With unemployment currently at 11.5%, over a million Floridians are unemployed. Of these, many have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. With so many unemployed Floridians deprived of any income, it is vital that the State of Florida enable them to benefit from all available unemployment compensation programs. The Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-373) provides partial federal funding for states to administer an Extended Benefit Program. Under this program, states with extremely high unemployment rates may pay Extended Benefits to persons who exhaust their regular unemployment compensation without becoming reemployed. Over the last year and a half, Congress has addressed the nation’s record unemployment by enacting Public Laws 111-5, 111-118, 111-144, and 111-157, which enabled more states to qualify for such funding and raised the federal funding level to 100% of benefits paid. These laws, however, only did not fund payment of Extended Benefits any weeks of unemployment ending after June 5, 2010. Fortunately, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-205), extends the time period during which an individual may claim and receive Extended Benefits until December 2010. Currently, approximately 22,500 Floridians are receiving Extended Benefits. Approximately 235,000 more Floridians may become eligible for Extended Benefits before the end of November, 2010. In Executive Order 10-170, Governor Charlie Crist directed the Agency to pay Extended Benefits to all unemployed Floridians who are eligible to receive such benefits. 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. 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, and the forms incorporated by reference, be implemented immediately, without the delay attendant with regular rulemaking procedures. The Agency is currently pursuing the regular rulemaking process for incorporating these forms and procedures into its current claims rules, found in Chapter 60BB-3, Florida Administrative Code.