Florida Senate - 2009                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for SB 810
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 358898                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                Floor: 4/AD/2R         .                                
             04/28/2009 11:28 AM       .                                
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       Senator Garcia moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Substitute for Amendment (460898) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Delete lines 278 - 390
    5  and insert:
    6         Section 4. Effective upon becoming a law, and retroactive
    7  to February 1, 2009, and expiring January 2, 2010, section
    8  443.1117, Florida Statutes, is created to read:
    9         443.1117Temporary extended benefits.—
   10         (1)APPLICABILITY OF EXTENDED BENEFITS STATUTE.—Except when
   11  the result is inconsistent with the other provisions of this
   12  section, the provisions of s. 443.1115(3), (4), (6), and (7)
   13  apply to all claims covered by this section.
   14         (2)DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section the term:
   15         (a)“Regular benefits” and “extended benefits” have the
   16  same meaning as in s. 443.1115.
   17         (b)“Eligibility period” means the period consisting of the
   18  weeks in an individual’s benefit year or emergency benefit
   19  period which begin in an extended benefit period and, if the
   20  benefit year or emergency benefit period ends within that
   21  extended benefit period, any subsequent weeks beginning in that
   22  period.
   23         (c)“Emergency benefits” means Emergency Unemployment
   24  Compensation paid pursuant to Pub. L. No. 110-252, Pub. L. No.
   25  110-449, and Pub. L. No. 111-5.
   26         (d)“Extended benefit period” means a period that:
   27         1.Begins with the third week after a week for which there
   28  is a state “on” indicator; and
   29         2.Ends with any of the following weeks, whichever occurs
   30  later:
   31         a.The third week after the first week for which there is a
   32  state “off” indicator;
   33         b.The 13th consecutive week of that period.
   34  
   35  However, an extended benefit period may not begin by reason of a
   36  state “on” indicator before the 14th week after the end of a
   37  prior extended benefit period that was in effect for this state.
   38         (e)“Emergency benefit period” means the period during
   39  which an individual receives emergency benefits as defined in
   40  paragraph (c).
   41         (f)“Exhaustee” means an individual who, for any week of
   42  unemployment in her or his eligibility period:
   43         1.Has received, before that week, all of the regular
   44  benefits and emergency benefits, if any, available under this
   45  chapter or any other law, including dependents’ allowances and
   46  benefits payable to federal civilian employees and ex
   47  servicemembers under 5 U.S.C. ss. 8501-8525, in the current
   48  benefit year or emergency benefit period that includes that
   49  week. For the purposes of this subparagraph, an individual has
   50  received all of the regular benefits and emergency benefits, if
   51  any, available although, as a result of a pending appeal for
   52  wages paid for insured work which were not considered in the
   53  original monetary determination in the benefit year, she or he
   54  may subsequently be determined to be entitled to added regular
   55  benefits;
   56         2.Had a benefit year which expired before that week, and
   57  was paid no, or insufficient, wages for insured work on the
   58  basis of which she or he could establish a new benefit year that
   59  includes that week; and
   60         3.a.Has no right to unemployment benefits or allowances
   61  under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or other federal
   62  laws as specified in regulations issued by the United States
   63  Secretary of Labor; and
   64         b.Has not received and is not seeking unemployment
   65  benefits under the unemployment compensation law of Canada; but
   66  if an individual is seeking those benefits and the appropriate
   67  agency finally determines that she or he is not entitled to
   68  benefits under that law, she or he is considered an exhaustee.
   69         (g)“State ‘on’ indicator” means, with respect to weeks of
   70  unemployment beginning on or after February 1, 2009, and ending
   71  on or before December 12, 2009, the occurrence of a week in
   72  which the average total unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted,
   73  as determined by the United States Secretary of Labor, for the
   74  period consisting of the most recent 3 months for which data for
   75  all states are published by the United States Department of
   76  Labor:
   77         1.Equals or exceeds 110 percent of the average of those
   78  rates for the corresponding 3 month period ending in each of the
   79  preceding 2 calendar years; and
   80         2.Equals or exceeds 6.5 percent.
   81         (h)“High unemployment period” means, with respect to weeks
   82  of unemployment beginning on or after February 1, 2009, and
   83  ending on or before December 12, 2009, any week in which the
   84  average total unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, as
   85  determined by the United States Secretary of Labor, for the
   86  period consisting of the most recent 3 months for which data for
   87  all states are published by the United States Department of
   88  Labor:
   89         1.Equals or exceeds 110 percent of the average of those
   90  rates for the corresponding 3 month period ending in each of the
   91  preceding 2 calendar years; and
   92         2.Equals or exceeds 8 percent.
   93         (h)“State ‘off’ indicator” means the occurrence of a week
   94  in which there is no state “on” indicator or which does not
   95  constitute a high unemployment period.
   96         (3)TOTAL EXTENDED BENEFIT AMOUNT.—Except as provided in
   97  subsection (5):
   98         (a)For any week for which there is an “on” indicator
   99  pursuant to paragraph (3)(g), the total extended benefit amount
  100  payable to an eligible individual for her or his applicable
  101  benefit year is the lesser of:
  102         1.Fifty percent of the total regular benefits payable
  103  under this chapter in the applicable benefit year; or
  104         2.Thirteen times the weekly benefit amount payable under
  105  this chapter for a week of total unemployment in the applicable
  106  benefit year.
  107         (b)For any high unemployment period as defined in
  108  paragraph (3)(h), the total extended benefit amount payable to
  109  an eligible individual for her or his applicable benefit year is
  110  the lesser of:
  111         1.Eighty percent of the total regular benefits payable
  112  under this chapter in the applicable benefit year; or
  113         2.Twenty times the weekly benefit amount payable under
  114  this chapter for a week of total unemployment in the applicable
  115  benefit year.
  116         (4)EFFECT ON TRADE READJUSTMENT.—Notwithstanding any other
  117  provision of this chapter, if the benefit year of an individual
  118  ends within an extended benefit period, the number of weeks of
  119  extended benefits the individual is entitled to receive in that
  120  extended benefit period for weeks of unemployment beginning
  121  after the end of the benefit year, except as provided in this
  122  section, is reduced, but not to below zero, by the number of
  123  weeks for which the individual received, within that benefit
  124  year, trade readjustment allowances under the Trade Act of 1974,
  125  as amended.
  126         Section 5. The provisions of s. 443.1117, Florida Statutes,
  127  as created by this act, apply only to claims for weeks of
  128  unemployment, in which an exhaustee establishes entitlement to
  129  extended benefits pursuant to that section, established for the
  130  period between February 22, 2009 and January 2, 2010.
  131  
  132  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  133         And the title is amended as follows:
  134         Delete lines 20 - 24
  135  and insert:
  136  providing for retroactive application; establishing temporary
  137  state extended benefits for weeks of unemployment between
  138  February 22, 2009, and January 2, 2010; creating definitions;
  139  providing for state extended benefits for certain weeks and for
  140  periods of high unemployment; providing for applicability of s.
  141  443.1117, F.S.; providing that the act fulfills an