GOP leader explains lack of vote on domestic partner bill

The failure to vote Thursday on a controversial resolution to overturn the Michigan Civil Service Commission decision to extend health benefits to unrelated adults living with state employees has been explained by a top House Republican.

The resolution was slated for a vote on Thursday, but the House adjourned without action. In an e-mail, Speaker Jase Bolger’s spokesperson Ari Adler explained:

We understood there would not be enough Democrats voting yes on the resolution; we need 11 to join the 63 Republicans prepared to approve the resolution.

We have until April 18 to address this issue. We are giving the House Democrats more time to think about standing up for taxpayers by overturning the Civil Service Commission’s irresponsible actions before we put this up for a vote again.

The measure has to be approved by a two-thirds majority in order to take effect. The resolution failed to garner that level of support in a Tuesday vote on the measure, but GOP leaders promised to bring the resolution back up.

Advocates in support of the MCSC decision have raised concerns the resolution would be passed through by a bureaucratic measure called “fast gaveling.” But Adler says that is not going to happen.

By the way, there has been much speculation that we would use a procedural maneuver to “fast-gavel” this resolution. The Speaker has never had any intention of doing this. The only people to ever suggest it are Democrats, with one of them telling MIRS that if they were in charge that’s how they would do it. We intend on having a record roll-call vote on this issue so the voters can see for themselves who is willing to stand up for taxpayers and who wants to continue burdening them with increased spending.

Emily Dievendorf, policy director for Equality Michigan, said she was pleased Adler was making such assurances. But she was not sure she believed them.

While I appreciate Ari Adler’s claim that a plan to fast-gavel SCR 9 is not in the works, I think we can also recognize that not many promises to legislate in inclusive bipartisan ways have been kept by Republican leadership thus far. Our Democratic legislators were elected to office with the expectation that they would have a voice but have been regularly shut out of the process since day one on the job. Supporters of fundamental fairness and collective bargaining should be prepared for sleight of hand on this issue, and perhaps countless others we will encounter this year.

The Michigan Civil Service Commission approved the benefits in January.

Opponents of the plan have said it will cost the cash strapped state too much money. They have bandied about various figures on the cost, anywhere from $4.5 million to $8 million, since the January approval of the plan. However, those opponents have been unable to verify where those numbers have come from, or how they were arrived at. Jan Winters, who runs the Office of the State Employer and oversees state employee pay and benefits, told Michigan Messenger she was unsure if the figures included the projected increase in tax revenues that would be generated by the measure. The benefits are taxed as income for the state employee, unlike benefits provided to married partners and their benefits.

Even at the highest estimates, the cost represents only approximately .003 percent — three one-thousandths of a percent — of the cost of the business tax breaks the Republicans are pushing for.

In order for the state to overturn the benefits, two-thirds of both houses have to approve a resolution rescinding the benefit. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the resolution last week. But the House has a much tighter GOP majority.