Michigan Senate approves $ 465 million COVID-19 bill

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Senate passed a $ 465 million COVID-19 bill during Friday night’s session.

The Senate voted 35-2 to pass Senate Law 748.

Part of the cash distribution includes $ 220 million for unemployment, $ 48 million for the distribution and testing of COVID vaccines, $ 45 million in grants for layoffs or time off work in disability-affected cases, and $ 55 million in survival grants for small businesses.

The bill goes to Michigan House Monday.

READ: Michigan is revising COVID-19 order to reopen high schools and some entertainment venues

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that the state is reviewing its COVID-19 order to resume in-person high school classes, reopen certain indoor entertainment venues, and allow contactless outdoor sports and fitness classes.

Whitmer has held about 80 of these press conferences since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but on Friday she was visibly frustrated. After her friend Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon died of COVID-19, Whitmer said Washington’s distribution of vaccines is a bottleneck.

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