By AP
LANSING, MI –
An advocacy group for welfare recipients says Michigan has toughened its lifetime limits on welfare benefits beyond what lawmakers intended.
A four-year lifetime limit on receiving benefits was put into law earlier this year, but the Department of Human Services also implemented a five-year federal limit that doesn't include all the exemptions included in the state law.
Center for Civil Justice executive director Terri Stangl told reporters Wednesday that state officials are ignoring lawmakers' intentions with its policy put into place Oct. 1. The center obtained an injunction earlier this week temporarily halting the state from using a five-year federal limit.
DHS argues that both federal and state laws authorize the new limits. The changes would end benefits for about 11,000 families, most under the five-year limit.