Florida New Majority

On Monday, the Florida Senate Budget Committee will be voting on Senate Bill 728, Sen. Nancy Detert's proposed unemployment bill. Among all the unemployment bills proposed in our state legislature, this bill is the most favorable for Florida's unemployed. This bill does not cut unemployment insurance from 26 weeks to 20 weeks -- a crucial change that would severely impact Florida's unemployed workers.

But we, as Floridians, can still do a lot better for our state.

Organizations like Sisterhood of Survivors and the JustWork campaign are aiming to do that. Right now, Florida does not grant unemployment insurance to survivors of domestic abuse who are forced to leave their jobs in order to escape their abusers. In 32 other states, quitting a job because of the threat of domestic violence is viewed as a "compelling family reason," and allows these survivors, who are forced to relocate, to collect unemployment insurance.

It's time to stand in solidarity with survivors of domestic violence.

The bill can also be amended to allow more of our state's 1 million people receive unemployment insurance by modernizing the outdated unemployment system. This modernization would pull down $440 million in federal money to supplement our unemployment system.

Let's ensure survivors of domestic violence get support, and let's update our broken unemployment insurance system.

Tell the Senate Budget Committee to Amend and Expand.