Florida SB 216: Assistance for Micro Businesses

Bill Text

216 
Verification of Reemployment Assistance Benefit Eligibility 
2025-10-16T04:20:42Z 
Citing this act as the “Promoting Work, Deterring Fraud Act of 2026”; revising circumstances under which the Department of Commerce disqualifies claimants from reemployment assistance benefits; requiring the department to verify claimants’ identities before paying benefits; providing duties of the department, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 216 

 By Senator McClain 

 9-00402-26 2026216__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to verification of reemployment 
 3 assistance benefit eligibility; providing a short 
 4 title; amending s. 443.101, F.S.; revising 
 5 circumstances under which the Department of Commerce 
 6 disqualifies claimants from reemployment assistance 
 7 benefits; creating s. 443.1112, F.S.; requiring the 
 8 department to verify claimants’ identities before 
 9 paying benefits; requiring the department to cross 
 10 check certain information; providing duties of the 
 11 department; requiring the department to maintain a web 
 12 page for a specified purpose and to notify employers 
 13 each year of the web page; providing annual reporting 
 14 requirements; providing an effective date. 
 15 
 16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 17 
 18 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Promoting Work, 
 19 Deterring Fraud Act of 2026.” 
 20 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 443.101, Florida 
 21 Statutes, is amended to read: 
 22 443.101 Disqualification for benefits.—An individual shall 
 23 be disqualified for benefits: 
 24 (2) If the Department of Commerce finds that the individual 
 25 has failed without good cause to apply for available suitable 
 26 work, including contacting the required number of prospective 
 27 employers per week for any week of unemployment claimed in the 
 28 benefit year in accordance with s. 443.091, to appear on three 
 29 or more occasions for a scheduled job interview without 
 30 notifying the prospective employer of the need to cancel or 
 31 reschedule the interview, to accept suitable work when offered 
 32 to him or her, to or return to the individual’s customary self 
 33 employment when directed by the department, or to return to 
 34 employment when recalled to work by the individual’s employer 
 35 after a temporary layoff, the disqualification continues for the 
 36 next full period of unemployment next ensuing after he or she 
 37 failed without good cause to apply for available suitable work, 
 38 accept suitable work, or return to his or her customary 
 39 employment or self-employment, and until the individual has 
 40 earned income of at least 17 times his or her weekly benefit 
 41 amount. The department shall by rule adopt criteria to implement 
 42 this subsection, including for determining the “suitability of 
 43 work,” or “suitable work,” as used in this section. In 
 44 developing these rules, the department shall consider the 
 45 duration of a claimant’s unemployment in determining the 
 46 suitability of work and the suitability of proposed rates of 
 47 compensation for available work. Further, after an individual 
 48 has received 25 weeks of benefits in a single year, suitable 
 49 work is a job that pays the minimum wage and is 120 percent or 
 50 more of the weekly benefit amount the individual is drawing. 
 51 (a) In determining whether or not any work is suitable for 
 52 an individual, the department shall consider the degree of risk 
 53 to the individual’s health, safety, and morals; the individual’s 
 54 physical fitness, prior training, experience, prior earnings, 
 55 length of unemployment, and prospects for securing local work in 
 56 his or her customary occupation; and the distance of the 
 57 available work from his or her residence. 
 58 (b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, 
 59 work is not deemed suitable and benefits may not be denied to 
 60 any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new 
 61 work under any of the following conditions: 
 62 1. The position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, 
 63 lockout, or other labor dispute. 
 64 2. The wages, hours, or other conditions of the work 
 65 offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than 
 66 those prevailing for similar work in the locality. 
 67 3. As a condition of being employed, the individual is 
 68 required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain 
 69 from joining any bona fide labor organization. 
 70 (c) If the department finds that an individual was rejected 
 71 for offered employment as the direct result of a positive, 
 72 confirmed drug test required as a condition of employment, the 
 73 individual is disqualified for refusing to accept an offer of 
 74 suitable work. 
 75 Section 3. Section 443.1112, Florida Statutes, is created 
 76 to read: 
 77 443.1112 Verification of reemplo