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LANSING – In a move to help reform state government and ease budget pressures, the House voted to reduce lawmaker salaries and end free lifetime health care for legislators.

"As Michigan faces financial challenges, we must find ways to cut government spending – doing away with free lifetime health care for lawmakers is a big step in the right direction," said State Representative Pam Byrnes (D-Lyndon Township). "It's not fair to ask our residents to make sacrifices without making some of our own."

The House passed a resolution calling on the State Officers Compensation Commission (SOCC), the body in charge of determining legislator salaries, to decrease lawmakers' salaries by 5 percent beginning with the 2009-10 legislative year, the earliest allowed under the constitution.

The legislation also will:

·        Cut the salaries of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State.

·        Urge the SOCC to refrain from enacting salary increases that exceed the average increase in state employee pay.

·        Reduce health care benefits for the Legislature and the Lieutenant Governor.

Today's resolution is a continuation of House Leadership's ongoing effort to reform government and cut wasteful spending. The House passed a plan earlier this year that cuts the State House budget by 5 percent, or $3 million. The plan requires lawmakers and their staffs to pay more for health care, prohibits State Representatives from using state funds for out-of-state travel and cuts positions in the Michigan House to eliminate redundancies.