Bill > HB6314

This bill updates Michigan's laws regarding conspiracy and fraud related to unemployment benefits—which are government payments made to people who have lost their jobs—by expanding the definition of illegal conspiracies to explicitly include modern technological tactics, such as automated digital schemes or the use of stolen personal information. The legislation modernizes references to the state's administrative body by replacing the old term "commission" with the "Unemployment Insurance Agency," and it clarifies that individuals can be penalized for attempting or assisting in a fraudulent scheme even if no actual financial loss occurred or if the illegally obtained money was eventually paid back. Furthermore, the bill outlines severe civil and criminal penalties for violators, including fines equal to triple the amount of money involved or attempted to be taken, mandatory community service, and prison sentences of up to two or five years depending on the scale of the fraud.