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Senate committee chair seeks to ban fracking during study

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An amendment that was filed Monday — and later withdrawn — by the chairman of a Senate committee would have placed a ban on state permits for oil and gas fracking until a study of the practice can be completed in 2016. SB 1468 by Sen. Garrett Richter, a Republican from Bradenton, requires the state to develop rules for permitting “high-pressure well-stimulation,” which includes hydraulic fracturing — also called fracking. The bill is scheduled to be considered Tuesday by the Senate Committee…

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‘Assignment of benefits’ a bonanza for trial lawyers and vendors, bad for consumers

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Bills are gaining momentum in both the House and Senate and to rein in a rapidly growing insurance scam in which sketchy trial lawyers and remediation firms are getting stressed-out homeowners to sign over their policy benefits and rights after a burst water pipe or similar home emergency. Assignment of Benefits (AOB) is a long-used legal tool meant to allow vendors to get paid promptly for emergency repairs to a home without having to get the policyholder directly involved. But in…

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Darren Soto says cities, counties pushing for fracking ban

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The Democratic sponsor of a Senate bill that would ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, said Thursday that local governments are creating a groundswell of support for the legislation. Fracking can involve using water, sand, and chemicals to force oil and gas from underground rock. Environmentalists have raised concerns that the process is a threat to drinking water, especially in Florida with its reliance on aquifers for its water supply. Hydraulic fracturing would be banned under SB 166, by state Sen. Darren…

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Bills for fracking regulation filed again after years of opposition

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Bills that would regulate hydraulic fracturing and restrict the public disclosure of chemicals used in the process have been filed again after similar bills died amid opposition in previous years. Hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, is a process of using sand, water and chemicals under pressure to extract oil and gas. Critics say the practice represents a threat to groundwater and drinking water supplies but the energy industry says it is a safe method of producing domestic energy. Bills that…

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Janet Cruz says Florida in ‘dire straits’ with LIP funds now off the table

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On Friday, the Rick Scott Administration recognized what had been reported weeks earlier: Florida is losing $1.3 billion of federal money that would otherwise go to help hospitals treat poor and uninsured patients. When Eliot Fishman, director of the Children and Adults Health Programs Group in the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) at CMS, told attendees at an Orlando health-care conference in mid-February that the federal government wouldn’t extend Florida’s “Low Income Pool” program, Scott press aide Jackie Schultz…

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