Michigan League for Public Policy
On Monday, the Michigan Legislature wrapped up the 2019-20 session by delivering some major gifts to Michigan residents in the Alpena area and around the state.
That included the bipartisan passage of $465 million in supplemental budget funding to provide immediate help to Michigan workers, families, and businesses struggling because of the COVID-19 health crisis.
That money was desperately needed to address the various impacts of COVID-19 on our families, our workers, our businesses, our public health, and our economy.
But the politics of lame duck the time between elections and the start of a new legislative term can always be tricky, sometimes resulting in sound compromises, other times in disappointing stalemates.
Credit Lucas Santos / Unsplash
The Michigan House overwhelmingly passed legislation lifting a lifetime ban on food assistance benefits for people with drug felonies.
The legislation passed out of the House on a 92-15 vote and is expected to be signed into law. Currently, Michigan residents with more than one drug felony conviction cannot receive food assistance benefits.
Alex Rossman is with the Michigan League for Public Policy.
“I really think it’s been a bipartisan mindshift to understand the economic repercussions that a criminal record or previous offenses are having on people and that it really makes it impossible to get out from under the punishment and payment of those mistakes,” he said.
Phillip Hofmeister
The Michigan House overwhelmingly passed legislation lifting a lifetime ban on food assistance benefits for people with drug felonies.
The legislation passed out of the house on a 92-15 vote and is expected to be signed into law.
Currently, Michigan residents with more than one drug felony conviction cannot receive food assistance benefits.
Alex Rossman is with the Michigan League for Public Policy.
“I really think it’s been a bipartisan mindshift to understand the economic repercussions that a criminal record or previous offenses are having on people and that it really makes it impossible to get out from under the punishment and payment of those mistakes,” he said.
The Michigan Senate on Thursday approved criminal justice reform bills that would end automatic driver s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees not related to dangerous driving, a practice that advocates say traps people in poverty.
Other criminal justice bills passed by the Senate on Thursday would eliminate mandatory jail time for some misdemeanor offenses and remove a barrier to occupational licenses for people with criminal records. Some of the bills will go back to the House for concurrence on minor changes before they are sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Organizations from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan to Safe & Just Michigan to Americans for Prosperity-Michigan praised the bills as a step in ending the overuse of Michigan s jails.