Florida may soon crack down on people who use someone else’s identity to apply for unemployment benefits.
A bill passed by the House Economic Development and Tourism committee would up penalties for people caught using another’s ID to get jobless benefits.
It would also clear the path for the Department of Economic Opportunity, which handles unemployment benefits, to check applicants’ drivers license information including signatures and photographs through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
In the past two years, economic department officials have stopped 146 thousand attempts to get jobless benefits using stolen identities.
