Well this should be fun to watch.
In this corner all the university presidents.
And in that corner, conservative Republicans who want university
worker bees to kick in more money for their bennies.
Problem is the ivory tower crowd wants no part of this and according
to state law, they can tell the lawmakers to take a hike.
And lawmakers won't.
Sen. Mark Jansen (R-West Michigan) is leading the charge to force a
25% co-pay on university hires for their health care coverage.
He acknowledges the recalcitrance on the other side.
"They don't like to be told what to do," he correctly observes.
Dr. Mike Boulus, who gets paid to lobby for the university leaders,
tells the senator, the schools have already given at the office and in
fact, he contends, those employees are already $3,000 below their
counterparts in the rest of state government.
So lawmakers should keep their hands off?
"I think that would be wise," he asserts.
Hence the stage is set for this issue to go before the voters.
Jansen and company need a constitutional amendment on the ballot for
voters to approve and then lawmakers can lower the boom on the state's
15 universities.
But to do that, Jansen needs a two-thirds vote in the house and
senate and you can take this to the bank, the university presidents
will go to the lawmakers who have a school in their district and apply
the heat.
Instead of playing the lottery, bet on the schools winning this one.