LANSING, MI -- The House and Senate Competitiveness Committees voted on Tuesday to approve a package of bills that aim to assess and address underfunded pension and retirement health care systems in local Michigan communities.

The legislature is considering changes after the Responsible Retirement Reform for Local Government Task Force found a collective $7.46 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $10.13 billion in unfunded health care liabilities lurking in local governments' finances.

The task force couldn't agree on the details of how to fix it, but an agreement between House and Senate leaders, along with Gov. Rick Snyder, was the topic of hearings at the state capitol on Tuesday, when both the House Competitiveness Committee and Senate Competitiveness Committee held testimony on identical, 16-bill packages.

The Senate committee moved it 4-1 along partisan lines, with Democrat Rebecca Warren, D-Ann Arbor, opposing.

"Disappointed that the bills being rushed through Competitiveness don't reflect consensus recommendations of Retirement Task Force & threaten to undermine the benefits that firefighters, police & other public employees were promised," Warren tweeted on Tuesday.

Disappointed that the bills being rushed through Competitiveness don't reflect consensus recommendations of Retirement Task Force & threaten to undermine the benefits that firefighters, police & other public employees were promised. #mileg — Rebekah Warren (@rebekahwarren) December 5, 2017

The bills introduced in the House and Senate would institute a five-step process to better assess the financial pictures of local governments struggling to fund promised retiree health care benefits. It would put the communities with not enough funding and no feasible plan to fix it -- an estimated 20-30 communities, according to Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive -- under a three-person Financial Management Team.

That team, organized under the state's emergency management act, would have broad powers to rectify the underfunding, including through requiring the municipality to change its budget. If the municipality doesn't comply and fails to rectify that noncompliance, it can be sent into emergency management.

Rep. James Lower, R-Cedar Lake, a sponsor of the House legislation, said the plan would help avoid situations like bankruptcy, where retirees could see their benefits reduced or taken away.

"Doing nothing is really, really dangerous for retirees," Lower said.

Also testifying in support of the legislation was State Treasurer Nick Khouri, who said the bills had the governor's support. The goal, he said, is to create sustainable pension and health care systems for local units of government.

But the bill met with criticism from democrats like Rep. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, who pointed to the fact that communities were facing decreased revenue sharing payments from the state.

Khouri said the Snyder administration was open to talking about increases in revenue sharing.

But for local police and firefighters, who are counting on the retiree benefits, the

Midland Fire Chief Chris Coughlin of the Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs testified in the Senate committee on behalf of a coalition of police and fire organizations in opposition to the legislation. He said the task force came up with broad recommendations the groups supported, but the legislation jeopardizes what police and fire have been promised.

"Police officers and firefighters put their lives on the line every day. We cannot support legislation that impacts the promises made in collective bargaining agreements. These promises were made and they need to be kept," Coughlin said.

The House Competitiveness Committee passed the main bills 5-4 along mostly party lines, with Rep. Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, joining Democrats in voting against the bills. Three of the more ancillary bills in the package, House Bills 5314-5316, on revenue sharing funds, passed 6-0-3 with Republicans voting for them and Democrats passing.

The bills are pending now on the House floor, where they could be taken up at any time.

The Senate on a tentative agenda put out Tuesday night has the bills listed as going all the way through final passage on Wednesday.

MLive Reporter Lauren Gibbons contributed to this story.