Judge gives Michigan go-ahead to resume welfare benefit cuts for 40,000

Welfare cuts are back on after U.S. District Judge Paul Borman ruled late today that the new notices sent out this week by the Michigan Department of Human Services provided enough warning and information to 11,162 families scheduled to lose their cash assistance benefits this month.

The revised notices “satisfy the due process concerns,” Borman wrote in his ruling.

A class action lawsuit was filed in September by cash assistance recipients facing the loss of their monthly allotments. Borman ruled earlier this month that the state had to continue paying benefits because it had done such a poor job of notifying the families their cash assistance benefits would end Oct. 1.

So the state sent out new notices this week that included information on the state law authorizing the end of benefits and details on how recipients could appeal the termination.

“We will continue to move forward with our outreach to these recipients,” said Maura Corrigan, director of the state Department of Human Resources.

Jacqueline Doig, an attorney for the cash assistance recipients suing the state, said she was disappointed with the ruling but doesn’t plan an appeal.

“It’s our intent to continue working with the families and making sure that nobody is terminated who is eligible for the benefits,” she said. “But people are very frightened about what will happen with their families and how they’re going to make ends meet.”

The 11,162 families represent about 40,000 people, two-thirds of whom are teenagers and children. The families had been receiving benefits for at least 48 months, and some had been getting benefits for as long as 10 years.

Before the new law was passed in July, Michigan used the federal 60-month limit but had many exceptions that allowed families to remain on assistance longer.

The bill ending the benefits was designed, in part, to balance the state’s budget.