General EB Discussion - Ongoing

Tampa Tribune Dec 8, 10

Sen. Tony Hill, meanwhile, said he's gotten a commitment from Crist to sign an executive order for Florida's participation in an extension of unemployment benefits if approved by Congress.

congess just sent the bill to Obama and it will become law today. I wonder how long it will take Crist to sign the executive order for the EB period extension.

connorsgp wrote:congess just sent the bill to Obama and it will become law today. I wonder how long it will take Crist to sign the executive order for the EB period extension.

December 31st if history still persists, he doesnt move very quick.

Well, I hear in the news that this new EB doesn't apply to everyone
Anyone have any information on WHY?

maseoane wrote:Well, I hear in the news that this new EB doesn't apply to everyone
Anyone have any information on WHY?

I see that you're relatively new here, so I don't know where you are at in terms of the schedule of benefits. If your question is not answered by the post for the sun-sentinel article directly below your post, please come back and post more information about your situation.

In general though, the new tax law that Congress just passed does not give any more EUC benefits to those who used up all of Tier 4. But some people still qualify for state EB benefits, a separate program that was also extended in the bill that just passed. (That's the one Crist had to sign another executive order to get the federal money for.)

If you never got the 20 weeks of EB (or whatever number of weeks that state calculated for you as maximum), AND if you've used up all of your EUC benefits (finished Tier 4), then you should be able to apply for EB. If you were on EB and were cut off on Nov 30, you should be able to continue with the rest of your weeks. Just watch for announcements on the AWI website about dates to expect payments, etc.

But if you already used up all your EUC tiers, AND you used up all your 20 weeks of EB, either before you got the tiers or after (or split up), then there is no new number of weeks for any who already got the max. I.e., this bill did zip for the "99ers." 99 weeks is still the max that anyone in Florida can get, with rare exceptions for a few who might get some work and bounce back to regular benefits later on.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, I am a 99er, I gues not hope for me...

maseoane wrote:Thank you for the detailed explanation, I am a 99er, I gues not hope for me...

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up unnecessarily, but every "99er" should be aware there is a NEW bill, offered just Dec 17, by Bobby Scott and Barbara Lee of the Congressional Black Caucus that would extend benefits for exhaustees another 14 weeks:

http://www.bobbyscott.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=582&Itemid=62

I really doubt that this bill has a chance, but who knows, if enough people shame the Congress into taking care of the destitute insteaad of just the wealthy and the employed, maybe things could move. In any case, I had to post it here.

Seems only the CBC care about the long term unemployed seriously enough to do something about it.

(I've posted this in the Latest news section where we discuss Senate and other legislative news; please post any replies about the new bill in that section.)

I received a PM question about applying for EB recently, so I'm posting my answer here for others who may have the same questions; I'm also posting this in the EB eligibility thread:

Any answers I can give about EB now are subject to revision, due to the fact that any experiences I've had predate Scott's hideous new law that went into effect:
http://www.floridajobs.org/publications/news_rel/UC_EnhanceBill.html

Note the start dates for each of these provisions, and note the 5 work searches per week, although they accept one visit to a One Stop Center as a substitute--I would check how that is supposed to be verified.

Having said that, unless things have changed this past year for EB, and I don't see why they would have made things easier to get it, you always had to make a separate application for EB. I think the only time that wasn't the case was when EB was interrupted and then when the state resumed EB those who still had money in their EB accounts were put back on it.

You should find the EB application on the AWI website. However, it seems to be in website limbo from what I can see rght now, not linked up to their usual hyperlink. I found this PDF (hard to find) that is designed to be printed and mailed in.

http://www.floridajobs.org/unemployment/download/forms/AWI-UC310EB.pdf

You can do that, but if I were you and you haven't already applied, I'd take it to a One Stop center and ask them how you are supposed to apply for EB when the online form seems to be missing. You risk them saying they don't handle unemployment questions (it's not really their job at those centers--they're job hunting centers, not UI offices--but you might get someone who knows.) If not that, you're going to have to get on the phone with someone at Tallahassee (try the phone numbers in our contacts list here, not the 800 number to the call centers) to get an answer for sure. If you can't get through, call the governor's office and have their switchboard route you to the Tallahassee office.

EB is a separate state program (unless Scott has already decimated that as well and I haven't heard about that yet--it exists now only because Crist accepted the fed money via executive order before he left), and has different application and reporting requirements. And it ENDS at the end of this year, no matter whether you receive all your EB you're eligiible before that!

Sometimes there is a small delay while they process the application, and if I'm not mistaken, there are one or two weeks that they don't immediately ask you for your work searches while they set you up for online reports. You might still have to report work searches for those weeks, although when I went through it we didn't have to report those first work searches, though we did still have to certify.

You might keep an eye on the Blog-O-Nomics column that Jim Stratton writes for the Orlando Sentinel, and the unemployment column that's in the Miami Herald. My guess is that s--- will hit the fan of confusion when these new laws start to phase in, and the first change starts July 1.

If anyone finds out anything for certain about new procedures, or a usable link to the official EB application online, please post in our EB forums here to help others in your situation.

Thanks!