-Mur__-Ay,'Mayn , l9C -I) I lId LIIInAI LJAT rage n__.1r.._ w Thursday, May 8,' 1/75 TH M ICHIGAN UAILYT Page Five Bill proposes aid for unemployed LANSING (UPI) - Major proposals increasing jobless benefits for 440,000 laid-off workers and providing medical malpractice insurance protec- tion for all Michigan doctors could land on the governor's desk today. In addition, the House may complete action on a bill re- quiring mandatory prison sen- tences for all felonies involv- ing the use of a gun. THE JOBLESS bill, which has' put Gov. William Milliken in an awkward political bind, would raise weekly unemployment benefits by as much as $30 for workers idled less than 39 weeks. It was reported out of the Democratically controlled Sen- ate Labor Committee yesterday_ and positioned for final floor ac- tion. House speaker Bobby Crim (D-Davison) said the House would move swiftly on Senate amendments once that chamber completes action on the bill. The Senate adopted the mal- practice measure on a 31-1 vote, with House concurrence on tech- nical amendments planned for today. It would set up a state malpractice pool to insure new doctors and high-risk special- ists unable to secure coverage from individual companies. WITH ENACTMENT a foregone conclusion, S t a t e Insurance Commissioner Daniel Demlow said already has begun gearing up to issue malprac- tice policies by June 1 for doc- tors facing loss of coverage. The jobless benefit hike would cost industry an estimated $120 million in increased tax outlays and Republicans contended it would bankrupt many small businesses. A last -minute effort by Mil- liken aides to hold down the in- crease for workers with no de- pendents failed. Though oppos- ed to the bill in its present form, the prospect of Milliken vetoing the bill was not seen as likely. THE GUN BILL would add a mandatory two years to prison sentences meted out in gun-re- lated felonies in an attempt to cut down on mandatory crime. The added two-year term could not be shortened by parole or probation. In other legislative action yesterday: -The Senate Judiciary Com- mittee approved an often-side- tracked proposal banning un- fair and deceptive trade prac- tices. However, the consumer p r o t e c t i o n legislation was amended to exempt insur- ance companies, banks, credit unions, utilities and major health insurers. THE HOUSE, by voice vote, lamnched a committee investi- gation to determine whether the state's presidential primary should be abolished. The mea- sure is strongly opposed by promoters of another presiden- tial bid by Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who scored a victory in Michigan in 1972. -The House sent to Milliken on a 92-12 vote, legislation al- lowing an injured worker to chose his own physician after 10 days of care by a doctor of his employer's choice. Under Current law, treatment by the employer's physician is requir- ed for 60 days. Just what the doctor ordered Apparently, someone took this sign outside the emergency receiving ward at Lower Bucks County Hospital Bristol, Pa. a bit too seriously. Despite the seemingly mangled condition of the sign, it managed to recover. House unit approves refugee aid plan (Continued from Page 1) finding jobs for the refugees, interviewing those at three processing centers. The administration has esti- mated that some 30,000 to 35,000 of 120,000 refugees are heads of households who will need to find work. IN OTHER developments in the capital: -The Pentagon said the bodies of two Marines killed in the insurgent bombardment of Saigon's airport were left behind in the confusion of the final evacuation. A spokesman said there is every probability that the bodies of Cpl. Charles McMahon Jr. of Woburn, Mass., and Lance Cpl. Darwin L. Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, remained at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Saigon, and he said the State Department is trying to arrange for return of the bodies. -The Pentagon said the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines has compiled a list of about 30 Americans and 25 other nationals reported to have remained in Saigon after its fall. A spokesman declined to make the list public, saying it is being cross checked with other lists. He also said so far 113,309 Indochina refugees are being processed. -ALSO ACCORDING to the Pentagon, the United States removed more than 100 jet fighters, light bombers and helicopters from Thailand before sus- pending the operation at the request of the Thai govern- ment. What was left behind was unserviceable, a spokesman said. -At a White House meeting, President Ford assured Prime Minister Wallace Rowling of New Zealand that the United States will keep its commitments in the Pacific. -Ford officially proclaimed yesterday as the last day of the Vietnam war era for the purpose of entitling members of the armed forces to some veterans' benefits. IN A RARE move, Chairman Peter Rodino, Jr. (D- N.J.) of the House Judiciary Committee went before the immigration subcommittee to urge it to act quickly on refugee aid. "When this country forgets its immigrant heritage and turns its back on the oppressed and the homeless, we will indeed have written 'fini' to the American dream," Rodino said. House Democratic Leader Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. of Massachusetts had said a full House vote on the refugee aid money is possible next week. .AT ANOTHER House hearing, L. Dean Brown, who leads an inter-agency task force on refugees, said a computerized job bank had been established as a means of helping to relocate some of the Vietnamese coming to the United States. Brown told the House International Affairs Com- mittee that eventually all of the new refugees' names would be entered in the computer. He said officials administering the relocation pro- gram have been instructed to avoid sending large num- bers to areas of high unemployment., BROWN ALSO said no area of the country will be overburdened with refugees. Labor Secretary John Dunlop said in a news release the computerized job bank maintained in Oklahoma City by the federal-state public employment services will be used "to see if there are jobs that could be filled" by the refugees who are being processed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Fort Chaffee, Ark., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. After testifying at the House immigration subcom- mittee hearing, James Wilson, deputy director of the government's refugee program, told reporters that if Congress has not appropriated more money after present funds run out, "we will shake the bushes" to see if more money can be found from among other federal funds. WILSON SAID the latest actual count of refugees was 113,340, substantially less than the 124,399 the administration had estimated Monday. He said this was because of more precise counting but said possibly 6,000 refugees are still at sea and there is no estimate of how many Indochinese diplo- mats around the world might wind up in the United States. Subcommittee members including Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D-N.Y.) had objected M o n d a y to war profiteers and criminals among the refugees being admitted to this country and they won a pledge yes- terday that criminals will be screened out and detained. "We certainly do not intend to turn loose people into the community if they have criminal backgrounds," said James Greene, deputy commissioner of the Im- migration and Naturalization Service.