By Associated Press - Monday, January 9, 2017

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan will be unable to rule that someone committed unemployment benefits fraud unless a state worker verifies it under legislation signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The law OK’d Monday prohibits what’s known as “auto-adjudication.” It codifies a change the state Unemployment Insurance Agency put in place in 2015 after thousands of people receiving jobless benefits were mistakenly accused of fraud by a computer system.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration announced last week that the director of the agency was reassigned in the wake of criticism over the problem.

Also Monday, Snyder signed a bill shifting $10 million from the unemployment contingent fund to Michigan’s general fund as part of a prior budget deal. Democrats have accused Republicans of balancing the budget on the backs of innocent people wrongfully accused of fraud.

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