MICHIGAN HOUSE SPEAKER Joe Tate, D-Detroit, speaks Tuesday alongside state House Democrats in support of legislation to expand state unemployment benefits in the Michigan Capitol Building. (Anna Liz Nichols/Michigan Advance)

The Michigan House cleared legislation Tuesday night that will now head to the governor’s desk to expand Michigan’s eligibility for unemployment benefits to 26 weeks and steeply increase maximum payments, though the bills that cleared the state House on Tuesday passed with strong opposition from Republicans.

“I have a personal interest in this bill not passing, yes, but for all businesses in the state, this is going to be a major cost increase that they have to incur,” state Rep. William Bruck, R-Erie, said as an owner of home health care offices. “I’m not against individuals making or getting more money, but when it comes to the unemployment, unemployment is not meant to be a living wage, it is not meant to be an amount that someone can function on and not have to worry about getting another job.”

Currently, the maximum weekly benefit a person can collect on unemployment in Michigan is $362 with Senate Bill 40 seeking to bump that maximum to $614 over a three-year span.

Even if a person collected the absolute maximum in payments for the current 20-week maximum eligibility, which most people don’t, it’s not even close to a living wage, state Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, pointed out.

“To think that someone would walk away from a job to live in poverty is insulting to them,” Carter said alongside other House Democrats during a news conference after votes on unemployment bills.

Among other unemployment measures passed out of the House on Tuesday, other bills would allow victims of domestic violence to receive benefits even if they voluntarily left work for their own safety and others aim to tackle issues with applying and receiving benefits.

Also opposed was the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, which said doubling the weekly benefit over three years goes “too far too fast” and will put the unemployment trust fund at risk.

“It is always important to remember that the Unemployment Insurance program is 100 percent employer funded. And because of actions taken in 2011, including limiting duration of benefits, the UI Trust Fund was able to weather the pandemic but was decimated in the process. Increasing benefits adds extra pressure to a system that has not yet recovered and would make weathering another economic downturn difficult,” said Amanda Fisher, NFIB Michigan state director.

Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, meanwhile, noted that unemployment compensation does not act as a “handout” but rather a “hand up to help people who are out of work due to no fault of their own”. Tate said increasing benefits, which haven’t been adjusted for more than two decades, will help keep individuals from having to rely on more taxpayer assistance to keep them from slipping into poverty.

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