Only 8% of unemployed Floridians get unemployment benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That's the lowest percentage in the nation.
A bill sailing through the Florida Senate would add new hurdles for those receiving benefits to make sure they keep looking for work. Critics are concerned these new rules could make things worse.
The bill -- to create the Promoting Work, Deterring Fraud Act of 2026 -- was sponsored by Sen. Stan McClain, R-Summerfield.
"I do think that the unemployment system should be for those that absolutely are qualified to receive it," McClain said, "and that we should make sure that they continue to be qualified."
The bill, Senate Bill 216, would disqualify recipients who fail to contact five -- or in small counties three -- new employers each week, miss three interviews without notifying the employer, or fail to return to work if called back.
The state would have to verify their eligibility every two weeks, and a disqualification would knock them out of the system.
The disqualification would continue "for the next full period of unemployment ... and until the individual has earned income of at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit amount," the bill states.
On Thursday, the bill passed its final committee, the Fiscal Policy committee, by a vote of 11 to 4. Now it heads to the Senate floor. Some GOP senators, even though they voted for it, raised concerns over operational costs and rural impacts.
Opposition
Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy with the AFL-CIO in Florida, told senators the bill's "unintended consequences" could include sending the recipiency rate -- that rate of unemployed people receiving benefits -- down to 2%.
Democratic Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, of Ocoee, pointed to the unemployment system's failure during the pandemic -- recalling that, at the time, Governor Ron DeSantis criticized "pointless roadblocks."
"It sounds to me, based on this bill, that we just don't want unemployment insurance," she said. "We just don't want it in the state of Florida."
A similar bill is also advancing in the House.
