Senate Passes Major UI Changes Following Rare Procedural Act

The State Senate addressed significant changes in the state’s unemployment insurance program Thursday, but only after a rare procedural move by the upper chamber’s minority caucus members extended session by more than four hours.

After Senate members found some common ground on two bills to issue bonds as a method to pay off the $3.2 billion unemployment benefit debt to the federal government (Senate Bills 483 and 484), the debate on SB 806 took an interesting twist. Senate Democrats refused to waive the full reading of the 205-page bill on Third Reading, requiring Secretary of the Senate Carol Viventi and Assistant Secretary Adam Reames to take turns for 4 hours and 18 minutes.

The legislation makes significant changes to unemployment insurance regulations in Michigan, such as requiring the unemployed to accept a position outside of their field of training after 10 weeks of receiving benefits if the job pays more than 120 percent of the unemployment benefit or is equal to the area’s prevailing wage. The substance of the measure, however, was never debated on the floor.

Democrats had offered nine amendments to the legislation; however, quickly following the conclusion of the bill’s full reading, Republicans moved to vote “en bloc” on all amendments – resulting in their immediate failure. The vote on the passage of the measure followed thereafter.

posted by PAA Online , Friday, December 2, 2011 10:12 AM
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