Fla. Dems: Jobless aid legislation ‘a baby step’
TALLAHASSEE — A year after Florida’s unemployment system ground to a halt, delaying claims for millions laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers remain at odds whether to increase the state’s maximum weekly benefit of $275, one of the lowest in the nation.
The House on Wednesday approved a bill, HB 1463, to update the system to a cloud-based system designed to efficiently process claims and to impose more accountability and reporting by the Department of Economic Opportunity, the state agency in charge of the unemployment program.
The vote was unanimous, but Democrats bemoaned a “missed opportunity” to go further since the bill doesn’t increase benefits and reduce eligibility hurdles.
“It’s a baby step in creating more accountability at DEO … but I regret to say that the baby step is not enough,” said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando. “We should’ve done so much more for the people of Florida who were counting on us to really take a bold step forward.”
Democrats called for a special session to address the crisis last May, but were rejected by Republicans. Amendments offered by Democrats on Tuesday to increase the maximum weekly benefit amount from $275 to $375 and to increase the maximum amount of benefit weeks to 22 weeks also were rejected by House Republicans, even though Republicans in the Senate are moving forward with the same plan. The Senate is poised to vote on the measure, SB 1906, on Thursday.
“Our benefits are too low. You can’t get them for long enough,” said Rep. Omari Hardy, D-West Palm Beach.
The minimum amount some
one can receive in weekly benefits in Florida is $38, and the $275 maximum is one of the lowest among all the states. It hasn’t been changed since 1998. Florida lawmakers in 2011 also tied the total amount of weeks available for benefits to the state’s unemployment rate, so when the pandemic hit recipients were only eligible for 12 weeks of state benefits because the jobless rate was 2.8% in early 2020.
Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, sponsor of HB 1463, noted that the federal government passed several COVID-19 relief packages that boosted unemployment benefits with federal money, first under President Donald Trump and last month under President Joe Biden.
The state has paid out $26.4 billion since the crisis began, but only $5.4 billion of that was state money, with the rest coming from Washington. The latest COVID-19 relief plan passed by Congress in March extended the $300 federal boost to weekly jobless benefits until September. After that, unemployed Floridians will be only able to receive state benefits.
“Whether they were Donald dollars or Biden bucks, they were certainly helpful,” LaMarca said.
He added that the bill was not about boosting benefits or changing eligibility standards but making sure the system works as intended.
“This bill fixes a broken system,” he said.
Senate President Simpson, R-Trilby, who has pushed for the increase in benefits, said the proposal is still on the table but seemed to acknVowledge that after Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed opposition to the idea it will be difficult to pass in the final days of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end April 30.
“I do not believe the unemployment issue is off the table completely yet,” Simpson said. “The negotiations are ongoing.”
One Senate Democrat, Jason Pizzo of Miami, has pushed to tie the benefit amount to the minimum wage, which would allow the jobless benefits to keep up with the cost of living and inflation adjustments over time, but those efforts have been rejected.
House and Senate budget negotiators did agree Wednesday on $36 million in state funding for upgrades to the unemployment system, and to use federal grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to help DEO work through a backlog of reviews of claims paid out in 2020.