Two Republican lawmakers in Lansing are pushing a notion sure to make them unpopular among colleagues of both parties.
Rep. Tom McMilin of Rochester Hills and Sen. John Proos of St. Joseph think they and other legislators hold a part-time job that should have part-time pay, Kathleen Gray reports in the Detroit Free Press' main front-page article Sunday.
Proos has introduced a bill in the Senate that would let voters decide whether the Legislature should become part-time, working 90 days of the year.
McMillin plans to introduce similar legislation in the House, including cutting the $71,685 annual salary by 75%. "I think we can get our work done in 90 days," he said. "Our major task is the budget, and we got that done early the past two years."
The current status makes the state an outlier, Poros tells Gray:
"Michigan is one of only 10 states that has some sort of full-time legislative session and we're really only one of four states that are truly in a full-time session."
There's pushback, predictably, and Gray describes the effect as "a long shot" opposed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
Other lawmakers say it's unfair to judge their time on the job strictly by the days they spend in Lansing. They host coffee hours with constituents back home, attend local meetings, give speeches and prepare for the upcoming legislative debates back at the Capitol.
