State senator visits Livonia: town halls, tax credits and worker protections highlighted
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Summary
State Senator Pollhanki told the Livonia City Council about upcoming local events and state policy changes including town halls, expanded earned income tax credit outreach, changes to unemployment benefits and new earned sick‑time and minimum wage provisions.
Senator Pollhanki addressed Livonia City Council during tributes and gave updates on several state initiatives, local outreach events and benefits she said will affect working families.
Pollhanki, speaking from her hometown of Livonia, listed two upcoming public events: a town hall with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell on Monday, April 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Summit on the Park in Canton, and a senior summit on Friday, May 16 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Caustic Activity Center in Farmington Hills (she said the senior event will offer a free lunch).
She urged residents to check the earned income tax credit (EITC) if they are eligible, noting this comes around tax day; in her remarks she said the state EITC “was quintupled” and that the eligibility threshold had been raised. Pollhanki encouraged residents to learn more at the Senate Democrats website and by following her on Facebook (she said her handle is Senator Pollhanki).
On unemployment, Pollhanki said the state restored maximum unemployment weeks to 26 weeks after a previous reduction and described increases to the maximum weekly benefit. In her remarks she said the new maximum is $614 per week and discussed phasing and eligibility changes; the senator attributed the change to recent legislative action. She also summarized changes to earned sick time and minimum wage: the law, as she described it, provides full‑time workers at large businesses (10 or more employees) 72 hours of earned sick time and full‑time workers at smaller businesses (fewer than 10 employees) 40 hours; she said Michigan will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027, and that tipped workers will see an increase that was negotiated with servers who came to Lansing.
Direct quotes and contact information
- On EITC: “If you’re a working person and your income is below a certain level, there’s something called the earned income tax credit … it’s something that if you kind of put it off and you still have time, you might want to see if you qualify,” Pollhanki said.
- On earned sick time: “If you work for a company and it’s a large business, that means 10 or more employees, you are entitled to 72 hours of earned sick time if you’re full time. Smaller businesses with 10 or fewer employees will get 40 hours,” she said.
- On minimum wage and tipped workers: Pollhanki said the state raised the minimum wage to $15 by 2027 and described discussions with restaurant workers who opposed a full $15 hourly minimum for tipped workers out of concern tips would decline.
How to follow up: Pollhanki provided a website to sign up for her newsletter (senatedems.com/pollhanki) and said she posts on Facebook at Senator Pollhanki.