Good news, bad news on lifetime insurance for state legislators

Mike Bishop and Andy Dillon.

There was some good news out of Lansing this week: legislators agreed to end the practice of lifetime taxpayer-funded health care for legislators who turn 55.

The bad news? The legislators decided to exempt themselves from losing this little perk.

Speaker of the House Andy Dillon says he thought current legislators should be included, but he didn’t put it in the bill because he was afraid it wouldn’t get through the Senate. (Gosh, legislating is hard!)

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop thought about including current legislators, but it wouldn’t have been enough of a savings to bother. Last year, Michigan taxpayers spent almost $5 million dollars to provide this coverage for 341 lawmakers and their families.  For Senator Bishop, it seems that $5 million is what falls off the table when he’s counting real money… 

Way to provide leadership, guys.

Speaking of leadership, Governor Granholm gave her final State of the State address on Wednesday night. Her speech recognized the realities of Michigan’s economic crisis, offering proposals to encourage entrepreneurship and improve Michigan education levels in an effort to diversify the economy. She cited the progress made in new businesses like biotech, advanced manufacturing and clean energy.

With less than a year left in her term, the Governor also challenged the legislature to step up and provide a balanced, on-time budget. Legislative wrangling and hissy fits have led to two state shutdowns in the last three years, and it’s clear Michigan can’t afford to keep up this track record. Gov. Granholm supported efforts by the bipartisan Freshman Caucus to set a July 1 deadline for the budget, and require legislative pay cuts each day the deadline is missed.

How did Senator Bishop respond to this speech? "I just think it was kind of blah," says Bishop, "I didn't really feel like I was waiting for the big thing to get rolled out to just blow me away. And I didn't feel there was anything there to take away from it." 

A state with a diverse economic base, an educated work force and an on-time budget is “blah”? That’s not really what we need to hear from our elected officials -- especially the ones who may have an eye on the Governor’s seat.