House once again fails to eliminate partner benefits

The Michigan House of Representatives once again failed to pass a Republican driven resolution to rescind a January decision by the Michigan Civil Service Commission to extend health insurance benefits to unrelated adults living with state employees.

In order to rescind the decision, both chambers of the legislature have to pass a resolution by a two-thirds or better vote. The GOP-dominated Senate easily passed the resolution with the necessary votes in early March.

The resolution proved to be a tough sell in the House, where the Republicans have a 63 member majority. In order to pass the resolution, they needed 74 votes for the two-thirds majority.

The GOP majority in the House attempted to pass the resolution in mid-March, but was unable to garner 11 Democratic votes needed to pass it. The leadership ended the vote before it was over and announced a plan to try to move the legislation again two days later, but adjourned for a two week vacation without voting on the issue.

Ari Adler, spokesperson for Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), told Michigan Messenger the vote didn’t happen because Democrats did not appear to have changed their views on the resolution.

In order to rescind the decision the House had to approve the resolution by April 18. Had the body managed to pull together the 74 votes for the two-thirds majority, it would have been the first time in Michigan history the legislature overturned a decision by the Michigan Civil Service Commission.

Bolger issued a statement following the vote, assailing the Democrats for failing to support the resolution.

“The Civil Service Commission has been incredibly irresponsible, saddling taxpayers with $11 million in additional spending at time when we are dealing with a huge deficit,” said Bolger. “We have a duty as a state Legislature to stand up for taxpayers when this kind of absurd spending spree occurs, and yet, today not even a handful of Democrats were willing to do that.”

The actual estimated cost for the benefits is $11.4 million and comes from Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal, Adler said.

Bolger’s $11 million price tag is now the third cost estimate bandied around by Republicans on the issue. In January, Jan Winters, head of the Office of the State Employer, told the Michigan Civil Service Commission the benefits would cost $6 million. In March, while testifying before the Senate Committee on Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing, Winters said the cost would $8 million. The Granholm administration assessed the financial impact at $4.5 million.

The benefits were originally negotiated into union contracts for about 70 percent of the state workforce in 2004. However, the passage of the so-called “Marriage Protection Act” resulted in a legal challenge on domestic partner benefits. In 2008 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples violated the amendment. As a result, public bodies created programs called other eligible individuals. While those programs often had the same requirements as domestic partner benefits — mutually shared finances, living in the same household, etc — the program was not gender specific.

The reality is that in those places where such benefits have been offered — such as Michigan State University, University of Michigan and other municipalities — very few of the eligible employees have accepted the benefits. Unlike when benefits are extended to married couples, the benefits for non-related, unmarried adults in the same household are considered income, and the costs are taxed by both the state and federal government.