Engineering Unit of SEIU 517M and chief spokesperson for several rounds of negotiations. The appointment is not subject to Senate advice and consent. At their meeting on February 7, MCSC member and former AFSCME Legislative Representative and former State Representative Nick Ciaramitaro was elected MCSC Chair. Governor Whitmer has now appointed three of the four members of the MCSC. Likely we will see some CSC Rule changes and policy shifts in the next year as a result. Usually there is a SERA representative monitoring MCSC meetings since it controls retiree health care benefits.
Appointed to the SOMRB is Lorie Barnwell of Warren to represent the general public and Tim Hughes of East Lansing to represent retirees of the State Employee Retirement System (SERS). Barnwell is the treasurer of the City of Warren since 2015 and previously was a manager at Chase Bank. She will serve a term expiring at the end of 2027. Hughes retired as a legislative consultant to the Michigan AFL-CIO and previously served in the Executive office of Governor Jennifer Granholm. He will serve a term that expires at the end of 2028. He replaces David Berridge, who resigned to be available for appointment to the MCSC. The Board provides oversight of the SERS, the Judges Retirement System, and the Military Retirement Provisions, all of which service nearly 88,000 active and retired employees. These appointments are not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. I attend the quarterly meetings of the Board and speak during the public comment period to inform the Board of current and future State retirees’ interests and concerns such as the Scrap the Cap effort.
OTHER NEWS
State of the State Address — At the Governor’s 2025 State of the State Address given February 26 before a joint session of the Legislature, the Democratic Governor emphasized the need to work together to advance public policy – an obvious need since the Michigan House is now controlled by Republicans and Republicans have a trifecta in Washington, DC. She pointed out that this year, hundreds of thousands of Michigan senior households will save an average of $1,000 on their taxes due to the phase-in of retirement tax reductions enacted in 2023.
Revised Minimum Wage and Sick Time Laws — Just in the nick of time, Michigan lawmakers on a bi-partisan basis after much lobbying, negotiation, and many changes agreed to amend the 2018 voter-initiated minimum wage and paid sick time laws under legal dispute for six years and court-ordered to go into effect on February 21, 2025. In communications with legislators and the Governor, SERA supported the court-ordered law without amendments. However, both the House and Senate passed significant amendments to both laws and the Governor signed them on February 21.
House Joint Resolution (HJR) A — SERA registered in the House Government Operations Committee its support for HJR A, a proposed Michigan Constitutional Amendment that would require 2/3 vote in both chambers to pass a bill in lame duck session after the general election in even-numbered years. If this bi-partisan HJR is adopted by both chambers with two-thirds vote, it would be put on the next general election ballot. If adopted by a simple majority of voters, it would effectively put a stop to most of the shenanigans during lame duck sessions and encourage legislators to get their legitimate business done before the general election. The measure awaits action by the full House.
Grandparent Inclusion — SERA has submitted in the House Finance Committee its support for HB 4014 that would include grandparents in the definition of those to whom a residential transfer of ownership did not uncap the taxable value after transfer, potentially saving them a huge property tax bill.
Death Certificate Bills — SERA supported in the House Health Policy Committee two bills that would streamline and modernize the death certificate process. HBs 4077 and 4078 would require death reports to be made through a web-based system and would change or remove conditions under which a death must be certified by, or referred to, a county medical examiner. This would make death certificates available for inheritance and insurance purposes much quicker. In addition, it is now a misdemeanor for a physician to refuse or fail to certify a death record or provide relevant information. The bills instead would subject the physician to license sanctions for doing so.
Virtual Hearing Option — SERA supported in committee HB 4099 that would modify the Open Meetings Act to permit electronic hearings in the Tax Tribunal. This would be a cost saving to both taxpayers and the State for those who want to use a virtual option. Seniors often have transportation difficulties to in-person hearings, especially in rural areas.
Inactive Voters Purged — More than 318,000 inactive voter registrations will be removed from the State’s voter rolls in April, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has announced. With the cancellation, Benson said her department will have removed 1.1 million out-of-date registrations since 2019. Michigan has approximately 7.3 million active registered voters and a total voting age population of about 7.9 million. The State’s Qualified Voter File currently includes approximately 577,000 inactive registrations that are slated for cancellation, as well as about 600,000 inactive voter registrations belonging to voters who have not cast a ballot in the last six years and who may have died or moved. If you are one of these inactive Michigan voters or their personal representative, contact your city or township clerk for assistance.
House Passes $20 Billion Early Budget — The Michigan House majority passed a Fiscal Year 2026 budget of $20 billion on March 6 in HB 4161, purportedly “just in case” there is a government shutdown caused by a deadlock on budget negotiations before September 30. The Governor recommended an $83.5 billion Fiscal Year 26 budget. A $20 billion State budget would require a 75 percent reduction in the size and scope of State government. Democrats accused Speaker of the House Hall of setting his sights on a government shutdown rather than working to achieve a bi-partisan budget.
Editor’s note: Mary Pollock is the Lansing SERA Chapter and SERA Coordinating Council’s Legislative Representative. She may be contacted at michigansera@comcast.net.
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