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