Mr. President, I voted "no" on this bill because I believe that it is shortsighted and will do harm to the state of Michigan. This bill cuts employees if it’s done in a way that might be intended. It’s never really clear as to how many employees will actually be replaced. If all employees are to be replaced, it will cost the state money. It definitely will shift costs from the General Fund to the retirement fund. It seems to be that’s something that this body has wanted to reform, and instead, we are adding costs to it.

If employees are not replaced at 100 percent, we are cutting vital services. The Senator from the 10th District outlined what those services will be, but don’t assume that this will not have a cost. We have not been doing nothing for four years. We have been making government more efficient with less. You have seen that by the number of employees who have been cut, while at the same time we have been able to provide services, but it has not come without pain and hardship.

We cannot continue to cut the number of employees without seeing services have some effect. This bill will do that if employees are not replaced on a 1-for-1 basis. Again, if they are, it costs the state money. It is not a cost-saving bill. We have done it with less time and attention spent on this. We, in this body, don’t even have the bravery to say where we want cuts to be made. We have cut budgets last week without having any ability to say what services are going to be cut. This is just another way to do that.

So I object to this bill being passed. That is why I voted "no."