LANSING, Mich. - For millions of Michiganders, taking a day off work because of their own or a family member's illness simply is not an option, but a broad coalition says changing that would make for a safer, healthier, more prosperous state.

Legislation introduced in the state House would make paid sick days mandatory in Michigan. Rep. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, who co-sponsored House Bill 4167, said she believes not only is this a public health and safety concern for all workers, but it's the right thing to do as a state.

"We want people to stay at home, to be able to take care of themselves before going back to work," she said, "and also to be able to take care of their loved one if they're sick."

The bill would provide full-time workers eight-and-a-half paid sick days per year, and is backed by a broad group of organizations and community leaders including the Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan and the Michigan National Organization for Women.

Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate, but Republican leaders claim paid sick leave would be a hindrance to job creation. Chang, however, argued that the measure is not a burden to businesses, but rather part of the foundation for a strong economy.

"You want to have productive workers." she said, "When someone's going to work sick, they're not working at their full capacity, especially if they're getting other people sick or if they're getting sicker."

Chang said not having paid sick time is a particular burden for Michigan women, who are more likely to be in low-wage jobs with minimal benefits.

"Looking at the restaurant industry and other service industries, women make up the majority of those types of workers," she said, "and so it's an issue that affects many people, but it definitely disproportionately impacts women."

According to a recent survey, 86 percent of Michigan voters say they think employees should get paid sick leave.

Text of HB 4167 is online at legislature.mi.gov.


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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Huge new aid programs are beating back poverty in the Golden State, especially among families with children.

Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a raft of budget bills, that included another $640 by the end of the month for CalWORKS families, on top of the $600 payments already sent to those in the CalWORKS and Supplemental Security Income programs, and three rounds of federal stimulus payments.

Mike Herald, director of policy advocacy for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said the supports are a boost to parents who lost jobs during the pandemic.

"We are really lifting up a lot of low-income families," Herald remarked. "They're getting real financial assistance in the $5,000-$7,000 range, and really, believe me, it's going to make a big difference in people's lives."

The California Comeback Plan, as Newsom calls it, also puts $5.2 billion toward rental assistance, so families can apply to get all their back rent paid, and even get a few months ahead.

Last week, parents started receiving payments of up to $300 a month per child, as part of the Biden administration's expanded federal Child Tax Credit.

Herald said because funds are going out monthly, instead of all coming at tax time, it is a game changer.

"This will help to really provide more financial stability," Herald asserted. "They're going to have more money every month in their accounts, to be able to pay bills and put food on the table. And this is something that advocates have wanted for a long time."

And the help for children doesn't stop there. California has also added 100,000 new slots to the state-funded childcare program and raised what it pays child-care operators, to encourage more of them to reopen as the pandemic subsides. The budget also includes a significant funding increase for K-through-12 schools.

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Community Action Agencies applauded the Massachusetts General Court for its commitments to anti-poverty efforts in the 2022 state budget, and urged Gov. Charlie Baker to follow their example when he signs his budget into law.

In addition to a $6.5 million line item for Community Action agencies across the state, both the State House and Senate included the creation of a commission to address inequality, promote opportunity and end poverty.

Sen. Mike Moore, D-Millbury, said now is the time to get the commission started, with federal money for economic recovery coming in.

"We have the ability to utilize this money in a more efficient and targeted way to try to address the concerns or the issues that the demographics, whatever this commission determines the demographics are that may need assistance, to lift them out of poverty," Moore asserted.

Moore added while anti-poverty efforts are always critical, many more people have lost access to food security, housing and even medical treatment since the pandemic began.

Lisa Clay, director of communications and member services for the Massachusetts Association for Community Action, said the commission will build on work agencies have been doing for decades.

She pointed out one of the roles they play is to analyze the needs of people living in poverty in their communities and try to address them. And she contended the funding will allow agencies more flexibility to respond as needs arise.

"This line item is really a recognition of the central role that Community Action Agencies play in bringing people together in communities, and working with and for the people that we serve and meeting the needs that are very local," Clay noted.

Marybeth Campbell, executive director of the Worcester Community Action Council, said the flexibility of state resources is key. She explained most federal funding they receive had rigid restrictions on what it can be used for.

She added she looks forward to putting funds toward what she calls a "Resiliency Center" to work with other community groups to fill gaps in her agency's services.

"At WCAC, we don't really have housing programs. We don't have mental behavioral health programs," Campbell outlined. "And where we have shared clients in the community with other organizations, we're trying to build this Resiliency Center as a way to mobilize our services together with our partner organizations."

AUGUSTA, Maine - A bipartisan group of nearly 60 U.S. senators led by Susan Collins, R-Maine, is urging more funding for the federal TRIO programs.

The programs serve more than 7,500 Maine students who are low-income, the first in their family to attend college or who live with a disability. TRIO programs encourage and provide resources for high school students to apply and prepare for college, and help current students with course selection, connecting to tutoring services, financial literacy and more.

Mary Sinclair, president of the Maine Educational Opportunity Association, said the programs are about access for historically underserved communities.

"Our programs - we're very relationship-based," she said. "We know our students really well, and we help them kind of meet the challenges of whatever it is that they are needing."

Collins and her colleagues are reminding the House Appropriations Committee chairs that, during the pandemic, college enrollment rates from high schools with high poverty rates fell steeply from the previous year, and lower-income students have been twice as likely to drop out of community college since the COVID-19 crisis.

Sara Flowers, director of the Student Support Services Program at the University of Maine in Augusta, echoed the importance of pushing against the trend of low-income, first-generation, and students with disabilities enrolling and graduating at lower rates than their peers. She said TRIO funding is crucial for equity, especially in light of what she calls "academic inflation."

"The jobs out there for our students are, in some ways, the same jobs that were there 30 years ago," she said, "but now we're asking for higher degrees from those applicants than we did 30 years ago."

The higher-education funding bill, as it stands now in committee, would boost funding for TRIO programs by 18%. It also would increase funding for career and adult education, and increase the maximum annual Pell Grant amount by $400.