Committee moves to make it harder to access Florida’s already challenging unemployment system

Florida’s notoriously challenging unemployment insurance program may become even more difficult for individuals to navigate if legislation that advanced Wednesday in a Senate committee becomes law.

The state’s benefits remain among the lowest in the country — the maximum weekly payout is $275 and its duration is capped at 12 weeks (most states average between 24 and 26 weeks). If the unemployment rate rises above 5%, extensions can go up to 23 weeks.

Now comes the “Promoting Work, Deterring Fraud Act of 2026” (SB 216) sponsored by Sen. Stan McClain, an Ocala Republican.

The measure would require the Department of Commerce to disqualify individuals claiming unemployment insurance benefits if it finds that the individual failed:

— Without good cause to contact the required number of prospective employers per week.

— To appear on three or more occasions for a scheduled job interview without notifying the prospective employer of the need to cancel or reschedule.

— Return to employment when recalled to work after a temporary layoff.

Additionally, the Department would need to verify every two weeks that claimants are living, not incarcerated and not employed.

Existing state law requires those on unemployment to contact five prospective employers for each week of a claim. In small counties, a claimant must contact at least three prospective employers for each week.

McClain introduced the legislation to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development by saying that there are somewhere between 450,000 and 460,000 job openings in Florida and about 30,000 individuals receiving unemployment benefits.

He said the measure would help crack down on fraud in the system. Over the past two Legislative Sessions, advocates for this legislation have asserted that, since 2021, the Department had prevented $32 billion in attempted fraud, although no such report has ever been made public.

When challenged about that statistic by Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky of Boca Raton, McClain acknowledged, “It has not personally been verified to me by the Department.”

“No report exists,” declared Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat. “I asked for the report as it was presented to us in the last committee. No report exists. It is a talking point.”

The Department did not respond to a request by the Phoenix for documentation verifying that assertion.

During the COVID pandemic in 2020, Florida’s unemployment system experienced a massive breakdown, leaving hundreds of thousands of people who had lost work unable to collect benefits after the state’s old CONNECT unemployment website collapsed.

Rich Templin, director for politics and public policy for the Florida AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that he and other advocates had warned lawmakers about the fallout from a mass layoff event, when he said the unemployment insurance system had been “essentially gutted by then Gov. Rick Scott.”

“Of every 100 people who apply, only 9 to 10 actually receive benefits, because of all the barriers we’ve put up in the river to keep them from getting there,” he said.

Richard Jones is secretary-treasurer for the Florida Building Trades State Council and a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. He said Florida’s economic growth depends on construction workers to build schools, hospitals, and high-rises that keep the state running.

But he added that construction is also the most “cyclical” industry in the state, and that the proposed legislation would make it easier to deny workers benefits they’ve earned.

He questioned the provision in the bill that would disqualify an applicant if he or she misses three job interviews without notice over one year.

“In the building trades, hiring doesn’t happen through online interviews,” Jones said. “It happens through dispatch halls, project-by-project calls, and referrals from signatory contractors. Jobs often come fast, sometimes the same day. Our members are not sitting around ignoring interviews. They’re waiting for skilled, trade-specific work that matches their certifications, their training, and the safety standards we enforce.”

The bill would require the Department to investigate new claims with information duplicative of existing claims; scrutinize claims filed from foreign IP addresses before paying any benefits; share claim information with specified state and federal agencies; maintain a web page for reporting violations of reemployment assistance laws; and publish a yearly report.

The GOP-controlled committee approved the bill on a strict party-line vote. Every Democratic Senator commented about why they opposed the legislation, while no Republicans (other than McClain) discussed why he or she supported it.

Quoting Ron DeSantis’ comments from 2020 that the state’s unemployment system had “pointless roadblocks,” Democratic Sen. LaVon Bracy-Davis of Ocoee asked simply, “Why are we creating more?”

Polsky referred to the focus the Legislature has this Session on AI, and said that one of the expected fallouts from that advanced technology will be loss of employment among certain white-collar workers.

“We’re going to be facing a deluge of people losing their jobs and we’re only setting the system up to fail and making it even harder for these people,” she said.

The bill has one more committee stop before hitting the Senate floor. Its companion in the House (HB 191), sponsored by Republican Rep. Shane Abbott of DeFuniak Springs, has already been approved by the two committees and is awaiting a final vote in that chamber.

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Reporting by Mitch Perry. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].