Florida’s unemployment rate is currently 11.5%, with over a million Floridians out of work. Many of these individuals have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. Currently, 292,000 Floridians are eligible to receive funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation. Approximately 235,000 more Floridians may become eligible for funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation before the end of November, 2010. It is essential to the welfare and economic security of these Floridians and in the best interest of the State of Florida that these benefits be paid in a timely manner. The proposed emergency rules amend existing rules (Rules 60BB-3.0251-60BB-3.0254, F.A.C.) that implement procedure and policy relating to the federally funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program authorized under Public Laws 110-252, 110-449, 111-5, 111-92, 111-118, 111-144, and 111-157. The most recent of these federal laws, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-205), extends the time period during which an individual may claim and receive Emergency Unemployment Compensation and, in many cases, enhances the amount of weekly benefits an individual may receive if he or she is still receiving such benefits more than one year after the claim for regular unemployment compensation is filed. In order to determine which individuals are eligible for benefits under the new federal law and provide compensation to them as quickly as possible, it is necessary that the processes set forth in this emergency rule be implemented immediately, without the delay attendant with regular rulemaking procedures. The Agency is currently pursuing the regular rulemaking process for incorporating these procedures into its current claims rules, found in Chapter 60BB-3, Florida Administrative Code.