There is no set time frame on bills designed to cut down on unfunded retiree health care liabilities for Michigan communities, House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant told the House Local Government Committee on Thursday.
"I'm not interested in setting a timeline," Cotter said, noting that he was willing to work with people who wanted this bill to go forward.
Republican lawmakers are colliding head-on with Michigan's most powerful public-sector unions after abruptly introducing bills during the lame-duck Michigan Legislature session aimed at curbing billions of dollars in unfunded post-retirement health care promised to police officers, firefighters and other local government workers.
“Right now, we are in the ground zero of gerrymandering in Michigan,” Democratic State Rep. Jeremy Moss told VICE News correspondent Dexter Thomas in Detroit.
District 35: Jeremy Moss, a Democrat, tallied 85.82 percent of the vote, compared to opponent Robert Brim, a Republican, who tallied 13.49 percent of the vote. The total number of votes for the candidates were 44,544.
Rep. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat and sponsor of a bill that would subject the governor, lieutenant governor, their offices and their employees to FOIA, urged House members to lobby senators to send the package to Snyder.
The legislation crosses party lines, with bill sponsors coming from both sides of the aisle. Democratic state Rep. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) is one of the bills’ sponsors.
“Being transparent in government on the front end is easier in the long run because it removes all doubts,” said Moss.
The Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a package of legislation that aims to expand transparency to the governor's office and legislature.
"When I first got elected and started serving I was surprised to learn that my office wasn't part of the Freedom of Information Act," said Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan.
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that could force Gov. Rick Snyder’s office and the Legislature to disclose certain records as public information.
The state House passed a package of bills Wednesday that for the first time in Michigan would subject the governor's office and the Legislature to state open records laws.
The Free Press reported in 2014 that Michigan was one of only two states in which both the governor and the Legislature have blanket exemptions from public records disclosure laws.
Members of the Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers met in Southfield and across the state Aug. 3 for a protest response to Gov. Rick Snyder’s announcement last month that he would appeal a June ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
