Florida Senate - 2025 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1238
Ì738334-Î738334
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/31/2025 .
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The Committee on Commerce and Tourism (Rodriguez) recommended
the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Promoting Work,
6 Deterring Fraud Act of 2025.”
7 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 443.101, Florida
8 Statutes, is amended to read:
9 443.101 Disqualification for benefits.—An individual shall
10 be disqualified for benefits:
11 (2) If the Department of Commerce finds that the individual
12 has failed without good cause to apply for available suitable
13 work; to appear, on three or more occasions, for a scheduled job
14 interview without notifying the prospective employer of the need
15 to cancel or reschedule the interview; to, accept suitable work
16 within 2 business days when offered to him or her; to, or return
17 to the individual’s customary self-employment when directed by
18 the department; or to return to employment when recalled to work
19 by the individual’s employer after a temporary layoff, the
20 disqualification continues for the full period of unemployment
21 next ensuing after he or she failed without good cause to apply
22 for available suitable work; to appear, on three or more
23 occasions, for a scheduled job interview without notifying the
24 prospective employer of the need to cancel or reschedule the
25 interview; to, accept suitable work;, or to return to his or her
26 customary employment or self-employment, and until the
27 individual has earned income of at least 17 times his or her
28 weekly benefit amount. The department shall by rule adopt
29 criteria to implement this subsection, including for determining
30 the “suitability of work,” as used in this section. In
31 developing these rules, the department shall consider the
32 duration of a claimant’s unemployment in determining the
33 suitability of work and the suitability of proposed rates of
34 compensation for available work. Further, after an individual
35 has received 25 weeks of benefits in a single year, suitable
36 work is a job that pays the minimum wage and is 120 percent or
37 more of the weekly benefit amount the individual is drawing.
38 (a) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for
39 an individual, the department shall consider the degree of risk
40 to the individual’s health, safety, and morals; the individual’s
41 physical fitness, prior training, experience, prior earnings,
42 length of unemployment, and prospects for securing local work in
43 his or her customary occupation; and the distance of the
44 available work from his or her residence.
45 (b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter,
46 work is not deemed suitable and benefits may not be denied to
47 any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new
48 work under any of the following conditions:
49 1. The position offered is vacant due directly to a strike,
50 lockout, or other labor dispute.
51 2. The wages, hours, or other conditions of the work
52 offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than
53 those prevailing for similar work in the locality.
54 3. As a condition of being employed, the individual is
55 required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain
56 from joining any bona fide labor organization.
57 (c) If the department finds that an individual was rejected
58 for offered employment as the direct result of a positive,
59 confirmed drug test required as a condition of employment, the
60 individual is disqualified for refusing to accept an offer of
61 suitable work.
62 Section 3. Section 443.1112, Florida Statutes, is created
63 to read:
64 443.1112 Verification of reemployment assistance benefit
65 eligibility; detection of fraud.—
66 (1) The Department of Commerce shall verify the identity of
67 each claimant who applies for reemployment assistance benefits
68 before paying any benefits to that individual.
69 (2) For the initial claim for benefits made by a claimant
70 and as necessary to verify a claimant’s eligibility for
71 benefits, the department shall cross-check the information
72 contained in the claim with information in the database of the
73 Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program
74 established by the United States Bureau of Citizenship and
75 Immigration Services.
76 (3) For every 2 weeks that a claimant makes a claim for
77 benefits, including the initial claim for benefits, to verify a
78 claimant’s eligibility for benefits, the department shall cross
79 check the information contained in the claim to make sure that
80 the claimant is:
81 (a) Living.
82 (b) Not incarcerated.
83 (c) Not already employed.
84 (d) Not filing fraudulent or duplicate claims.
85 (4) The department shall do all of the following:
86 (a) Investigate any claim in this state associated with a
87 mailing address, a bank account, an e-mail address, a telephone
88 number, or an Internet protocol address that is also associated
89 with another existing claim for reemployment assistance benefits
90 in this state or another state and verify that the claim in this
91 state is legitimate and not fraudulent before paying any
92 benefits for the claim.
93 (b) Scrutinize any claim in this state filed from a foreign
94 Internet protocol address before paying any benefits for the
95 claim.
96 (c) Refer any suspected fraudulent or attempted fraudulent
97 claim identified by the department to the Department of Legal
98 Affairs and the state attorney of the judicial circuit in which
99 the suspected fraudulent claim originated for further
100 investigation and potential prosecution.
101 (d) Maintain a web page and an e-mail address through which
102 an individual or an employer may report known or suspected
103 violations of this chapter, including identity theft, fraud, or
104 reasons for which a claimant would be disqualified for benefits
105 under s. 443.101, including, but not limited to, failing to
106 appear for a previously scheduled job interview without
107 notifying the prospective employer of the need to cancel or
108 reschedule the interview or failing to accept suitable work
109 within 2 business days when offered to him or her. Each year,
110 the department shall notify employers in this state of this web
111 page and e-mail address for reporting violations.
112 (e) Annually make available on its website a report
113 identifying the number of fraudulent reemployment assistance
114 claims identified for the previous year, the number of claims
115 not paid due to successful detection of fraudulent intentions,
116 the number of claims and the amount of reemployment assistance
117 benefits paid against claims subsequently identified as
118 fraudulent, the amount of fraudulent overpayments recovered, and
119 the number of fraudulent claims referred for investigation and
120 possible prosecution. The report must also list the sources of
121 information that were used to cross-check claims during the
122 reporting period.
123 (4) This section may not be construed as limiting the
124 ability of the department to adopt additional mechanisms and
125 strategies designed to limit waste, fraud, and abuse in the
126 reemployment assistance program.
127 Section 4. Paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section
128 443.091, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
129 443.091 Benefit eligibility conditions.—
130 (1) An unemployed individual is eligible to receive
131 benefits for any week only if the Department of Commerce finds
132 that:
133 (d) She or he is able to work and is available for work. In
134 order to assess eligibility for a claimed week of unemployment,
135 the department shall develop criteria to determine a claimant’s
136 ability to work and availability for work. A claimant must be
137 actively seeking work in order to be considered available for
138 work. This means engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to
139 find work, including contacting at least five prospective
140 employers for each week of unemployment claimed. The department
141 may require the claimant to provide proof of such efforts to the
142 one-stop career center as part of reemployment services. A
143 claimant’s proof of work search efforts may not include the same
144 prospective employer at the same location in 3 consecutive
145 weeks, unless the employer has indicated since the time of the
146 initial contact that the employer is hiring. The department
147 shall conduct random reviews of work search information provided
148 by claimants. As an alternative to contacting at least five
149 prospective employers for any week of unemployment claimed, a
150 claimant may, for that same week, report in person to a one-stop
151 career center to meet with a representative of the center and
152 access reemployment services of the center. The center shall
153 keep a record of the services or information provided to the
154 claimant and shall provide the records to the department upon
155 request by the department. However:
156 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph or
157 paragraphs (b) and (e), an otherwise eligible individual may not
158 be denied benefits for any week because she or he is in training
159 with the approval of the department, or by reason of s.
160 443.101(2) relating to failure to apply for, failure to appear
161 for an interview for, or refusal to accept, suitable work.
162 Training may be approved by the department in accordance with
163 criteria prescribed by rule. A claimant’s eligibility during
164 approved training is contingent upon satisfying eligibility
165 conditions prescribed by rule.
166 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an
167 otherwise eligible individual who is in training approved under
168 s. 236(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, may not be
169 determined ineligible or disqualified for benefits due to
170 enrollment in such training or because of leaving work that is
171 not suitable employment to enter such training. As used in this
172 subparagraph, the term “suitable employment” means work of a
173 substantially equal or higher skill level than the worker’s past
174 adversely affected employment, as defined for purposes of the
175 Trade Act of 1974, as amended, the wages for which are at least
176 80 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage as determined for
177 purposes of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended.
178 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an
179 otherwise eligible individual may not be denied benefits for any
180 week because she or he is before any state or federal court
181 pursuant to a lawfully issued summons to appear for jury duty.
182 4. Union members who customarily obtain employment through
183 a union hiring hall may satisfy the work search requirements of
184 this paragraph by reporting daily to their union hall.
185 5. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
186 apply to persons who are unemployed as a result of a temporary
187 layoff or who are claiming benefits under an approved short-time
188 compensation plan as provided in s. 443.1116.
189 6. In small counties as defined in s. 120.52(19), a
190 claimant engaging in systematic and sustained efforts to find
191 work must contact at least three prospective employers for each
192 week of unemployment claimed.
193 7. The work search requirements of this paragraph do not
194 apply to persons required to participate in reemployment
195 services under paragraph (e).
196 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.
197
198 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
199 And the title is amended as follows:
200 Delete everything before the enacting clause
201 and insert:
202 A bill to be entitled
203 An act relating to verification of reemployment
204 assistance benefit eligibility; providing a short
205 title; amending s. 443.101, F.S.; revising
206 circumstances under which the Department of Commerce
207 may disqualify claimants from receiving reemployment
208 assistance benefits; creating s. 443.1112, F.S.;
209 requiring the department to verify claimants’
210 identities before paying reemployment assistance
211 benefits; requiring the department to cross-check
212 certain information on a specified schedule; providing
213 duties of the department; requiring the department to
214 maintain a web page and an e-mail address for a
215 specified purpose and to notify employers each year of
216 the web page and e-mail address; requiring the
217 department to annually make certain information
218 available on its website; providing construction;
219 amending s. 443.091, F.S.; conforming a provision to
220 changes made by the act; providing an effective date.