Fighting for Michigan families.
Fighting for Michigan job providers.
Fighting for Michigan’s future.
SENATE REPUBLICANS
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SENATE REPUBLICANS:
Leading with Cuts and Reforms
BUDGET ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Resolved 2007 budget deficit of $859 million
— Without raising taxes;
— Without releasing convicted felons; and
— By maintaining funding levels for core government functions like public safety and education.
• Responded to $70 million in overspending by three state departments by
enacting strict reforms to prevent it from happening in the future
• Proposed $1 billion in cuts, reforms, and other budgetary savings for 2008,
and flattened the 2008 budget
— Refused to fund new programs or department inflationary increases in 2008;
— Refused to fund $75 million in public employee inflationary wage increases;
— Cut legislative budget 3.4 percent, or $4 million in 2008;
— Proposed cuts that include $332.7 million in savings by removing the governor’s increases to
K-12, higher education, and community colleges; and
— Proposed privatizing of more foster care and juvenile justice services to achieve gross savings
of more than $19 million in 2008, and annual savings of $7.5 million after 2008.
SENATE REPUBLICAN REFORMS
• Public employee health care benefits reforms
Senate Republicans passed reforms addressing the skyrocketing cost of health benefits.
— Public school employee benefits in Michigan cost 42 percent more than the national average
Our public employee health care reforms include:
— Allowing public employers to pool together on a self-insured basis to provide health
benefits coverage;
— Granting access to claims data;
— Requiring employers to competitively bid their health benefits; and
— Keeping savings at the local level to be put back into the classroom.
• School employee retirement reforms
— Reforms school employee retirement by moving new school employees to a graded health
care system; and
— Increases the employee contribution rate to the pension system.
• Common school calendar
— Requires all districts with