Time to end lawmakers golden health-care parachute

Wisconsin lawmakers enjoy a pretty comfortable living. A nice salary, the best benefits, and even meal money when they are in Madison. What most don’t know is that our lawmakers also earn sick leave. Even though they don’t have to call in sick if they don’t come to work. And that they can convert their unused sick days into money to pay for their health insurance when they leave the legislature. We’re not talking small change here. It is not uncommon for individual lawmakers to have upwards of $100,000 worth of sick time accumulated when they retire. This health-care golden parachute is costing taxpayers dearly. It is estimated together, members of the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate have accumulated $3.4 million in sick leave time. Predictably, lawmakers have not been keen to the idea of giving up this perk. Legislation to do away with sick time has been introduced in each legislative session since 2007. Until this year, the plan wasn’t even brought up for debate in the Senate. Rather than have to defend the practice, they just buried their heads in the sand. This legislation would not revoke the sick leave current and former lawmakers have accumulated. It would simply end the practice for future lawmakers. But even allowing them to keep what they have will likely be a tough sell.