Governor Charlie Crist, on Friday, issued an executive order which would allow close to a quarter million Floridians, who have been jobless for a long time, to be eligible for additional benefits. The executive order was signed one day after President Obama inked the 2010 Unemployment Extended Benefits Bill, allowing supplemental benefits for Floridians to be paid for by the federal government.
“Unemployed Floridians are struggling in this challenging economic climate, trying to figure out how to pay their bills and support their families”, Crist said in a statement. “We simply cannot desert the 250,000 Floridians who qualify for the extended federal assistance signed into law yesterday.”
Floridians access to the federally-funded extended benefits program had expired on June 5, but the Republican-led Legislature saw it fit not to address the issue during its regular session. Earlier this week, again, the Legislature failed to take up the program’s extension during the aborted special session.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the Legislature had urged Crist to issue an executive order or call a special session to deal with the extension of the eligibility period for unemployed emergency benefits.
In issuing the executive order, Crist said, “I am committed to exercising my Constitutional duty to authorize the use of available federal funds to help out-of-work Floridians who qualify for this help.”
Against the backdrop of an unemployment rate of 11.4 percent, close to 250,000 jobless Floridians are eligible to receive additional benefits, with the signing of the executive order today. The Order also has been made retroactive to June 2 and extends through December 4, 2010.
The Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWA), said that while certain issues remained to be worked out regarding the supplemental benefits, eligible Floridians could start to receive checks within a couple weeks, reports the News Service of Florida.
