Bill Text: MI SB0395 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Public employees and officers; compensation and benefits; public employer contribution to medical benefit plan; modify limitation on coverage amount. Amends secs. 2, 3, 4, 5 & 8 of 2011 PA 152 (MCL 15.562 et seq.)
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-05-28 - Referred To Committee On Reforms, Restructuring And Reinventing [SB0395 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-SB0395-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 395
May 28, 2013, Introduced by Senators CASWELL, JANSEN and NOFS and referred to the Committee on Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing.
A bill to amend 2011 PA 152, entitled
"Publicly funded health insurance contribution act,"
by amending sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 (MCL 15.562, 15.563, 15.564,
15.565, and 15.568).
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Designated state official" means:
(i) For an election affecting employees and officers in the
judicial branch of state government, the state court administrator.
(ii) For an election affecting senate employees and officers,
the secretary of the senate.
(iii) For an election affecting house of representatives
employees and officers, the clerk of the house.
(iv) For an election affecting legislative council employees,
the legislative council.
(v) For an election affecting employees in the state
classified service, the civil service commission.
(vi) For an election affecting executive branch employees who
are not in the state classified service, the state employer.
(b) "Flexible spending account" means a medical expense
flexible spending account in conjunction with a cafeteria plan as
permitted under the federal internal revenue code of 1986.
(c) "Health savings account" means an account as permitted
under section 223 of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 223.
(d) "Local unit of government" means a city, village,
township, or county, a municipal electric utility system as defined
in section 4 of the Michigan energy employment act of 1976, 1976 PA
448, MCL 460.804, an authority created under chapter VIA of the
aeronautics code of the state of Michigan, 1945 PA 327, MCL 259.108
to 259.125c, or an authority created under 1939 PA 147, MCL 119.51
to 119.62.
(e) "Medical benefit plan" means a plan established and
maintained by a carrier, a voluntary employees' beneficiary
association described in section 501(c)(9) of the internal revenue
code of 1986, 26 USC 501, or by 1 or more public employers, that
provides for the payment of medical benefits, including, but not
limited to, hospital and physician services, prescription drugs,
and related benefits, for public employees or elected public
officials. Medical benefit plan does not include benefits provided
to individuals retired from a public employer or a public
employer's contributions to a fund used for the sole purpose of
funding health care benefits that are available to public employees
or elected public officials only upon retirement or separation from
service.
(f) "Public employer" means this state; a local unit of
government or other political subdivision of this state; any
intergovernmental, metropolitan, or local department, agency, or
authority, or other local political subdivision; a school district,
a public school academy, or an intermediate school district, as
those terms are defined in sections 4 to 6 of the revised school
code, 1976 PA 451, MCL 380.4 to 380.6; a community college or
junior college described in section 7 of article VIII of the state
constitution of 1963; or an institution of higher education
described in section 4 of article VIII of the state constitution of
1963.
Sec. 3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this act, a public
employer that offers or contributes to a medical benefit plan for
its employees or elected public officials shall pay no more of the
annual costs or illustrative rate and any payments for
reimbursement of co-pays, deductibles, or payments into health
savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, or similar accounts
used for health care costs, than a total amount equal to $5,500.00
times the number of employees with single-person coverage,
$11,000.00 times the number of employees with individual-and-spouse
coverage, plus $15,000.00 times the number of employees with family
coverage, which includes individual-plus-1-nonspouse-dependent
coverage, for a medical benefit plan coverage year beginning on or
after January 1, 2012. A public employer may allocate its payments
for medical benefit plan costs among its employees and elected
public officials as it sees fit. By October 1 of each year after
2011, the state treasurer shall adjust the maximum payment
permitted
under this section subsection
for each coverage category
for medical benefit plan coverage years beginning the succeeding
calendar year, based on the change in the medical care component of
the United States consumer price index for the most recent 12-month
period for which data are available from the United States
department of labor, bureau of labor statistics.
(2) For a medical benefit plan coverage year beginning on or
after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this
subsection, the multiplier under subsection (1) shall be $13,455.00
for employees with individual-and-spouse coverage.
(3) For purposes of calculating the limitation on a public
employer's total annual expenditures under subsection (1),
"employee" does not include a public employee who declines the
medical benefit plan offered or contributed to by the public
employer.
(4) A public employer's total annual costs of its medical
benefit plan under this section do not include any of the
following:
(a) A payment of the public employer to an employee in lieu of
medical benefit plan coverage.
(b) Any amount that the public employer pays directly or
indirectly for the assessment levied pursuant to the health
insurance claims assessment act, 2011 PA 142, MCL 550.1731 to
550.1741.
Sec. 4. (1) By a majority vote of its governing body each year
prior to the beginning of the medical benefit plan coverage year, a
public employer, excluding this state, may elect to comply with
this section for a medical benefit plan coverage year instead of
the requirements in section 3. The designated state official may
elect to comply with this section instead of section 3 as to
medical benefit plans for state employees and state officers.
(2) For medical benefit plan coverage years beginning on or
after January 1, 2012, a public employer shall pay not more than
80% of the total annual costs of all of the medical benefit plans
it offers or contributes to for its employees and elected public
officials. For purposes of this subsection, total annual costs
includes the premium or illustrative rate of the medical benefit
plan and all employer payments for reimbursement of co-pays,
deductibles, and payments into health savings accounts, flexible
spending accounts, or similar accounts used for health care but
does not include beneficiary-paid copayments, coinsurance,
deductibles, other out-of-pocket expenses, other service-related
fees that are assessed to the coverage beneficiary, or beneficiary
payments into health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts,
or similar accounts used for health care. Each elected public
official who participates in a medical benefit plan offered by a
public employer shall be required to pay 20% or more of the total
annual costs of that plan. The public employer may allocate the
employees' share of total annual costs of the medical benefit plans
among the employees of the public employer as it sees fit.
(3) For purposes of this section, the total annual costs of
all of the medical benefit plans the public employer offers or
contributes to for its employees and public officials and the
employer's share of those costs do not include any of the
following:
(a) A payment by the public employer to an employee in lieu of
medical benefit plan coverage.
(b) Any amount that the public employer pays directly or
indirectly for the assessment levied pursuant to the health
insurance claims assessment act, 2011 PA 142, MCL 550.1731 to
550.1741.
Sec. 5. (1) If a collective bargaining agreement or other
contract that is inconsistent with sections 3 and 4 is in effect
for
a group of 1 or more employees of a public employer on the
effective
date of this act, September
27, 2011, the requirements of
section
3 or 4 do not apply to that group of employees an employee
covered by that contract until the contract expires. A public
employer's expenditures for medical benefit plans under a
collective bargaining agreement or other contract described in this
subsection shall be excluded from calculation of the public
employer's maximum payment under section 4. The requirements of
sections 3 and 4 apply to any extension or renewal of the contract.
(2) A collective bargaining agreement or other contract that
is
executed on or after September 15, 24, 2011 shall not include
terms that are inconsistent with the requirements of sections 3 and
4.
Sec. 8. (1) By a 2/3 vote of its governing body each year
prior to the beginning of the medical benefit plan coverage year, a
local unit of government may exempt itself from the requirements of
this act for the next succeeding medical benefit plan coverage
year.
(2) A 2/3 vote of the governing body of the local unit of
government prior to the beginning of each succeeding medical
benefit plan coverage year is required to extend an exemption under
this
section. to a new year.
(3) An exemption under this section is not effective for a
city with a mayor who is both the chief executive and chief
administrator, unless the mayor also approves the exemption.
(4) An exemption under this section is not effective for a
county with a county executive who is both the chief executive and
chief administrator, unless the county executive also approves the
exemption.
Enacting section 1. The changes in this amendatory act to
sections 3 and 4 clarify the original intent of the legislature
that payments to employees in lieu of medical benefit plan coverage
are not included in the costs of a public employer's medical
benefit plan, and those changes shall be applied retroactively.
