Michigan bills would prevent state funding of companies using slave labor

Two identical bills introduced to the Michigan House and Senate would prohibit the state from entering economic development deals with companies tied to forced Chinese labor in the global supply chain.

HB 5959, sponsored by State Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Cannon Township, and SB 1015, sponsored by State Sen. Joe Bellino, would forbid the Michigan Strategic fund from subsidizing or providing tax incentives to companies that appear on the national Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.

The bills would also require all new and existing economic development deals include a clawback provision, requiring any company added to the UFLPA list after the execution of their contract to repay 100% of any money received from the state of Michigan plus a 10% penalty, immediately followed by termination of the contract.

The Free Human Project, a nonprofit, anti-trafficking advocacy group, applauded the legislation as a “step in the right direction.”

“Taxpayers should never pay for the exploitation or forced labor of other citizens, here or abroad,” said Diana Rademacher, co-founder of the Free Human Project. “Untangling supply chains to end modern slavery will require every level of government intervention as well as private, corporate cooperation…Michigan now has an opportunity to set tremendous ethical precedent by ensuring no company who appears on that list receives even a dime of Michiganders’ hard-earned tax dollars in any form.”

The legislation comes as federal investigations have found Chinese electric battery manufacturer Gotion–which has received millions in state subsidies to establish a plant in Michigan–sources many of its materials from CCP-owned enterprises that use forced labor of ethnic minorities in China.

Among those companies are Xinjiang Nonferrous and Xinjiang Joinworld, which make Uyghurs attend propaganda training sessions before forcing them to mine aluminum used by Gotion. Gotion also sources its lithium ion from BTR New Material Group, a company with deep connections to Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a company which also uses forced labor and is already listed as a UFLPA entity.