Paul Forrester

The Commission addressed several agenda items, including proposed amendments to rules in the Florida Administrative Code Chapter 73B-20 for formal rulemaking and a rule review of Chapter 73B-21 pursuant to Florida Statutes. The Commission also reviewed and approved the recommended dispositions for non-discussion cases, which included merit and jurisdictional cases with various outcomes such as affirming, reversing, vacating, remanding, and dismissing cases for both employers and claimants.

The Executive Steering Committee meeting provided an overview of the Florida Workforce Integrated Networking Systems (FL WINS) program progress since the July 2025 meeting. Key topics included the wrap-up of Milestone 3, overviews of the Learning Management System (LMS) and Enterprise Service Desk (ESD), and other program updates. The meeting also covered the program's successes, next steps, and a detailed timeline for solution implementation. Additionally, there was a preview of Milestone 4, including functionalities like Around Me, Occupation Catalog, and Career Roadmap.

The meeting's purpose was to continue commitment to transparency by providing the public access to observe meetings on a quarterly basis. The Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) and its partners collaborate to promote success in DEO's modernization efforts, focusing on an integrated modular cloud-based system that is accessible, efficient, and effective. The discussion included accomplishments, project status updates, mitigating strategies, procurements, and stakeholder input. The establishment of a data warehouse ahead of schedule improves access to employment assistance data and statistics, expanding the system's ability to handle more claims. The completion of the first phase of the Identity Management and Access Control project prevented 23 billion dollars in fraud. The system's databases and test environment infrastructure have been migrated to a cloud-hosted environment to support system scalability and availability during periods of high demand.

The meeting included discussions on a $6.8 billion investment in workforce education since 2019, new apprenticeship programs, the Get There Faster program, and post-secondary CTE enrollment. Updates were provided on the 2023 Nursing Trends report and the work-based learning report. The council members had an opportunity to share ongoing work or accomplishments of their organizations.

This webinar provides an update on the FL WINS Workforce System Integration initiative, driven by the REACH Act and House Bill 1507. The initiative aims to establish a consumer-first workforce system in Florida, providing seamless access to education, training, and career resources for citizens. Key components include a modernized information technology platform, specifically a hybrid integration approach featuring an integrated data hub and a universal customer opportunity portal. The strategic roadmap, spanning a five-year period, encompasses projects such as business support and technical advisory, business redesign and organizational change management, systems integration, data hub development, and customer portal enhancements. The intended outcomes are to empower Floridians with economic freedom and stability, create an efficient talent pipeline, and improve data quality, service delivery, and transparency across workforce partners.