The Michigan Civil Service Commission
on Wednesday voted in favor of extending health benefits to the
domestic partners of gay and lesbian state workers, prompting a
Republican lawmaker to call for abolition of the commission, the
Detroit Free Press reported.
The commission voted 3-1 in favor of
extending the benefits to more than half of the state's civil
servants.
The plan was approved over the concerns
of Governor Rick Snyder's administration, which argued that the state
could not afford the benefits. Michigan is facing a $1.8 billion
budget shortfall.
State workers will be allowed to
designate one unrelated person with whom they have lived with for at
least 12 months.
The program could cost the state up to
$6 million.
Jan Winters, director of the Office of
State Employer, urged the commission to consider the financial
burden.
“There are people talking about this
as if it's all about same-sex partner benefits,” she said. “It's
a cost issue. … We're very concerned, because something that costs
millions of dollars is something the state of Michigan cannot afford
right now.”
State Representative Peter Lund, a
Shelby Township Republican, called the move “political” and urged
lawmakers to end the commission.
“It is an absolute abomination to
hear a state agency has the gall to make such a costly and polarizing
political move while people and their government are pinching pennies
just to make ends meet,” Lund said in a statement. “There is no
room for policies that encourage irresponsible spending in our budget
for anything right now, let alone this clearly political move that
shifts people's hard earned dollars into the pockets of same-sex
partners.”