When will Florida leaders step up and provide families ample economic relief? | Opinion

A perfect storm is brewing in Florida, as massive job losses, fluctuating extremes of coronavirus cases and the state’s broken unemployment insurance system collide. It’s all compounded by the federal government’s inability to coalesce around legislation to continue providing critical economic protections to families across the country.

The sense of urgency is greatest in South Florida, where cornerstones of our service-based economy, such as hospitality and tourism, have been rendered inactive by coronavirus and closures.

In the past few months, I have heard stories from thousands of constituents in my district and from nearly every corner of the state who, through no fault of their own, are struggling to pay their rent, mortgage and utility bills, or to provide food for their loved ones. These calls from families across Florida are growing louder as the pandemic persists and our leaders — whether in Tallahassee where the Republican-majority House and Senate refused to return for a special session, or in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Senate adjourned without providing remedy by refusing to take action.

Because Florida’s unemployment system has not been responsive to hurting families’ cries for help, it’s up to local representatives, like me, to deal with unemployment cases that are wholly under the purview of the executive branch of state government. Our efforts range from asking nicely, to outright begging and pleading for Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity to provide relief. While I have worked to serve the needs of others, and I am honored to do this work, it shouldn’t have to be this way.

We were elected to do what is necessary to protect our constituents’ livelihoods. But state and federal leaders are failing in that duty. At the federal level, the $400 a month, now cut to $300 for Florida, that the White House recently announced falls far short of what will be required to protect hardworking people from being financially destroyed by the pandemic. The proposed HEALS Act by Senate Republicans was even more insulting, offering a paltry $200 a week — hardly enough to keep a roof over a family’s head in South Florida.

While Republicans in the U.S. Senate, including our own Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, should get to work immediately to pass robust unemployment insurance protections, it’s also past time that state leaders in Tallahassee get serious and rectify our broken unemployment system. There are thousands of folks still waiting for benefits that should have been paid out months ago. We all know that the system doesn’t work, regardless of who is at fault.

Repeatedly, Gov. DeSantis has acknowledged that the unemployment system was designed to fail, with “as many kinds of pointless roadblocks along the way” so that people eventually give up. If it takes a special session, then it is up to the governor and leaders in the state Senate and House to call for one as soon as possible.

In the meantime, continuing to leave Florida’s families desperately waiting for assistance, not knowing whether they should have their belongings packed and ready for imminent eviction, is indecent.

The suffering is not partisan, neither is the remedy.

Sen. Jason Pizzo represents District 38 in the Florida Senate.