Florida Senate - 2009 SENATOR AMENDMENT Bill No. CS for CS for SB 810 Barcode 358898 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House . . . Floor: 4/AD/2R . 04/28/2009 11:28 AM . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 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: 9 443.1117 Temporary 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