Michigan Senate Stops Home Health Care 'Dues Skim'

By Jack Spencer | March 22, 2012

Legislation drafted to put a stop to the “home health care dues skim” was passed Thursday by the Senate on a 25-13 vote. All the Republicans voted yes except Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw.

Senate Bill 1018 was the version of the legislation that was passed. It was approved by the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee in the morning on a 5-2 party-line vote and sent to the Senate floor where the vote was taken.

The measure now heads to the House where passage seems virtually guaranteed. It will be headed to Gov. Rick Snyder by the end of next week.

“This is the final policy piece that clarifies that these people are not public employees,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, during the floor debate over the legislation. “This is to finally end the Service Employees International Union dues being taken from those who are not public employees but just people taking care of relatives.”

Hildenbrand pointed out that the legislature had tried to end the “skim” last year by de-funding the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3) — which was the so-called "employer" used in the unionization. However, through bureaucratic juggling, the “skim” continued even after the de-funding.

Robert Haynes and his wife Patricia have become the subjects of many news articles, TV and radio accounts of the “skim.” The Hayneses take care of their cerebral palsy-stricken son and daughter in their Macomb Township home. They've had union dues extracted from their checks, although they get no benefits from the union.
Sen. Roger Kahn, the lone vote against stopping this ripoff, was given a $5,000 campaign contribution from the SEIU the day this legislation hit the senate. That is pure bribery.