KEN LAWSON

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. State Rep. Dane Eagle was appointed as executive director of the state's employment agency on Wednesday, a little more than two weeks after barely losing a Republican primary for Congress in a heavily GOP district. The agency was widely criticized for long delays in paying out unemployment benefits after the economy tanked during the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people waited weeks and sometimes months for benefits from the glitch-ridden unemployment system after suddenly losing work amid the outbreak. But Crist dropped out of the Republican primary, ran as an independent and lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Lawson remained as director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, but management of the unemployment system was given to Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter.

Lawson remained as director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, but management of the unemployment system was given to Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter. Florida's unemployment system became fodder for state and national Democrats, who pushed for investigations into the failures, including an explanation of why the state could not deliver timely benefits. DeSantis has acknowledged that his states unemployment system is broken and ordered his own investigators to look into the systems failures. The outbreak had caused the states unemployment rate to spike to 13.8% in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 4.4% the month before. According to state Senate Democrats, 1.7 million Floridians are waiting for benefits.

After Florida’s botched response to the flood of unemployment claims due to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. The governor revealed he appointed Satter to oversee the COVID-19 unemployment response. “I was disappointed in the initial response in terms to the website,” DeSantis said. In the past three weeks, more than 472,000 unemployment claims were filed by Floridians, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “The unemployment claims process is taking too long: Floridians are struggling and need to receive their money.

Ron DeSantis focused Monday on improvements being made to the states overwhelmed unemployment-compensation system, rather than his embattled appointee overseeing the work. But newly made changes allowed the system to handle more than 22,000 unemployment applications before 10 a.m. Monday, officials said. If you are having technical difficulties with the CONNECT system, you can call a LOCAL number or HELP in Volusia or Flagler Counties. Also over the weekend, the state activated a previously built-in backup to the Department of Economic Opportunitys CONNECT unemployment system. Today, make sure people dont lose confidence in the government.Toledo wants the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee to audit spending on the CONNECT system, which cost $77 million to get online in 2013.

Ron DeSantis on Tuesday to make jobless benefits retroactive as the state's newly unemployed continued to be mired in an unemployment system riddled with glitches and uncertainty amid the coronavirus outbreak. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, to extend unemployment benefits beyond the current 12-week limit and raise the $275 a week cap, among the lowest in the country. Only nine states offer fewer than 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. And they called on the governor to make benefit payments retroactive to the first day of unemployment. And amid the rampant filing troubles, it still remained unclear how quickly the state could begin issuing checks amid a backlog in claims.

PHOTO VIA GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONSOur small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you news on how coronavirus is affecting Central Florida. Please follow CDC guidelines and Orange County advisories to stay safe, and please support this free publication. But newly made changes allowed the system to handle more than 22,000 unemployment applications before 10 a.m. Monday, officials said.While demands on the system went up in recent weeks, DeSantis said people have faced difficulties because they were having a tough time getting on. When asked if the system was fixed, Lawson said the changes have made the process better. Today, make the system work.

click to enlarge Photo via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia CommonsPaper applications for jobless benefits will soon be accepted as Floridas rapidly growing ranks of out-of-work people have overwhelmed the online unemployment-compensation system.Gov. But I think that is not something that you could just turn on and off in an economy like this, DeSantis said. We need to expand the capacity. But, just understand that this is going to a problem that could be with us for more than a couple of weeks.Floridas unemployment benefits top out at $275 a week for 12 weeks. They also have requested changes such as expanding the number of weeks of available benefits; considering workers most-recent quarter of earnings when calculating potential benefits as a way to help seasonal workers; and changing eligibility requirements that currently include filling out an application that can take several hours.

Paper applications for jobless benefits will soon be accepted as Floridas rapidly growing ranks of out-of-work people have overwhelmed the online unemployment-compensation system. TALLAHASSEE --- Paper applications for jobless benefits will soon be accepted as Floridas rapidly growing ranks of out-of-work people have overwhelmed the online unemployment-compensation system. He also directed Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Ken Lawson to purchase software to add capacity to the online system. On Wednesday, Lawson lifted a requirement that people qualifying for unemployment benefits must wait a week before their first checks are sent. The waiting period had been among several issues raised by Democrats and labor leaders, who have complained about the system.

The Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted the February unemployment rate, which was unchanged from January. Department Executive Director Ken Lawson said bluntly on Friday the unemployment numbers are going up. Everything we are doing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is having an impact on businesses," Lawson said. "I realize patience is thin in a situation where people are hurting, but my people, my 1,500 people, are fully committed to helping Floridians," Lawson said. However, a study released Friday indicated that one in three tourism businesses in the state had laid off employees since March 1.

click to enlargeGov. Ron DeSantis has been able to enjoy presiding over a state with record low jobless numbers. Entertainment venues from Disney and Universal to Major League Baseball spring training have shut down. I think that people already are getting a little tired with all the changes weve seen in society, and hopefully this doesnt go on for months and months. But I can just tell you, when we get on the back side of this, I think people are really going to want to get back to work.

The seasonally adjusted estimate was down from 3.1 percent in November and was 0.3 percentage points better than at the end of 2018.Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took office in January 2019, touted the new numbers. I remain laser-focused on ensuring Florida is offering a world-class pool of talent to businesses and investing in our students and educators, he said in a prepared statement. Four areas Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island and Gainesville were each at 2.5 percent. The highest unemployment rates were in The Villages and Homosassa Springs areas, each at 4.0 percent.

Ron DeSantis administration wants to boost spending next year on a controversial economic-development program, while tourism-marketing money wouldnt increase, according to budget requests rolled out last week. Ken Lawson, executive director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, said DeSantis is asking for $85 million in the economic-development effort, known as the Job Growth Grant Fund. Lawmakers provided $85 million in annual funding for the Job Growth Grant Fund to Scott, an amount that DeSantis also proposed during the 2019 legislative session. Some Democrats also initially criticized the Job Growth Grant Fund, describing it as a slush fund that lacked oversight. Under the new budget proposals for 2020-2021, funding for the Visit Florida tourism-marketing agency would remain at $50 million.