Tuesday's Daily Pulse
| 3/2/2021
Florida’s unemployment fix could cost $244 million
State officials are asking for up to $244 million over the next five years to overhaul the unemployment system that failed for millions Floridians during the pandemic last year. During a Monday hearing before state senators, Department of Economic Opportunity Director Dane Eagle said the online unemployment system, known as CONNECT, “did a disservice to the people of Florida.” He said the system wasn’t worth saving, comparing it to an iPhone purchased in 2013 that had hardly been updated. The solution, he told senators, was spending up to $73 million on a new system, plus $24 million in maintenance and $146 million over five years in additional costs brought on by the pandemic. More from the Tampa Bay Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and the Orlando Sentinel.