SENATE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Chair Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, speaks during a hearing Jan. 13 to discuss an investigation into imposter fraud and intentional misrepresentation payments made by the Unemployment Insurance Agency. At left is Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, House Oversight Committee chairman.

LANSING, Mich. — An Upper Peninsula lawmaker says more investigation is needed into the estimated $8.5 billion in fraudulent jobless benefits paid by Michigan over a 19-month period of the coronavirus pandemic.

State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, who chairs the Senate Oversight Committee, said the panel continues to seek answers on who was responsible for preventing fraud or who made decisions to roll back fraud protections.

The Senate and House Oversight committees on Thursday had a joint hearing to discuss a Deloitte and Touche investigation into payments made by the Unemployment Insurance Agency.

The report estimates $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion was paid to imposters while an estimated $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion in benefits went to apparently legitimate claimants who appeared to misrepresent their eligibility.

Julia Dale, who has directed the UIA since October, says the state avoided an estimated $43.7 billion in fraud from March 2020 through September 2021 while paying $34.5 billion in benefits over that time.

The percentage of payments involving likely imposter fraud was 0.46% last fiscal year, down from 9.7% between March 2020 and October 2020, according to Dale. The portion paid for likely intentional misrepresentation fraud — when real claimants may

fabricate income-verification documents or knowingly not report information that would make them ineligible — was 0.11%, a drop from 20.1%.

“It is clear after discussing the report issued by Deloitte that the state Unemployment Insurance Agency’s focus was decidedly not on the billions of taxpayer dollars wasted, but on the fraud the agency allegedly prevented,” McBroom said in a news release. “While I appreciate and expect the agency director’s concern about ensuring something like this never happens again, she simply cannot gloss over the massive mistakes made by the agency that led to a significant amount of Michigan’s federal COVID-19 funding going to the wrong people and not to the residents who deserved it. We will continue these hearings until the people of this state get the answers they deserve, and someone is held accountable.”

McBroom said he understands the UIA has been difficult to navigate for many U.P. residents, and anyone having trouble may contact his Senate office at 517-373-7840 or toll-free 1-866-305-2133.

The Deloitte and Touche report, which was issued Dec. 29, may be read https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MILEO/2021/12/29/file_attachments/2033692/Letter%20-%20Final_.pdf.

The joint committee hearing may be viewed at https://misenate.viebit.com/player.php?hash=RXGj72LHrq0J.