From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 3:57 PM
Subject: What the governor is talking about today

What the Governor’s Talking about Today

Friday, January 29, 2010

 

Governor Outlines Next Steps in Transforming Government to Improve Efficiency, Cut Costs

 

The governor today outlined an aggressive agenda to further her efforts at transforming Michigan’s government to make it more efficient, effective and cost less.

 

Included are steps to further reduce the structural deficit, facilitate local government and school district cost-cutting, enhance accountability in government, and modernize the budget process.  To advance these goals, the governor is proposing to:

 

·        Reduce costs by providing positive and negative incentives to encourage 7,000 eligible state employees and 39,000 eligible public school employees to retire 

·        Increase state employee participation in a new health care plan that maintains critical benefits for new state workers and their families while reducing the cost to state government by 21 percent

·        Eliminate lifetime health care for legislators

·        Continue reforming Michigan prison policies to reduce costs

·        Shift to a two-year state budget cycle

·        Audit state contracts annually and review all tax expenditures biennially to identify needed changes and savings

·        Implement pay-as-you-go budgeting

·        Give public employers such as local governments, schools and universities and their employees the option to participate in the state of Michigan’s new, cost-effective health care plan

·        Require competitive bidding of contracts and additional shared services among local governments and schools

·        End immunity for prescription drug companies to enable recovery of Medicaid dollars as in 49 other states

·        Streamline elections by allowing no-reason absentee voting, online registration and elections-by-mail in some cases

·        Require financial disclosures of all state elected officials and candidates

·        Tighten ethics standards for elected officials, appointed officials and state contract managers

·        Better regulate corporate special-interest campaign spending

 

Key messages:

 

We need to create a new state government that better serves the new Michigan of the 21st century.

 

Government must focus on the things that matter most: job creation, education and providing critical services to those most in need.

 

Businesses, workers and families all have made tough choices and are adapting to the realities of this new economy.  State government must fundamentally change as well.

 

The steps outlined by the governor today are just the latest in a series of actions she has taken to streamline services and reduce costs.  Since taking office, the governor has:

 

PROGRAMMING NOTES:

 

Governor to Appear on Face the Nation, State of the Union with John King

The governor will appear live on CBS’s “Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer” this Sunday, January 31.

 

Also this Sunday, the governor will appear in a taped interview on CNN’s “State of the Union with John King.”  Check your local listings.

 

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