Florida Senate - 2009                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 810
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 655898                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/21/2009           .                                
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       The Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means (Garcia)
       recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 271 and 272
    4  insert:
    5         Section 4. Effective July 5, 2009, and expiring December
    6  26, 2009, section 443.1117, Florida Statutes, is created to
    7  read:
    8         443.1117-TEMPORARY EXTENDED BENEFITS
    9         (1)PERIOD OF APPLICABILITY.-The provisions of this section
   10  apply only to claims in which entitlement to extended benefits
   11  pursuant to this section are established for the weeks between
   12  July 5, 2009 and December 26, 2009.
   13         (2)APPLICABILITY OF EXTENDED BENEFITS STATUTE.-Except when
   14  the result is inconsistent with the other provisions of this
   15  section, the provisions of s. 443.1115(3),(4),(6), and (7) apply
   16  to all claims covered by this section.
   17         (3)DEFINITIONS.–For the purposes of this section the
   18  terms:
   19         (a)Extended benefit period”, “regular benefits”, and
   20  “extended benefits” have the same meaning as in s. 443.1115.
   21         (b)“Eligibility period” means the period consisting of the
   22  weeks in an individual’s benefit year or emergency benefit
   23  period which begin in an extended benefit period and, if the
   24  benefit year or emergency benefit period ends within that
   25  extended benefit period, any subsequent weeks beginning in that
   26  period.
   27         (c)“Emergency benefits” means Emergency Unemployment
   28  Compensation paid pursuant to Pub. L. No. 110-252, Pub. L. No.
   29  110-449, and Pub. L. No. 111-5.
   30         (d)“Emergency benefit period” means the period during
   31  which an individual receives emergency benefits as defined in
   32  paragraph (c).
   33         (e)“Exhaustee” means an individual who, for any week of
   34  unemployment in her or his eligibility period:
   35         1.Has received, before that week, all of the regular
   36  benefits and emergency benefits, if any, available under this
   37  chapter or any other law, including dependents’ allowances and
   38  benefits payable to federal civilian employees and ex
   39  servicemembers under 5 U.S.C. ss. 8501-8525, in the current
   40  benefit year or emergency benefit period that includes that
   41  week. For the purposes of this subparagraph, an individual has
   42  received all of the regular benefits and emergency benefits, if
   43  any, available although, as a result of a pending appeal for
   44  wages paid for insured work which were not considered in the
   45  original monetary determination in the benefit year, she or he
   46  may subsequently be determined to be entitled to added regular
   47  benefits;
   48         2.Had a benefit year which expired before that week, and
   49  was paid no, or insufficient, wages for insured work on the
   50  basis of which she or he could establish a new benefit year that
   51  includes that week; and
   52         3.a.Has no right to unemployment benefits or allowances
   53  under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or other federal
   54  laws as specified in regulations issued by the United States
   55  Secretary of Labor; and
   56         b.Has not received and is not seeking unemployment
   57  benefits under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; but
   58  if an individual is seeking those benefits and the appropriate
   59  agency finally determines that she or he is not entitled to
   60  benefits under that law, she or he is considered an exhaustee.
   61         (f)State ‘on’ indicator” means the occurrence of a week
   62  in which the average total unemployment rate under state law,
   63  seasonally adjusted, as determined by the United States
   64  Secretary of Labor, for the period consisting of that week and
   65  the 12 weeks immediately preceding it:
   66         1.Equals or exceeds 110 percent of the average of those
   67  rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the
   68  preceding 2 calendar years; and
   69         2.Equals or exceeds 6.5 percent.
   70         (g)High unemployment period” means any week in which the
   71  average total unemployment rate under state law, seasonally
   72  adjusted, as determined by the United States Secretary of Labor,
   73  for the period consisting of that week and the 12 weeks
   74  immediately preceding it:
   75         1.Equals or exceeds 110 percent of the average of those
   76  rates for the corresponding 13-week period ending in each of the
   77  preceding 2 calendar years; and
   78         2.Equals or exceeds 8 percent.
   79         (h)State ‘off’ indicator” means the occurrence of a week
   80  in which there is no state “on” indicator or which does not
   81  constitute a high unemployment period.
   82         (4)TOTAL EXTENDED BENEFIT AMOUNT.—Except as provided in
   83  subsection (5):
   84         (a)For any week for which there is an “on indicator
   85  pursuant to paragraph (3)(f), the total extended benefit amount
   86  payable to an eligible individual for her or his applicable
   87  benefit year is the lesser of:
   88         1.Fifty percent of the total regular benefits payable
   89  under this chapter in the applicable benefit year; or
   90         2.Thirteen times the weekly benefit amount payable under
   91  this chapter for a week of total unemployment in the applicable
   92  benefit year.
   93         (b)For any high unemployment period as defined in
   94  paragraph (3)(g), the total extended benefit amount payable to
   95  an eligible individual for her or his applicable benefit year is
   96  the lesser of:
   97         1.Eighty percent of the total regular benefits payable
   98  under this chapter in the applicable benefit year; or
   99         2.Twenty times the weekly benefit amount payable under
  100  this chapter for a week of total unemployment in the applicable
  101  benefit year.
  102         (c)In the case of any individual who receives extended
  103  compensation with respect to one or more weeks of unemployment
  104  beginning after July 5, 2009, and before December 26, 2009, the
  105  individual shall continue to receive any benefits to which she
  106  or he is entitled under this section, except that the individual
  107  may not receive any benefits for any week ending after May 29,
  108  2010.
  109         (5)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, if
  110  the benefit year of an individual ends within an extended
  111  benefit period, the number of weeks of extended benefits the
  112  individual is entitled to receive in that extended benefit
  113  period for weeks of unemployment beginning after the end of the
  114  benefit year, except as provided in this section, is reduced,
  115  but not to below zero, by the number of weeks for which the
  116  individual received, within that benefit year, trade
  117  readjustment allowances under the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.
  118         Section 5. The Legislature finds that this act fulfills an
  119  important state interest.
  120  
  121  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  122         And the title is amended as follows:
  123         Delete line 19
  124  and insert:
  125  to request advances; creating s. 443.1117, F.S.; establishing
  126  temporary state extended benefits for claims between July 5,
  127  2009, and December 26, 2009; creating definitions; providing for
  128  state extended benefits for certain weeks and for periods of
  129  high unemployment; providing that the act fulfills an important
  130  state interest; providing effective dates.