Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 612
       
       
       
       By Senator Ring
       
       
       
       
       32-00419-12                                            2012612__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to job incentives; providing a short
    3         title; specifying purpose; creating the Floridians
    4         Back to Work Program within the Division of Workforce
    5         Services of the Department of Economic Opportunity;
    6         providing duties of the division; requiring the
    7         division to adopt rules to implement the program and
    8         administer funding; authorizing wage subsidies of
    9         specified amounts for employers that hire job
   10         applicants meeting certain conditions for specified
   11         lengths of time; conditioning implementation of the
   12         program upon an appropriation in the General
   13         Appropriations Act; providing an effective date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Floridians Back to Work Program.—
   18         (1) This section may be cited as the “Floridians Back to
   19  Work Program.”
   20         (2) The purpose of the program is to offset the cost of
   21  hiring new workers and to encourage employers to create long
   22  term, private-sector employment for Floridians.
   23         (3) To accomplish the purpose of this program, the
   24  Floridians Back to Work Program is created within the Division
   25  of Workforce Services of the Department of Economic Opportunity.
   26  The division shall carry out its responsibility to achieve the
   27  duties, responsibilities, and goals of the department to manage
   28  the activities of public-private partnerships as provided in s.
   29  20.60(4)(e), Florida Statutes, by promoting the establishment of
   30  public-private partnerships with employers for the purpose of
   31  transitioning residents of this state from receiving
   32  unemployment compensation to becoming employed as members of the
   33  workforce.
   34         (4) The division, in consultation with Workforce Florida,
   35  Inc., and its board, shall adopt rules that implement the
   36  Floridians Back to Work Program and appropriately administer
   37  federal and state workforce funding for implementation of the
   38  program through the communication of program and fiscal
   39  instructions to regional workforce boards throughout the state.
   40         (5) The program shall authorize a participating employer to
   41  receive a wage subsidy of up to $2,000 for the hiring of each
   42  qualified job applicant. A participating employer must retain a
   43  newly hired applicant for at least the following lengths of time
   44  in order to receive a wage subsidy:
   45         (a) Thirty days to receive a subsidy of $500.
   46         (b) Sixty days to receive a subsidy of $1,000.
   47         (c) Ninety days to receive a subsidy of $1,500.
   48         (d) One hundred twenty days to receive a full subsidy of
   49  $2,000.
   50  
   51  An employer may not receive a wage subsidy calculated on a pro
   52  rata basis in any amount other than as provided in paragraphs
   53  (a)-(d).
   54         (6) For purposes of the program, a “qualified job
   55  applicant” means a person who:
   56         (a) Is unemployed at the time of hire.
   57         (b) Is currently receiving unemployment compensation or has
   58  received unemployment compensation at any time within 12 months
   59  before the time of hire.
   60         (c) Is hired for at least 30 hours per week.
   61         (d) Made less than $15 per hour at his or her last
   62  employment before becoming unemployed.
   63         (7) The implementation of the Floridians Back to Work
   64  Program as created under this section is subject to an
   65  appropriation in the General Appropriations Act.
   66         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.