(WWJ) On a 97-5 vote, the Michigan House passed a $465 million COVID-19 relief package Monday morning to buoy businesses hit hard by the pandemic and to increase testing and vaccine distribution statewide. This follows Senate approval this weekend.
It also extends unemployment benefits through April 2021; provides funding to help with proper storage and allocation of the vaccines; and to ramp up testing in schools. The bill uses a combination of state and federal funds. It includes a provision that federal funds will be utilized instead of state, should Congress finalize a federal relief package, which is expected
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The Senate bill was sponsored by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Stamas, R-Midland.
“The governor’s continued shuttering of certain sectors of our economy puts many of our local businesses in danger of permanent closure and forces people out of their jobs during the holidays,” State Senator Stamas said. “This important funding bill will send available state and federal dollars where they are needed most, to our workers and business owners struggling to stay afloat.”
Senate Bill 748 includes:
$220 million to extend unemployment benefits until April 1, 2021;
$79.1 million to expand virus testing and vaccine distribution, including funds to ramp up testing of teachers to ensure healthy school communities;
$115.3 million to hospitals and nursing homes to address nursing shortages, including an extension of the pay increase for direct care workers;
$45 million in Employee Assistance Grants to restaurant and other workers laid off or furloughed due to Gov. Gretcnen Whitmer’s shutdown orders;
and $63.5 million in Small Business Survival Grants and other assistance to help small businesses shuttered by the governor’s orders avoid permanent closure.
The Senate bill passed with bipartisan support, 35-2. It will now go to Gov. Whitmer for her final signature.
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Whitmer has said she's ready to sign.
“There are people out there who have spent a lifetime building up their small businesses,” Whitmer said. “They’re hanging on by a thread.”
She accused the federal government of failing to pass a bill to help the state’s small business owners and said they've let the burden of help to fall on the state.
“We here in Michigan have got to step up and take action,” Whitmer said. “I’m ready to sign a bill, so it’s crucial for the Legislature to find some common ground and pass a targeted, state-based economic stimulus plan of up to $100 million to provide direct financial support to the families and small businesses that have been hit the hardest by this pandemic.”