Insider Intelligence

The House passed legislation providing $1.5 billion in one-time funding to reduce debt and improve the finances of public employee retirement systems. Most of the funding would go to pension plans for local governments and road commissions, with an additional $350 million to improve financing in the Michigan State Police retirement system. The bill was […]

Legislation providing $1.5 billion in one-time funding aimed at reducing debt and improving public employee retirement systems was reported by the House Appropriations Committee this week. The bill, introduced by House Appropriations Chairman Thomas Albert (R-Lowell), appropriates a majority of the funding to pension plans for local governments and road commissions, with an additional $350 […]

Michigan’s pension tax would be repealed under legislation reported by the House Tax Policy Committee this week. Introduced by Representative Joe Bellino (R-Monroe) on the first day of the new legislative session, the bill would repeal the pension tax approved in 2011 and re-establish Michigan’s previous retirement tax structure. Under the proposal, public pensions would […]

This week, Representative Joe Bellino (R-Monroe) introduced legislation repealing Michigan’s pension tax that was first charged in 2012. Currently the system is a three-tiered retirement tax structure based on the year a person is born. Under his proposal, Michigan’s previous retirement tax structure would be re-established and both public pensions and social security income would […]

This week, the House and Senate gave final approval to a package of bills making reforms to retiree benefits in local communities. Following months of debate, and the legislature working on the bill package for weeks, a final agreement was made to move the bills to final passage. As introduced, stakeholders raised several concerns with […]

On Tuesday, the Responsible Retirement Reform for Local Government Task Force released their report of recommendations.  The proposals are focused on addressing local pension and health care costs, ensuring retiree support, and providing more financial stability and effective delivery of local government services.  “The increasing costs of retirement benefits has been a major issue for […]

On Thursday, Governor Rick Snyder signed into a law a bill reforming the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. Proponents of the change claim that pension programs have become a financial burden for public school systems and the MSPERS “hybrid” plan will no longer be available to new enrollees as of February 1, 2018. A […]

On Thursday, the House and Senate passed legislation reflecting an agreement struck between House and Senate leadership and Governor Rick Snyder, which will reform the current public school employee retirement system.  “Prior to the agreement between leadership, the House and Senate gestured their willingness to withhold completing the budgets until later this summer, or even […]