Category: Capitol News

By Mary Pollock The Legislature was on spring break for two weeks in late March and early April. It returns April 9 to face budget decisions in May and June. It will welcome two new House members in early May via special elections on April 16 in Warren and Westland districts. SCRAP THE $300 CAP… Read more

By Mary Pollock SCRAP THE CAP UPDATE Michigan SERA’s effort to Scrap the $300 Cap on defined benefit (DB) State employee retirees’ annual 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is advancing enthusiastically. SERA Legislative Committee Member Cole Bouck’s efforts with SERA chapters and members, departmental Facebook retiree pages, departmental retiree groups, and State unions and State unions’ retiree… Read more

By Mary Pollock The Governor gave her State of the State Address on January 24 to a joint session of the Legislature. In the Governor’s Proposed 2023-2025 Budget Message given to a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in the new Heritage Hall adjacent to the Capitol two weeks later on February… Read more

By Mary Pollock The Legislature returned January 10 for an exciting election year. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver her sixth State of the State Address on Wednesday, January 24 at 7 p.m. The address will be held in the Michigan House Chambers in front of a joint session of the Michigan House of Representatives and… Read more

By Mary Pollock The Michigan Legislature officially adjourned for the year on November 14, but voting was finished on the night of November 9. The early adjournment essentially canceled two to three weeks of session in December but allowed the three-week early presidential primary bill (Public Act (PA) 2 of 2023) to take effect next… Read more

By Mary Pollock Whew! The Michigan House and Senate combined to pass more than 90 bills over a three-day span during the week of October 31 – November 2. The Michigan House had two late sessions past midnight on November 1 and 2. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS What is usually a calm legislative adjournment in mid-December of… Read more

By Mary Pollock The 102nd Legislature’s frenetic pace continued after its return on September 5. UPDATE ON SERA PRIORITY ISSUES SERA Member Recruitment — Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint), Chair of the Senate Labor Committee, has agreed to sponsor and champion a proposed bill to allow SERA to acquire for its private use the names and contact… Read more

By Mary Pollock Though the Legislature adjourned June 29 and doesn’t intend to return until September 5, there has been a lot of legislative and executive branch news of importance to SERA-Nade readers. REMOVING $300 CAP ON OUR 3% COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT (COLA) Michigan SERA has asked Governor Gretchen Whitmer to support solving the problem of… Read more

By Mary Pollock If you are reading this article in a printed version of the SERA-Nade and have e-mail capability, consider having the SERA-Nade e-mailed to you. It saves SERA the printing and postage costs (over $1 for each monthly newsletter for each member). The e-mail version looks just like the paper version in a PDF file attached to… Read more

By Mary Pollock BUDGET BILLS MOVING This May and June are important decision times for the budget for Fiscal Year 2024. It will be the first budget the Democrats will pass under their new trifecta control. But Republicans have the votes to withhold Immediate Effect (IE), a powerful negotiating tool. If IE is denied, appropriations… Read more