March 30, 2012 at 1:02 pm

Lottery winners may no longer get welfare

Bill stops those who claim big jackpots from getting aid

• By Detroit News staff and wire reports
• 4 Comments

Lansing— Michigan lawmakers have sent Gov. Rick Snyder legislation aimed at ensuring big lottery winners can't continue to get taxpayer assistance such as food stamps.

The House gave unanimous approval to the Senate bills Thursday. The legislation was sparked by revelations that two recent Michigan Lottery winners continued using food stamps to buy groceries despite their winnings.

In early March, a 24-year-old Lincoln Park woman acknowledged using food stamps for several months after cashing in a $700,000 lump sum lottery payment and buying a second home and new car. She was removed from the food assistance program for the poor.

"If you're really poor, you shouldn't be gambling," said state Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville. "Overall, the taxpayers are just fed up with people that are not poor abusing their Bridge Cards and their welfare."

Under the bills, lottery officials would be required to notify the state's Department of Human Services about winners of $1,000 or more.

The legislation also would put into state law a requirement for asset tests to help determine eligibility for some welfare programs in the state. That provision drew the most opposition from lawmakers, although some asset tests already are used in Michigan through state department policy.

Prison may close

An aging corrections facility in Ionia could be closed to save state taxpayers $12.8 million annually and launch a pilot program for a privately run prison.
The House Appropriations Corrections Subcommittee on Thursday approved a $1.9 billion Department of Corrections budget for the next fiscal year that trims Gov. Rick Snyder’s recommended spending plan by $36.7 million and recommends closure of the aged Michigan Reformatory Correctional Facility in Ionia, northwest of Lansing.
Rep. Joseph Haveman, R-Holland, the chair of the budget-writing corrections subcommittee, said the subcommittee wants the Department of Corrections to seek bids for a privately-run prison. A former state facility in Baldwin that closed in 2005 and is now owned by Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., is a possible location for a pilot program, Haveman said.
Mel Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization, a corrections officer union, said closure of the Ionia facility is a "bailout" for Geo Group, which needs inmates to fill the 1,700-bed Baldwin prison after plans to accept out-of-state prisoners never materialized.
Closing the Ionia facility and transferring about 1,300 inmates to a private facility could save $12.8 million annually by trimming daily incarceration costs by $20 per inmate, Haveman said.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120330/POLITICS02/203300365#ixzz1qx6N2Lb4