State Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) and State Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) have introduced legislation to give the Northwest Regional Airport Authority — which oversees the Cherry Capital Airport — as well as the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority the option of increasing their contributions to their employees’ medical benefit plans. These bills are a re-introduction of Coffia’s House Bill 4618 of 2023.
 
“This legislation will level the playing field by allowing these final two regional airport authorities to be able to voluntarily enhance their employee medical benefit plans, as all other regional airport authorities already have the ability to do,” Coffia said in a statement. “I am proud to partner with Sen. Damoose on this legislation, and I want to thank the Northwest Regional Airport Authority for bringing this issue to my attention.”

“Passing this legislation will help our regional economies flourish and improve the quality of life for our residents,” Damoose said in the statement. “By doing so, we are supporting our regional airport authorities’ efforts to attract and retain talent as a means of alleviating staffing shortages while supporting employees’ basic needs.”

While other regional airport authorities in Michigan already have this ability, the two aforementioned airports have been prohibited because they were created under a different chapter of the state Aeronautics Code. This legislation, correcting an apparent oversight, establishes that all regional airport authorities can exempt themselves from contribution limits to an employee’s medical benefits plan, with the consent of their boards.