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Legislature moves quickly to keep expanded unemployment in place during pandemic

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Governor Whitmer and Michigan unemployment experts are raising concerns about coverage for thousands of workers now that the governor’s emergency powers have been struck down.

After her powers were struck down Governor Whitmer warned the move could lead to over 800,000 state residents losing unemployment benefits.

The governor expanded who could receive unemployment benefits under an executive order.

Rachael Kohl is the Director of the Workers Rights Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. She said if the expanded coverage isn’t approved by the legislature, some recipients may end up needing to pay back their benefits.

“There are all these questions that turn it frankly into a mess,” she said. “That’s not even to mention the fact that the poor unemployment insurance agency right now. If they have to review again all these 2.5-million claims to figure out if they were entitled by executive order or not that’s huge.”

Kohl said in the short term the legislature should work to make sure that people who received benefits remain covered - and won’t have to pay their benefits back.

“But the long term goal is Michigan’s statute is extremely restrictive. We are one of the most restrictive statutes in the country,” she said. “Workers can’t get benefits that can get in almost any other state. That’s not fair to Michigan’s workers.”

The Republican-led legislature has shown an interest in moving bills forward to protect those who received benefits under the governor’s executive order.

Republican State Senator Ken Horn introduced legislation in the Senate that mimics the Governor’s executive order. He said without legislative action there is also a concern that the federal government might try to clawback some funding from the state.

“Some of the executive orders we agreed with some we didn’t,” he said. “These we agreed with, they protect our workers, they protect our employers. This is an extreme and unusual time and we wanted to make sure there was some continuity and consistency in state government.”

Horn said the legislature has been working overtime to ensure that the executive orders they agree with stay in place.

“The supreme court decision wasn’t necessarily a surprise but it came a little quicker than we thought. We’re happy to roll up our sleeves and get to work on this.”

Senator Horn’s legislation passed out of the Senate on Thursday. It is expected to be taken up by the House on Tuesday.