2007 Senate Bill 418 ↩

House Roll Call 442: Passed

To require MESSA, the MEA teacher union's insurance affiliate, to release individual school district claims history data. This information is said to be necessary to allow other insurance providers to bid on a district's health insurance purchases, but releasing it is bitterly opposed by MESSA and the MEA. The bill would also allow schools and local governments to form health insurance purchasing pools, and prescribe standards and regulations for these. Its passage occurred as part of a deal to avoid reducing state spending in the 2007-2008 Fiscal Year by imposing $1.5 billion in tax increases, including an increase in the state income tax from 3.9 percent to 4.35 percent (<a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=237062">House Bill 5194</a>) and imposing a 6 percent tax on many personal and business services (<a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=237048">House Bill 5198</a>).