Governor Whitmer signed a bill that will extend some unemployment benefits in Michigan through the end of 2020.

The bill was handed to Gov Whitmer with bi-partisan support, but the whole process seemed a little redundant. The bill basically replicates the executive order that Gov Whitmer had put in place earlier this year. That order was nullified after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Whitmer overstepped her bounds with the pandemic related orders.

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The new bill extends unemployment benefits for 26 weeks, which will give eligible people benefits through the end of 2020. Combined with the federal benefits, some people will be able to get assistance for a total of 59 weeks.

There are some other important differences in the new bill and the executive order that it replaced. MLive does a great job of breaking down what is missing from the new bill here.

The crazy thing to me is that there was such strong opposition to the executive order from Gov Whitmer, but such strong bipartisan support for this bill. Did lawmakers just want to feel like they are a part of the process? Were the minor changes made to the bill so controversial that they couldn't have just been changed in the order?

I understand the process of executive orders and how a bill is passed. I know it's better to do things through the legislative process than through executive orders, but doesn't this fell like a waste of time? I guess for the political purists out there this is exactly the way it should have happened. For everyone else that is waiting on assistance, this is a delay in getting good news that seems unnecessary.

 

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