The Michigan Legislature has passed both House and Senate responses to the Governor’s budget proposal, and the final negotiations on the FY 2022-23 appropriations bills are expected to take place over the next four to six weeks. The pending Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference is taking place on May 21, and it is expected to show another increase in revenue estimates. Just how large an impact this will have on state spending is yet to be determined, but the new numbers will certainly factor into ongoing budget negotiations. Indeed, it has already sparked new proposals from the Governor and the Legislature on how to spend this surplus.
Legislation making changes to rules for retired MPSERS members who return to work has also seen action in the House and Senate. The bills would remove many of the myriad criteria that MPSERS retirants must meet in order to come back to work in a school setting while continuing to receive pension benefits. More on these and other issues below.
Please remember to keep an eye on your spam email folder for any emails from MAGE. MAGE utilizes email for communicating important updates to our members. If you find that you have an email from MAGE in your spam folder, please make sure you flag the email as “not spam or junk” this will allow our emails to go right to your inbox.
Attached you will find the rules, regulations and application for the OPEIU 2022 Student Debt Reduction Program.
All applications must be sent to MAGE and signed by the MAGE Local 2002 President or Secretary/Treasurer before submission to OPEIU. Any application that is incomplete or unsigned will be returned to the Local Union Office for follow up with the member/application. This may cause the application to be delayed or even denied if it is not timely submitted.
More information can be found on the OPEIU Website.
The application deadline is June 30, 2022. Take advantage of these benefits, it really does pay to belong!
Enclosed in this article are links to the 2022 OPEIU Scholarship applications, rules and regulations. The application period will be closing soon! Please remember to complete the application fully, then send to the MAGE office so we can verify for OPEIU that your membership is in good standing. Read on for the link to the applications.
The Michigan Legislature has returned from the winter break and (despite a few COVID-related delays in the Michigan House) are back in full session. Governor Whitmer’s State of the State Address and her subsequent budget recommendation laid out her goals for the upcoming year and the next fiscal year. Highlights of her proposals include the elimination of the so-called “retirement tax” as well as increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit, credits for electric vehicles, and large increases in mental health funding.
Republican leaders in the Michigan House and Senate, meanwhile, have focused on legislation that would reduce Michigan’s Income Tax rate from 4.25% to 3.9%. They have also targeted COVID-relief funds to shore up the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and provide grants to small businesses who have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Whether or not the two branches of government will be able to find agreement on any of these competing proposals (even at a time when Michigan revenues are sky-high) remains to be seen. It is, after all, an election year.
More on these issues and others below.
The first year of the 2021-2 Michigan Legislative Session has come to a close, and the House and Senate went out with a bang. On the last session day of the year, the Legislature sent Governor Whitmer a large package of economic development bills aimed at attracting and retaining large business operations in Michigan. They also passed a series of budget supplemental bills that use a portion of the remaining federal COVID-relief dollars combined with surplus state funds to distribute money to a variety of state and local projects.
Speaking of COVID-19, although cases and hospitalization numbers stemming from the pandemic remain high, the loudest rhetoric in Lansing continues to come from individuals opposed to mandatory masking and vaccinations. While public health leaders continue to urge individuals to get vaccinated (and the majority of Michiganders have done so), and despite the fact that vaccine requirements remain popular with the general public, legislative leaders in Lansing continue to give deference to the vocal minority who decry vaccination. Michigan remains on the low-end of vaccination rates in the US, which could very well be driving our high hospitalization rates.
More on these issues and others below.
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2021 MAGE Scholarship and Student Debt Reduction Awards. Every year MAGE offers our members and their families a chance to be awarded a $1,000 scholarship or student debt reduction award. Applications are accepted beginning June 1st through the last weekday of August every year. These awards help ease a small portion of the financial burden that is tied to higher education. MAGE wishes all recipients of this year’s scholarships and student debt reduction awards the best on their future endeavors. Read on to learn a little bit about our 2021 award winners! It pays to belong!
The Michigan Legislature has completed its work on the FY 21-22 state budget, and not a moment too soon. The October 1 deadline is fast approaching, but on September 22 the House and Senate agreed on omnibus budget bills to fund state government, local revenue sharing and higher education for the upcoming fiscal year. The Governor has announced her support for the plan, although there still may be a few line-item vetoes before she signs the bills into law.
The Legislature and Governor also continue to spar over COVID-19 policies. The question around mask and vaccination mandates continues to dominate many discussions in Lansing and it has now spilled down to local government and school board levels. Although COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in Michigan are not yet at the level currently being seen in the southern US, there has been a spike of new cases in children since schools opened in late August. This has prompted vicious debates at school board and county commission meetings sometimes ending with threats of violence. The Legislature has weighed into the fray by including language in the budget bills that seek to neuter vaccine and mask mandates, and prohibit “vaccine passports” in all departments. They are also currently moving separate legislation that would ban vaccine and mask mandates altogether. That budget boilerplate language and the separate legislation is expected to be vetoed by Governor Whitmer.
A more detailed breakdown of key budget decisions is below.
We hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend. Thank you to all of our State Employees who work tirelessly to make Michigan a better and brighter place every day.
Governor Whitmer lifted COVID-19 restrictions for all locations other than health care facilities on June 22. While there are still concerns about the growing spread of the Delta-variant which is more contagious and possibly more damaging to health, for the time being at least things are returning to normal in Michigan. Many state workers who have been working from home will begin to return to in-person work on July 12. However, many departments will be phasing in the return to work plans with some workers not expected to be back to in-person work until September.
In Lansing, the Michigan Legislature continues to work on the Fiscal Year 2022 budget that would begin on October 1, 2021. With the July 1 self-imposed deadline to pass a budget rapidly approaching, the House and Senate have scheduled June 30 for one last session day to complete the work. Discussions on the over $6 billion in federal funds the State of Michigan received from the American Rescue Plan Act have also been ongoing. It is likely that work on allocating those federal dollars will continue over the summer.
More on these issues below.
Please take a moment to read the attached Lansing State Journal article regarding overtime in our state hospitals. Labor Relations Director John DeTizio is quoted in this article advocating for the removal of mandatory overtime and a special wage increase for our RN’s.
The State of Michigan has announced that all career employees of the State of Michigan will receive a one-time grant of 8 hours of sick leave. This one time grant is intended to be used by the employee to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination. Follow the link to view Civil Service Regulation 5.10 for more detailed information.
As the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines continues, Governor Whitmer announced last week that pandemic restrictions will be lifted based on percentages of Michiganders who have been fully vaccinated. The plan, dubbed “Vacc to Normal,” will gradually eliminate limitations on gatherings, in-person work, mask usage and other restrictions based on milestones of vaccine distribution. This is the first indication that there is hopefully light at the end of the tunnel, though it comes at a time when much of Michigan is experiencing another wave of infection.
The Michigan Legislature is devoting most of its attention to the 2022 budget process, while at the same time preparing to pass supplemental bills for the current year that would appropriate federal COVID-relief funds. Over $1 billion in relief funds passed in Washington last December remain unspent, and that is in addition to the over $5 billion the state received recently as part of the American Rescue Plan federal legislation. Michigan lawmakers find themselves in a strange position of having to distribute huge amounts of one-time federal funds while at the same time having to balance long-term projections for state revenues.
More on these issues below.
Whenever you have the Legislative and Executive Branches of government controlled by different political parties, some acrimony is expected. There is always tension and competition to win not only favored policies, but also to win the public relations battle. However, a solid year of pandemic restrictions have raised the temperature to unprecedented levels in Lansing. The Legislature has already been victorious in one lawsuit against Governor Whitmer, and it is possible that another may be coming soon to a courtroom near you.
As you all know MAGE has been advocating for the restoration of sick leave hours lost due to mandatory quarantine procedures in the DOC. We have taken a number of these to hearings and have notified our MAGE lobbyists to address this issue at the highest levels.
The last month has seen a budget agreement reached between Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature, the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that the law upon which the Governor based her emergency powers was unconstitutional, and a frantic effort to reinstate certain Executive Orders that protected things ranging from unemployment benefits to the ability of public bodies to meet remotely. It is a lot to process.
Although the Legislature has a handful of session days scheduled between now and the election, it is widely presumed that little legislating will take place in the days leading up to the election. The “Lame Duck” session, in which many lawmakers who will be leaving office on December 31 still have a chance to make laws, will begin soon after the election and run through mid-December.
More on these issues below.
MAGE is encouraging its members who become ill with COVID-19, or who are quarantined due to coming into contact with COVID-19 at work to file a Workers’ Compensation claim.
The Michigan Legislature, after making alterations to the current year budget to close holes created by the global pandemic, is now working to present next year’s budget to Governor Whitmer by the September 30 deadline. The traditional budget process has been almost completely derailed this year as the COVID-19 virus has not only wreaked havoc on the economy, but has also made the normal conduct of legislative business much more difficult. After last year’s debate over road funding that nearly led to a government shutdown, we had hoped for a more orderly process in 2020. Obviously, 2020 had other ideas.
More on the budget process and other issues affecting state workers is below.
The Michigan Legislature worked through the last two weeks in July, and plans to be in session for at least parts of August. They completed work on a deal to balance the current year budget, and are now working toward preparing the FY 20-21 budget. They also passed legislation that would provide immunity from liability for health centers and nursing homes for any negligence related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will likely be working to extend that immunity to all businesses with another round of legislation in August. The Civil Service Commission also adopted a rule with the sole goal of undermining state employee unions. More on these issues below.
Benefits open enrollment Part 1 will open August 3, 2020 through August 18, 2020!
See the Attached News Letter from OSE regarding Benefits Open Enrollment Part 1 and Part 2!
The Michigan Legislature has gone into a mini-recess that will last for most of the month of July. Before they left Lansing, they passed a supplemental budget bill that will spend approximately $800 million in federal funds the state received from the CARES Act on a variety of COVID-19 related programs. They did not, however, address the shortfall in the current year budget (although an agreement in principle has been reached on that), nor did they present a budget for FY 21 to the Governor. Those issues will have to be addressed in July, August and perhaps even September.
The results of the 2020 MAGE General Council Elections are in! This year MAGE delegates placed their votes for State Officers, District Directors, District Deputy Directors, and a Resolution that has been proposed to move the MAGE General Council from a biennial meeting to a quadrennial meeting.
After the economic crash of 2008, many retirees who had already performed a lifetime of work and were living on a fixed income experienced a reduction in the amount of their income. During the same 2008 downturn, many companies suffered a loss in revenue. Congress enacted legislation that assisted those companies to the point where many were making record profits before the current COVID-19 crisis. It has now been shown that some of those companies invested the assistance by conducting stock buy-backs. Unfortunately, Congress did not provide such assistance to those retirees or the pension plans where they had placed their life savings.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created the greatest crisis Michigan has faced in recent memory. The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference taking place on May 15 is expected to show that Michigan’s revenues are down anywhere from $1 billion to $3 billion in the current fiscal year. Losses from the shutdown of most commercial activity will have a devastating impact on the state’s General Fund and School Aid Fund. It is expected that Governor Whitmer will issue a series of executive order budget cuts in the coming weeks.
While the Governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order has been extended to May 28, the reduction in the spread of the virus has led for a call to reopen Michigan’s economy. Some sectors, like construction, have already reopened, and some industrial and commercial businesses are expected to be allowed to reopen soon. However, Legislative leaders from the Republican majorities are claiming that the reopening should move faster since the economic impact of the shutdown is proving to be devastating not only on state revenues but also on a huge number of individual Michiganders.
See below for more information on these issues, and more.
It’s National Nurses Week! Nurses dedicate their lives to caring for those who fall ill. Now, more than ever, nurses are needed. They stand on the front lines in these uncertain times putting their own health at risk to help others. This dedication should not go unnoticed. MAGE would like to send a big THANK YOU to all nurses for their continued hard work.
Michigan policy makers are 100% focused on the Coronavirus pandemic, as officials are scrambling to deal with the rapid spread of the disease. Governor Whitmer has issued multiple executive orders ranging from school closures, prohibitions on price gouging, restrictions on public gatherings, and – most recently – a Stay Home, Stay Safe order requiring all Michigan residents to shelter at home unless they are “essential employees” or are obtaining personal needs like food, supplies, medication or medical treatment. The Michigan Legislature responded last week with a $75 million response package aimed at increasing Michigan’s preparedness for the impact of the increasing spread of the illness.
See the attached letter sent to Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell, and Minority Leader Schumer regarding the COVID-19 Relief Legislation.
The MAGE General Council is our biennial meeting where members meet to elect officers, get information and vote on policy. If you would like to attend the MAGE General Council on May 16, 2020 at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Mt. Pleasant MI, please contact the MAGE office for reservations at 1-800-477-6243.
Effective January 1, 2019, non-exclusively represented employees (NEREs) electing to join MAGE-OPEIU Local 2002 and choosing the option of “payroll deduction” must do the following:
We are now halfway through the 2019-2020 Michigan legislative session, and if the first year was anything to go by, year two could be a tumultuous one. Last year began with Governor Whitmer calling for a $.45 per gallon fuel tax increase to fully fund road repair and construction. It ended with a budget standoff, an unprecedented use of the line-item veto pen, and a final compromise budget that restored much if not all of the nearly billion dollars in cuts and transfers made by Governor Whitmer. While there were moments of bipartisan collegiality (e.g. no-fault auto insurance reform), much of the year was marked by fighting words.
We enter 2020 with the relationship between the Governor’s office and the Legislature on shaky ground. This is understandable, since the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and the Governor is a Democrat. It will be interesting to watch as we begin the 2020-2021 budget process in February how the two branches will interact. The Governor will present her State of the State Address on Wednesday January 29, and she will present her 2020-2021 Fiscal Year budget proposal on February 6.
For the last eight years, the Michigan Legislature has been able to finish the upcoming fiscal year budget by June or July. However, for the first time in 8 years we have split partisan power between the Legislature and the Governor. Therefore, House and Senate leaders have decided to hold off before presenting a budget to Governor Whitmer. The deadline for having a budget in place is the beginning of the next fiscal year: October 1, 2019. Because it seems likely that a budgetary showdown will occur between the Legislature and the Governor this year, it is possible that Legislative leaders feel that their hand is strengthened by delaying completion of the budget for as long as possible.
In other news, the debate over the future of the Caro Psychiatric Hospital continues; the Attorney General dismissed legal actions against state employees over the Flint water crisis (although future action is expected); and the Marijuana Regulatory Agency in the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs is preparing to expand its staff in preparation for implementation of recreational marijuana laws passed on the ballot last November. More on these stories below.
The House and Senate have nearly completed their work on their first drafts of the 2020 state budget. They have both decided to scrap Governor Whitmer’s call to increase the gas tax by $.45 per gallon. Instead, they have attempted to reduce General Fund spending across most departments in order to free up more funds to dedicate to road and bridge repair and maintenance. Governor Whitmer has pledged to veto any budget that fails to provide at least $2 billion in new transportation funding, and it is looking more and more like she will be forced to either make good on that threat or back down.
Also this month, the Legislature passed legislation making sweeping changes to Michigan’s Auto No-Fault Insurance laws, and the House is reviewing changes to state and school employee retirement benefits. More on these issues below.
Congratulations Demetrius Starling! Posted December 17th, 2018
We are proud to report that another MAGE officer has received a Director position in the Department of Health & Human Services. Demetrius has accepted a temporary assignment to Work Out of Class in a Director position overseeing the dual counties of St. Clair and Sanilac.
Demetrius has been serving on the MAGE Board of Directors for many years. “Demetrius has worked tirelessly to assist his fellow MAGE members for many years and he has been a committed, faithful employee of the Department”, said President Quattrin. “It’s always nice to see a sincere, dedicated, conscientious employee get recognized”.
It’s been a tumultuous two months since the Governor and Legislature settled on a 2020 budget about which no one is happy. The past six weeks have provided little clarity on how the Legislature and Governor will work together moving forward. After the Legislature’s presentation of a finalized budget a mere three days before the end of the fiscal year, and the Governor’s unprecedented use of the line-item veto and administrative board powers, trust is presently a rare commodity in Lansing. Governor Whitmer and Legislative leaders have both proposed their own supplemental budgets that would restore the bulk of the nearly $1 billion that was line-item vetoed on September 30, and there is even some overlap in the proposals. However, with over a month gone by to allow dust to settle, the two sides seem no closer to a compromise agreement on restoring the cuts, let alone on a plan for future road funding.
After a hard-fought election, the next governor of Michigan will be Democrat Gretchen Whitmer. While Democrats made gains in both the House and Senate, Republicans kept their majorities in both chambers. The Legislature is returning to Lansing for the “Lame Duck” session that could include several attempts to make more changes to various pension laws. We may also face attacks on public employee collective bargaining rights as the Republican leaders see the next few weeks as their last chance before a new Democratic administration takes over.
On September 7, 2019 during the MAGE Board meeting, seven winners of the $1,000 Scholarship and Student Debt Reduction Awards were selected at random from all entries.
Our condolences go out to our dedicated members and all of the employees at Ojibway Correctional Facility which is now slated for closure in December of this year.
“It’s Your Health, Your Families and Your Constituents We’re Fighting to Protect” Washington, D.C. – Nurse members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, from around the country descended on Capitol Hill on Friday, May 5, 2017, to meet with their legislators and demand safe nurse to patient ratio legislation aimed at protecting nurses, patients and their families.
Budget Vetoes Roil Lansing
The Legislature and Governor Whitmer managed to complete the 2020 budget process and avoid a government shutdown. That is about the most positive thing that can be said about this year’s appropriations process. At the end of September, the people of Michigan witnessed a budget battle that went down to the very last minute, produced a record number of line-item vetoes, saw the unprecedented use of executive power to shift funds from one line to another, and that left over $500 million in General Fund dollars on the table. It also concluded with no deal on long-term road and infrastructure funding.
The MAGE Compensation Process for the non-exclusively represented employees (NEREs) has culminated with the Civil Service Commission approving a 3% general wage increase, effective October 2017 and no increases in healthcare premiums.
The Michigan House and Senate are returning this week from their summer recess. They have just over a month to reach a budget agreement with Governor Whitmer in order to avoid a government shutdown. The Governor has already announced her desire to have a “Plan B” that would keep the government open even if she and the Legislature cannot reach an agreement on the budget and on road funding by September 30. The next few weeks will tell whether such a plan is needed.
The focus of the Legislature continues to be squarely on the 2020 budget – and just as importantly – whether a significant increase for transportation funding will be included. While the roads are getting 90% of the legislative and media attention, several other questions will also be answered in the next month’s budget debate. These include the future of the Caro Center Psychiatric Hospital, whether the School Aid Fund will continue to be used to pay for higher education, and how deeply some departments may be cut in order to pay to “fix the damn roads.”
More on these issues below.
Please join us in congratulating Parker Millar, winner of the 2019 Romeo Corbeil/Gilles Beauregard Summer Camp Scholarship! Parker is the son of MAGE-OPEIU Local 2002 member, Kelly Millar. This is just one more example of why it pays to belong to MAGE-OPEIU Local 2002!
Don’t forget to turn in your applications for the MAGE Scholarship/Student Debt Reduction! The application period closes 5PM on the last week day of August.
I am disappointed to report that we have received a final ruling from the Supreme Court on our 3% lawsuit. Although MAGE prevailed at the Court of Claims, the State appealed to the Supreme Court. The court concluded that the Civil Service Commission has plenary and absolute authority over the compensation of state employees.