2006 House Bill 6580 ↩

Senate Roll Call 977: Passed

To establish that an able bodied person may only collect cash welfare payments for 48 months during their lifetime, subject to exceptions defined by the Department of Human Services. (Previous welfare time limit bills <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2005-HB-5438">previous time limit legislation</a> vetoed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm did not grant the department this power to create exceptions.) The proposed statute itself contains exceptions for individuals who are mentally or physically disabled, have low intelligence or learning disabilities, and other conditions. The bill is prospective only – the clock starts ticking on recipients’ 48-month limits when a new government welfare-to-work program has gone into effect (Sept. 30, 3007) – and it contains many “clock stoppers” on the time limit, such as whenever the unemployment rate in the county a recipient lives in exceeds the state average by 25 percent. Recipients who fail to comply with work and training requirements would lose benefits for three months the first two times, and one year for a third violation.