Florida Senate - 2025                                    SB 1238
       
       
        
       By Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       40-01093-25                                           20251238__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to fraud in the reemployment
    3         assistance program; providing a short title; creating
    4         s. 443.112, F.S.; requiring the Department of Commerce
    5         to verify the identity of claimants who apply for
    6         reemployment assistance benefits before paying any
    7         benefits to them; requiring the department, weekly, to
    8         cross-check information with specified sources to
    9         verify such claims; prohibiting the payment of
   10         reemployment assistance benefits to any claimant who
   11         has not been verified; requiring the department to
   12         investigate claims associated with other claims that
   13         have the same specific identifiers; requiring the
   14         department to scrutinize claims filed from foreign
   15         Internet protocol addresses before paying benefits on
   16         such claims; requiring that any suspected fraudulent
   17         claim be referred to the Department of Legal Affairs
   18         or the state attorney of the judicial circuit in which
   19         the suspected fraudulent claim originated from for
   20         further investigation and prosecution; requiring the
   21         Department of Commerce to report to the Legislature
   22         annually with specific information; requiring such
   23         report to be available on the department’s website;
   24         providing construction; providing an effective date.
   25          
   26  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   27  
   28         Section 1. This act may be cited as “Protecting the
   29  Reemployment Assistance Program from Fraud Act of 2025.”
   30         Section 2. Section 443.1112, Florida Statutes, is created
   31  to read:
   32         443.1112 Program integrity.—
   33         (1) The Department of Commerce shall verify the identity of
   34  each claimant who applies for reemployment assistance benefits
   35  before paying any benefits to that individual.
   36         (2) In determining the eligibility of a claim for
   37  reemployment benefits, the department shall, on a weekly basis,
   38  cross-check the information contained in the claim with the
   39  following:
   40         (a) The National Association of State Workforce Agencies’
   41  Integrity Data Hub;
   42         (b) The United States Department of Health and Human
   43  Services National Directory of New Hires;
   44         (c) The State Directory of New Hires as created in s.
   45  409.2576;
   46         (d) The Department of Corrections’ offender network;
   47         (e) The Social Security Administration’s Prisoner Update
   48  Processing System;
   49         (f) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
   50  National Vital Statistics System’s National Death Index;
   51         (g) The Department of Health’s Bureau of Vital Statistics’
   52  death records database; and
   53         (h) The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE
   54  database.
   55         (3) Reemployment assistance benefits administered by the
   56  Department of Commerce may not be paid to any claim that has not
   57  been subjected to the cross-checks required in subsection (2).
   58         (4) The department shall investigate any claim for benefits
   59  associated with a mailing address, bank account, e-mail address,
   60  phone number, or Internet protocol address associated with
   61  another existing claim for benefits and verify the claim is
   62  legitimate and not fraudulent before paying any benefits for
   63  that claim. Additionally, the department shall scrutinize any
   64  claim filed from a foreign Internet protocol address before
   65  paying benefits to that claim.
   66         (5) Any suspected fraudulent or attempted fraudulent claim
   67  identified by the department shall be referred to the Department
   68  of Legal Affairs or the state attorney of the judicial circuit
   69  in which the suspected fraudulent claim originated for further
   70  investigation and potential prosecution.
   71         (6) Annually, the Department of Commerce shall report to
   72  the Legislature, and make available on its website, a report
   73  identifying the number of fraudulent reemployment assistance
   74  claims identified for the year prior, the number of claims not
   75  paid due to successful detection of fraudulent intentions, the
   76  number of claims and the amount of benefits paid against claims
   77  subsequently identified as fraudulent, the amount of fraudulent
   78  overpayments recovered, and the number of fraudulent claims
   79  referred for investigation and possible prosecution.
   80         (7) This section may not be construed as limiting the
   81  ability of the department to adopt additional mechanisms and
   82  strategies designed to limit waste, fraud, and abuse in the
   83  reemployment assistance program.
   84         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.