Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 1948
Ì185376HÎ185376
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
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The Committee on Appropriations (Bean) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Substitute for Amendment (538568) (with title
2 amendment)
3
4 Delete lines 413 - 714
5 and insert:
6 Section 8. Subsection (43) of section 443.036, Florida
7 Statutes, is amended to read:
8 443.036 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:
9 (43) “Temporary layoff” means an individual’s a job
10 separation due to lack of work which does not exceed 8
11 consecutive weeks and which has a fixed or approximate return
12 to-work date; or an individual’s employer-initiated furlough
13 that causes a mandatory complete stoppage of work if such
14 furlough is temporary and the individual remains job attached
15 and is expected to return to work with the employer.
16 Section 9. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
17 443.091, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
18 443.091 Benefit eligibility conditions.—
19 (1) An unemployed individual is eligible to receive
20 benefits for any week only if the Department of Economic
21 Opportunity finds that:
22 (c) To make continued claims for benefits, she or he is
23 reporting to the department in accordance with this paragraph
24 and department rules. Department rules may not conflict with s.
25 443.111(1)(b), which requires that each claimant continue to
26 report regardless of any pending appeal relating to her or his
27 eligibility or disqualification for benefits.
28 1. For each week of unemployment claimed, each report must,
29 at a minimum, include the name and, address, and telephone
30 number of each prospective employer contacted, or the date the
31 claimant reported to a one-stop career center, pursuant to
32 paragraph (d). For the purposes of this subparagraph, the term
33 “address” means a website address, a physical address, or an e
34 mail address.
35 2. The department shall offer an online assessment aimed at
36 identifying an individual’s skills, abilities, and career
37 aptitude. The skills assessment must be voluntary, and the
38 department shall allow a claimant to choose whether to take the
39 skills assessment. The online assessment shall be made available
40 to any person seeking services from a local workforce
41 development board or a one-stop career center.
42 a. If the claimant chooses to take the online assessment,
43 the outcome of the assessment shall be made available to the
44 claimant, local workforce development board, and one-stop career
45 center. The department, local workforce development board, or
46 one-stop career center shall use the assessment to develop a
47 plan for referring individuals to training and employment
48 opportunities. Aggregate data on assessment outcomes may be made
49 available to CareerSource Florida, Inc., and Enterprise Florida,
50 Inc., for use in the development of policies related to
51 education and training programs that will ensure that businesses
52 in this state have access to a skilled and competent workforce.
53 b. Individuals shall be informed of and offered services
54 through the one-stop delivery system, including career
55 counseling, the provision of skill match and job market
56 information, and skills upgrade and other training
57 opportunities, and shall be encouraged to participate in such
58 services at no cost to the individuals. The department shall
59 coordinate with CareerSource Florida, Inc., the local workforce
60 development boards, and the one-stop career centers to identify,
61 develop, and use best practices for improving the skills of
62 individuals who choose to participate in skills upgrade and
63 other training opportunities. The department may contract with
64 an entity to create the online assessment in accordance with the
65 competitive bidding requirements in s. 287.057. The online
66 assessment must work seamlessly with the Reemployment Assistance
67 Claims and Benefits Information System.
68 Section 10. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and subsection
69 (6) of section 443.101, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
70 443.101 Disqualification for benefits.—An individual shall
71 be disqualified for benefits:
72 (1)(a) For the week in which he or she has voluntarily left
73 work without good cause attributable to his or her employing
74 unit or for the week in which he or she has been discharged by
75 the employing unit for misconduct connected with his or her
76 work, based on a finding by the Department of Economic
77 Opportunity. As used in this paragraph, the term “work” means
78 any work, whether full-time, part-time, or temporary.
79 1. Disqualification for voluntarily quitting continues for
80 the full period of unemployment next ensuing after the
81 individual has left his or her full-time, part-time, or
82 temporary work voluntarily without good cause and until the
83 individual has earned income equal to or greater than 17 times
84 his or her weekly benefit amount. As used in this subsection,
85 the term “good cause” includes only that cause attributable to
86 the employing unit which would compel a reasonable employee to
87 cease working or attributable to the individual’s illness or
88 disability requiring separation from his or her work. Any other
89 disqualification may not be imposed.
90 2. An individual is not disqualified under this subsection
91 for:
92 a. Voluntarily leaving temporary work to return immediately
93 when called to work by the permanent employing unit that
94 temporarily terminated his or her work within the previous 6
95 calendar months;
96 b. Voluntarily leaving work to relocate as a result of his
97 or her military-connected spouse’s permanent change of station
98 orders, activation orders, or unit deployment orders; or
99 c. Voluntarily leaving work if he or she proves that his or
100 her discontinued employment is a direct result of circumstances
101 related to domestic violence as defined in s. 741.28. An
102 individual who voluntarily leaves work under this sub
103 subparagraph must:
104 (I) Make reasonable efforts to preserve employment, unless
105 the individual establishes that such remedies are likely to be
106 futile or to increase the risk of future incidents of domestic
107 violence. Such efforts may include seeking a protective
108 injunction, relocating to a secure place, or seeking reasonable
109 accommodation from the employing unit, such as a transfer or
110 change of assignment;
111 (II) Provide evidence such as an injunction, a protective
112 order, or other documentation authorized by state law which
113 reasonably proves that domestic violence has occurred; and
114 (III) Reasonably believe that he or she is likely to be the
115 victim of a future act of domestic violence at, in transit to,
116 or departing from his or her place of employment. An individual
117 who is otherwise eligible for benefits under this sub
118 subparagraph is ineligible for each week that he or she no
119 longer meets such criteria or refuses a reasonable accommodation
120 offered in good faith by his or her employing unit.
121 3. The employment record of an employing unit may not be
122 charged for the payment of benefits to an individual who has
123 voluntarily left work under sub-subparagraph 2.c.
124 4. Disqualification for being discharged for misconduct
125 connected with his or her work continues for the full period of
126 unemployment next ensuing after having been discharged and until
127 the individual is reemployed and has earned income of at least
128 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount and for not more than
129 52 weeks immediately following that week, as determined by the
130 department in each case according to the circumstances or the
131 seriousness of the misconduct, under the department’s rules for
132 determining disqualification for benefits for misconduct.
133 5. If an individual has provided notification to the
134 employing unit of his or her intent to voluntarily leave work
135 and the employing unit discharges the individual for reasons
136 other than misconduct before the date the voluntary quit was to
137 take effect, the individual, if otherwise entitled, shall
138 receive benefits from the date of the employer’s discharge until
139 the effective date of his or her voluntary quit.
140 6. If an individual is notified by the employing unit of
141 the employer’s intent to discharge the individual for reasons
142 other than misconduct and the individual quits without good
143 cause before the date the discharge was to take effect, the
144 claimant is ineligible for benefits pursuant to s. 443.091(1)(d)
145 for failing to be available for work for the week or weeks of
146 unemployment occurring before the effective date of the
147 discharge.
148 (6) For making any false or fraudulent representation for
149 the purpose of obtaining benefits contrary to this chapter,
150 constituting a violation under s. 443.071. The disqualification
151 imposed under this subsection shall begin with the week for in
152 which the false or fraudulent representation was is made and
153 shall continue for a period not to exceed 1 year after the date
154 the Department of Economic Opportunity discovers the false or
155 fraudulent representation and until any overpayment of benefits
156 resulting from such representation has been repaid in full. This
157 disqualification may be appealed in the same manner as any other
158 disqualification imposed under this section. A conviction by any
159 court of competent jurisdiction in this state of the offense
160 prohibited or punished by s. 443.071 is conclusive upon the
161 appeals referee and the commission of the making of the false or
162 fraudulent representation for which disqualification is imposed
163 under this section.
164 Section 11. Section 443.1113, Florida Statutes, is amended
165 to read:
166 443.1113 Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits
167 Information System.—
168 (1) The Department of Economic Opportunity shall implement
169 an integrated, modular system hosted in a cloud computing
170 service, as defined in s. 282.0041, that provides for rapid
171 provisioning of additional data processing when necessary. The
172 system must support the efficient distribution of benefits and
173 the effective operation and management of the reemployment
174 assistance program. To The extent that funds are appropriated
175 for each phase of the Reemployment Assistance Claims and
176 Benefits Information system may be cited by the Legislature, the
177 Department of Economic Opportunity shall replace and enhance the
178 functionality provided in the following systems with an
179 integrated Internet-based system that is known as the
180 “Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System”
181 and must:
182 (a) Be accessible through the Internet on both mobile
183 devices and personal computers Claims and benefit mainframe
184 system.
185 (b) Process reemployment assistance claims Florida
186 unemployment Internet direct.
187 (c) Process benefit payments Florida continued claim
188 Internet directory.
189 (d) Process and manage overpayments Call center interactive
190 voice response system.
191 (e) Perform adjudication functions Benefit overpayment
192 screening system.
193 (f) Process appeals and manage appeal hearings Internet and
194 Intranet appeals system.
195 (g) Manage and process employer charging.
196 (2) Wherever cost-effective and operationally feasible, the
197 Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits System shall
198 accomplish the following main business objectives:
199 (a) Wherever cost-effective and operationally feasible,
200 Eliminate or automate existing paper processes and enhance any
201 existing automated workflows in order to expedite customer
202 transactions and eliminate redundancy.
203 (b) Enable and enhance online, self-service capabilities
204 access to claimant and employer information and federal and
205 state reporting.
206 (c) Integrate benefit payment control with the adjudication
207 program and collection system in order to improve the detection
208 of fraud.
209 (d) Comply with all requirements established in federal and
210 state law for reemployment assistance.
211 (e) Integrate with the Department of Revenue’s statewide
212 unified tax system that collects reemployment assistance taxes.
213 (f) Maintain interoperability with other department
214 workforce systems.
215 (g) Allow for employer-assisted claims.
216 (3) The scope of the Reemployment Assistance Claims and
217 Benefits Information System does not include any of the
218 following functionalities:
219 (a) Collection of reemployment assistance taxes.
220 (b) General ledger, financial management, or budgeting
221 capabilities.
222 (c) Human resource planning or management capabilities.
223 (4)(a) The Department of Economic Opportunity shall perform
224 an annual review of the system and identify enhancements or
225 modernization efforts that improve the delivery of services to
226 claimants and employers and reporting to state and federal
227 entities. These improvements must include, but need not be
228 limited to:
229 1. Infrastructure upgrades through cloud services.
230 2. Software improvements.
231 3. Enhanced data analytics and reporting.
232 4. Increased cybersecurity pursuant to s. 282.318.
233 (b) The department shall seek input on recommended
234 enhancements from, at a minimum, the following entities:
235 1. The Florida Digital Service within the Department of
236 Management Services.
237 2. The General Tax Administration Program Office within the
238 Department of Revenue.
239 3. The Division of Accounting and Auditing within the
240 Department of Financial Services.
241 (5) By October 1, 2023, and each year thereafter, the
242 Department of Economic Opportunity shall submit a Reemployment
243 Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System report to the
244 Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
245 House of Representatives. The report must, at a minimum,
246 include:
247 (a) A summary of maintenance, enhancement, and
248 modernization efforts over the last fiscal year.
249 (b) A 3-year outlook of recommended enhancements or
250 modernization efforts that includes projected costs and
251 timeframes for completion The project to implement the
252 Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System
253 is comprised of the following phases and corresponding
254 implementation timeframes:
255 (a) No later than the end of fiscal year 2009-2010
256 completion of the business re-engineering analysis and
257 documentation of both the detailed system requirements and the
258 overall system architecture.
259 (b) The Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits
260 Internet portal that replaces the Florida Unemployment Internet
261 Direct and the Florida Continued Claims Internet Directory
262 systems, the Call Center Interactive Voice Response System, the
263 Benefit Overpayment Screening System, the Internet and Intranet
264 Appeals System, and the Claims and Benefits Mainframe System
265 shall be deployed to full operational status no later than the
266 end of fiscal year 2013-2014.
267 (5) The Department of Economic Opportunity shall implement
268 the following project governance structure until such time as
269 the project is completed, suspended, or terminated:
270 (a) The project sponsor for the Reemployment Assistance
271 Claims and Benefits Information System project is the
272 department.
273 (b) The project shall be governed by an executive steering
274 committee composed of the following voting members or their
275 designees:
276 1. The executive director of the department.
277 2. The executive director of the Department of Revenue.
278 3. The director of the Division of Workforce Services
279 within the department.
280 4. The program director of the General Tax Administration
281 Program Office within the Department of Revenue.
282 5. The chief information officer of the department.
283 (c) The executive steering committee has the overall
284 responsibility for ensuring that the project meets its primary
285 objectives and is specifically responsible for:
286 1. Providing management direction and support to the
287 project management team.
288 2. Assessing the project’s alignment with the strategic
289 goals of the department for administering the reemployment
290 assistance program.
291 3. Reviewing and approving or disapproving any changes to
292 the project’s scope, schedule, and costs.
293 4. Reviewing, approving or disapproving, and determining
294 whether to proceed with any major project deliverables.
295 5. Recommending suspension or termination of the project to
296 the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of
297 the House of Representatives if it determines that the primary
298 objectives cannot be achieved.
299 (d) The project management team shall work under the
300 direction of the executive steering committee and shall be
301 minimally comprised of senior managers and stakeholders from the
302 department and the Department of Revenue. The project management
303 team is responsible for:
304 1. Providing daily planning, management, and oversight of
305 the project.
306 2. Submitting an operational work plan and providing
307 quarterly updates to that plan to the executive steering
308 committee. The plan must specify project milestones,
309 deliverables, and expenditures.
310 3. Submitting written monthly project status reports to the
311 executive steering committee which include:
312 a. Planned versus actual project costs;
313 b. An assessment of the status of major milestones and
314 deliverables;
315 c. Identification of any issues requiring resolution, the
316 proposed resolution for these issues, and information regarding
317 the status of the resolution;
318 d. Identification of risks that must be managed; and
319 e. Identification of and recommendations regarding
320 necessary changes in the project’s scope, schedule, or costs.
321 All recommendations must be reviewed by project stakeholders
322 before submission to the executive steering committee in order
323 to ensure that the recommendations meet required acceptance
324 criteria.
325 Section 12. For the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the Department
326 of Economic Opportunity shall take actions to modernize the
327 Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits Information System
328 as provided in the General Appropriations Act.
329 Section 13. Section 443.1118, Florida Statutes, is created
330 to read:
331 443.1118 Employer-assisted claims.—
332 (1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
333 (a) “Employer-assisted claim” means an initial claim filed
334 by an employer on behalf of its employees who are a part of a
335 mass separation from the employer.
336 (b) “Mass separation” means a full, partial, permanent, or
337 temporary separation, including a temporary layoff, of full-time
338 employees from their employer if the separation occurs at or
339 around the same time, the employees are separated for the same
340 reason, and the separation is due to circumstances for which the
341 employees are not at fault. At a minimum, a mass separation
342 involves 1,000 or more employees.
343 (2) EMPLOYER-ASSISTED CLAIM PROCESS.—
344 (a) Initiation.—An employer that commences a mass
345 separation may initiate an employer-assisted claim by submitting
346 employee information to the department within 10 days after the
347 date of the mass separation pursuant to rules adopted by the
348 department.
349 (b) Form of submission.—Due to the sensitive nature of
350 employee information, an employer shall submit employee
351 information through secure means approved by department rule.
352 (c) Notice and Affidavit.—For each employer-assisted claim,
353 the employer shall give notice and instructions to the employees
354 for which claims are filed and direct the employees to complete
355 further steps as required by the department. The employer shall
356 provide an attestation to the department in a form and format
357 required by the department.
358 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE OF CLAIM.—The effective date of an
359 employer-assisted claim is the Sunday immediately preceding the
360 date on which the employer-assisted claim was received by the
361 department.
362 (4) PAYMENTS.—Weeks of benefits paid to a claimant pursuant
363 to an employer-assisted claim count toward the maximum benefits
364 for which the claimant is eligible.
365 (5) CLAIMANT FILING REQUIREMENTS.—A claimant covered by an
366 employer-assisted claim must file continued biweekly claims
367 pursuant to department rule.
368 (6) CONSTRUCTION.—This section does not limit, alter, or
369 amend a claimant’s rights under this chapter relating to a
370 hearing if a claimant is denied a claim.
371 (7) RULEMAKING.—The department shall adopt rules
372 establishing additional procedures for filing an employer
373 assisted claim and may adopt additional rules to administer this
374 section.
375
376 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
377 And the title is amended as follows:
378 Delete lines 32 - 53
379 and insert:
380 amending s. 443.036, F.S.; revising the definition of
381 the term “temporary layoff”; amending s. 443.091,
382 F.S.; revising the reporting requirements for
383 reemployment assistance benefit eligibility; defining
384 the term “address”; amending s. 443.101, F.S.;
385 deleting a provision providing that individuals who
386 voluntarily leave work as a direct result of
387 circumstances relating to domestic violence are
388 ineligible for benefits under certain circumstances;
389 amending s. 443.1113, F.S.; requiring the department
390 to implement an integrated, modular system hosted in a
391 cloud service, rather than an integrated Internet
392 based system, for the reemployment assistance program;
393 revising the functions and objectives of the
394 Reemployment Assistance Claims and Benefits
395 Information System; requiring the department to
396 perform an annual review of the system; requiring the
397 department to seek input from certain state entities
398 when performing such review; requiring the department
399 to submit an annual report to the Governor and the
400 Legislature beginning on a specified date; providing
401 requirements for such report; deleting obsolete
402 language; requiring the department take actions to
403 modernize the system in the 2021-2022 fiscal year as
404 directed in the General Appropriations Act; creating
405 s. 443.1118, F.S.; defining terms; providing
406 requirements for employer-assisted claims relating to
407 mass separations; specifying the effective date of
408 such claims; providing that benefits paid to a
409 claimant pursuant to an employer-assisted claim count
410 toward maximum benefits for which the claimant is
411 eligible; requiring a claimant covered by an employer
412 assisted claim to file continued biweekly claims;
413 providing construction; requiring and authorizing the
414 department to adopt specified rules; amending