LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Monday a bill that will extend the maximum length of time Michigan workers can receive unemployment insurance benefits by six weeks and increase the cap on weekly payouts.

Under the change, someone will be able to get unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks, instead of the previous limit of 20 weeks. In 2011, 13 years ago, Republican then-Gov. Rick Snyder signed a measure into law that cut the weekly maximum from 26 weeks to 20 weeks.

Likewise, the new law will increase the weekly cap on benefits from $362 to $614 over a three-year period. The cap would jump by $84 each year, beginning in 2025. The cap would later be adjusted for inflation at the end of each year, according to the bill.

It will be the first boost in the payments since 2003, Whitmer's office said.

"This overdue update will bring relief to potentially 88,335 Michiganders, ensuring these individuals have enough money in their pockets to pay the bills and feed their families as they look for new employment," a statement from the governor's office said Monday.

When fully implemented, after the three-year period, the new law will raise the maximum weekly unemployment benefit by nearly 70%.

The change will also increase the cap on the allowance unemployed people can receive for each of their dependents from $6 to $26 over the same three-year period. In 2025, the allowance will go to $12.66 for each dependent.

Most Michigan Republicans opposed the bill in the state Legislature. And Amanda Fisher, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, testified in opposition before a Michigan Senate committee, saying lawmakers cut back the 26-week maximum length of benefits in 2011 as the unemployment system was in a financial hole.

"A huge concern is that this benefit increase goes too far too fast and could put us in danger again if there is an economic downturn," Fisher said.

Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, criticized the bill, saying the impacts would hit employers who fund the unemployment system and the changes would mean employees would miss out on higher wages and benefits.

The nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency has said the six-week extension of benefits alone would have increased the total amount of payouts over the last year in Michigan by $76.3 million to $104.5 million. The total payouts over the last year were $763.1 million, the agency said.

"These assumptions are based on the current trends for the number of claimants, the amount of payouts and the current exhaustion rate," the agency noted. "During an economic downturn with fewer job openings, the exhaustion rate would likely be greater than the current rate."

Michigan had a seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 4.8% in November, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Ohio, the maximum weekly unemployment benefit for someone with zero dependents is $583, according to that state's Department of Jobs and Family Services. In 2020, Whitmer said 40 states, including all of Michigan's neighbors, automatically provided at least 26 weeks of unemployment relief.

Ron Bieber, president of the labor organization Michigan AFL-CIO, called Whitmer's signature on the bill a "victory for working people."

"Finally, Michigan’s unemployment benefits will be restored to full strength after years of lagging behind our midwestern neighbors and practically every other state in the country," Bieber said.

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