Deal Struck To Further Cut Florida Unemployment Benefits - Times/Herald

Deal struck to further cut Florida unemployment benefits
By Michael C. Bender, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In Print: Saturday, May 7, 2011

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TALLAHASSEE — Out-of-work Floridians would receive fewer state benefits while businesses pay less tax under a controversial proposal approved Friday by a divided Legislature. The deal, which Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign into law, immediately cuts unemployment benefits by 11.5 percent.

Jobless Floridians would continue to receive a maximum payment of $275 per week, among the lowest of any state in the country. But they would be paid for no more than 23 weeks, instead of 26.

Cutting the number of weeks was a victory for Scott and the Republican House, which had fought Senate sponsor Nancy Detert to reduce the number of weeks. The bill, HB 7005, passed along party lines in both the Senate and the House.

The bill also creates a sliding scale that cuts and adds weeks of benefits based on the unemployment rate. Unemployment compensation would drop to as low as 12 weeks if the average unemployment rate drops to 5 percent or lower. A week would be added for every 0.5 percent the jobless rate climbs. The change also cuts by 10 percent the business tax that pays for unemployment benefits.

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More: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/deal-struck-to-further-cut-florida-unemployment-benefits/1168270

:mad:

I wish there was a way to force these heartless cowards to have to live on that amount, solely that amount, for 23 weeks and then be cut off entirely from any benefits.

Force the unemployed to leave Florida.
Florida ranks 44th of 50 states overall for corporate taxes. Add in the climate, and the huge number of un - or under 0 employed people and you have a corporate paradise already. So Scott wants to eliminate the already low corporate tax anyway.
Even his goose-stepping repuke-packed legislature wouldn't give him that, but did throw in some sweeteners like the subject of this thread instead.
The only hope for the average FL citizen in this POS's administration is that Scott finally reaches the tipping point of civil discourse. Unfortunately the pukes also rigged the voting requirements, making it harder for low-income people to register and vote.
If any state was ripe for revolution, this one surely is.