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A House panel Tuesday approved a bill that would add requirements for people seeking unemployment compensation, including disqualifying people from benefits if they don’t show up for job interviews. The House Housing, Agriculture & Tourism Subcommittee voted 13-4 to approve the bill, sponsored by Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs. The bill (HB 1157) would take a series of steps including disqualifying people from benefits if they do not contact at least five prospective employers a week, fail to appear at three or more scheduled job interviews and do not return to work when recalled after a temporary layoff. Abbott said the bill is aimed at preventing people from abusing the system. “It’s to make sure the right people are getting it (benefits) and the wrong ones aren’t,” Abbott said. But Rich Templin, a lobbyist for the Florida AFL-CIO, said benefits are already difficult to get in the state and that the proposal is asking lawmakers to “put the final nail in the coffin of the unemployment insurance system. “It is insurance,” Templin said. “It is not welfare.” The bill would need to clear two more House panels before it could go to the full House.
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