The Michigan House closed its business for the year without addressing several major issues, but state Representative Joey Andrews says it still did approve around 100 bills in the waning days.

For Andrews, an important piece of legislation that was improved will extend unemployment benefits in the state. He says they will now continue for 26 weeks, instead of the current 20 weeks. Andrews says that will get Michigan in line with the states surrounding it, something that will be good for Southwest Michigan, in particular.

“We lose a lot of construction and trades workforce in our area to Indiana because the nature of that work is that you’re often unemployed for brief periods between projects, and Indiana’s support was just stronger than ours,” Andrews said. “So being able to be competitive on that level I think is going to really help us bring workforce back in.”

Not only did the House vote to extend unemployment benefits, but it voted to increase their amount. The maximum weekly benefit will now rise from $362 to $614 by 2027. With the cost of living rising, supporters say this will help working people between jobs continue to survive.