LANSING, Mich. — Michigan lawmakers are weighing a proposal that could restrict how far back the state can seek repayment of unemployment benefits issued in error, a move that comes after years of confusion, lawsuits, and renewed collection notices.

Senate Bill 700, introduced in November, would prohibit the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency from recovering benefits more than three years after they were paid, unless fraud is proven. The legislation follows widespread frustration over the agency’s handling of pandemic-era claims and repayment demands.

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During the COVID-19 shutdowns, Michigan’s unemployment system struggled to process a surge of applications. Faulty fraud-detection algorithms falsely flagged tens of thousands of claimants and led to aggressive repayment efforts. A 2024 class-action settlement provided $55 million to people the state had wrongly accused of fraud, but some residents say the problem never ended.

Roy Hedges of Mid-Michigan said he received part of that settlement, only to be told this year that he still owed money.

“I thought this was finally over,” Hedges said. “Basically, they told me I had to sign back in to the unemployment system and see how much I owed again. I had just gotten my settlement back, and now they want me to pay $1,100. I don’t understand how I can be punished for getting it.”

Hedges said he spent years submitting documents, waiting for calls that never came, and watching others receive repayment demands of $20,000 or more. “This was chaos from the beginning,” he said. “I gave them all my tax returns and ID, but I’m still caught in limbo while some people walked away with money and never paid a dime.”

He described long call queues and weeks of silence from the agency. “You’re told to wait in a call queue, they promise to call you back, and then no one ever does,” Hedges said. “You can submit forms online, but then it’s just weeks or months of waiting. Meanwhile, they threaten to garnish wages or take it out of your taxes. It feels like a no-win situation.”

A Michigan woman now living in Florida shared a similar experience after receiving a repayment notice for benefits she said she never collected. “I did not get a dollar from Michigan pandemic money,” she said. “When the government shut down our state, I went right back to work when the restaurant reopened for takeout orders. I chose not to take unemployment.”

She said the letter contained no explanation or amount due. “They can find me in Florida, but they can’t get it right that I don’t owe any money,” she said. “Even if I wanted to pay them back, I wouldn’t know how much. There wasn’t even a number on my letter.”

The Michigan UIA has resumed collections on roughly $2.7 billion in pandemic-era overpayments, affecting about 350,000 people. Agency officials say the effort is legally required to protect the state’s unemployment trust fund, though claimants can request hardship waivers.

If passed, Senate Bill 700 would impose a strict three-year limit on those recoveries, giving residents like Hedges and others a possible end to years of uncertainty. Lawmakers have not yet scheduled a vote.

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Rochester school board censures trustee for exposing secret tax hike plan to taxpayers

Rochester Community Schools Board Trustee Carol Beth Litkouhi recently wrote an editorial for the Detroit News about a secret plan to impose 1.5 mills on Oakland County taxpayers.

On Monday, her fellow board members voted to censure Litkouhi for violating Board Bylaw 1001, which states “Board members will take no private action that might compromise the Board of administration and will not share any document or information that has not already been shared by the District, including but not limited to confidential or privileged information.”

The resolution of censure references Litkouhi’s editorial, alleging it contained “confidential information shared by the Superintendent that had not been approved for release.” Click here to read more.

 

Trump to Sign Groundbreaking Executive Order Bolstering Foster Care

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order strengthening the foster care system, The Daily Signal has learned.

The executive order, which the president will sign Thursday, will be focused on supporting foster youth transitioning out of the system to adulthood by expanding and enhancing access to education, workforce and career development, digital resources, and other supports. This will be accomplished by leveraging federal and private sector commitments, according to an administration official.

The order will also launch the first lady’s “Fostering the Future” initiative and develop new resources for supporting kids in the foster care system. Click here to read more.

 

 

Judge May Release Thousands of Illegal Aliens Arrested by ICE in Chicago

A Biden-appointed federal judge in Chicago says he is considering forcing immigration officers to release thousands of the illegal migrants that Immigration and Customs Enforcement have arrested during its “Operation Midway Blitz.”

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings claims he intends to provide “equitable relief” by ordering the Department of Homeland Security to release any criminal already on ankle monitors or other court-ordered monitoring programs, WLS-TV reported.

Pro-migrant activists claim that ICE and DHS are violating a so-called “Consent Decree” that limits how agents can make warrantless arrests of criminal illegal migrants.

The decree was signed in 2022 when President Joe Biden’s deputies agreed to accept curbs drafted by the ACLU. Judges allow consent decrees to bind future administrations. Click here to read more.

 

Lawmakers divided after federal complaint targets student mental health screening law

Illinois lawmakers are responding after America First Legal (AFL) filed a federal complaint urging the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Illinois’ new law requiring annual student mental health screenings without parental consent, a move the group calls a “clear violation of federal law.”

State Rep. Regan Deering, R-Decatur, who voted against the bill, said she’s not surprised by the legal challenge.

“As a mom, I’m concerned about the growing number of mandates coming out of Springfield that are removing parents from decisions about our own children,” Deering said. “Whether the issue has been curriculum or, in this case, mental health screenings, parents deserve to know what’s happening and to give their consent, not an opt-out.” Click here to read more.

 

Tariff Stimulus Checks Are an Unserious Idea

President Donald Trump’s proposal to deliver huge stimulus checks to many American households is the latest bit of fiscal fantasy to emerge from the White House.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump promised checks of $2,000 to low- and middle-income Americans, supposedly to be funded out of tariff revenue. It’s not the first time Trump has floated the idea of a “tariff dividend,” but the latest announcement comes as the administration grasps wildly for a solution to Americans’ perfceived affordibility issues.

After delivering the checks, the remaining tariff revenue would be used to pay down the national debt, Trump wrote in a post on Monday.

All of this is quite unserious. Let’s do the math. Click here to read more.