
Florida Legislature Passes Bill to Criminalize Weather Modification Activities
Any person caught doing so would be charged with a third-degree felony, punishable with up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. All funds collected through the enforcement of this new law would be deposited in the Air Pollution Control Trust Fund and would be strictly used for air pollution control purposes.
The language of the bill accounts for both private individuals and corporate entities, and ensures that a general report line will be open for any person to submit via email. All operators of public infrastructure, like airports, will be required to submit monthly reports on weather modification or geoeingeneering to the Department of Transportation beginning Oct. 1.
The bill was championed by state Rep. Kevin Steele and state Sen. Ileana Garcia, in their respective chambers. Both are Republicans. The legislation passed in the state Senate with a vote of 28–9 on April 3, and the state House on April 30 by a vote of 82–28.
Steele published a
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Cloud seeding involves dispensing heavy metals such as silver iodide into the atmosphere to induce precipitation, and solar radiation modification, or solar geoengineering, is the process of using heavy metals such as sulfur dioxide to reflect more of the sun's rays back into space in an effort to curb global warming.
'Heavy metals, which are found in weather modification patents, can have severe effects on human health when ingested, inhaled, or touches our skin,' the fact sheet stated.
Those possible effects include kidney damage, liver cancer, neurological damage, autism, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and immune system dysfunction.
Several states on both sides of the political aisle already allow or even fund weather modification, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming. At the same time, other states including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, and Tennessee have already taken measures to ban or restrict it.
The Epoch Times has reached out to both Garcia and Steele for comment.
The news of the bill's passage was celebrated on social media platform X, including by a grassroots coalition called the Global Wellness Forum.
'Florida is sending a loud and clear message: we will protect our skies and we will not allow corporate interests, climate change interventionists, or covert operations to tamper with our atmosphere or pollute our environment,' the group
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Newsweek
10 hours ago
- Newsweek
How Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Impacts Medicaid Users: Experts Weigh In
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Billions in Medicaid cuts passed by Republicans as part of President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" will have widespread negative implications on people across the United States, multiple experts told Newsweek. Why It Matters Trump's touted tax overhaul and spending cuts package, which passed Thursday on a 218-214 vote in the House after months of haggling in both chambers of Congress, has provoked broader concerns about health care access and funding—notably to vulnerable populations who rely on Medicaid and the social safety net. The CBO estimates the roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade will result in 12 million people losing coverage by 2034. Trump had repeatedly promised not to cut Medicaid benefits, including by the White House's own admission as recently as March. The cuts are deeply unpopular, according to polls, and present a political challenge for Republicans ahead of next year's midterm elections. What Is the Big, Beautiful Bill? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a sweeping reconciliation package that advances Trump's domestic policy agenda. It includes major tax reforms, spending cuts, and regulatory changes across multiple sectors. The bill passed the House and Senate along party lines and is positioned as a cornerstone of Trump's second-term legislative goals. Numerous experts predict that Medicaid cuts and new requirements in President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" will have widespread implications on Americans and state, federal funding mechanisms. Numerous experts predict that Medicaid cuts and new requirements in President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" will have widespread implications on Americans and state, federal funding mechanisms. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva The 1,200‑page package will: Permanently extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, while exempting overtime pay, tips and some Social Security income from taxation. Impose 80‑hour‑per‑month work requirements on many adults receiving Medicaid and apply existing SNAP work rules to additional beneficiaries. Repeal most clean‑energy tax credits created under President Biden. Authorize a $40 billion border security surge and fund a nationwide deportation initiative. Raise the federal debt ceiling by $5 trillion, with the Congressional Budget Office estimating that it could add $3.4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. When Did the Big, Beautiful Bill Pass the Senate? The bill narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday after an overnight session. The 50-50 vote generally along partisan lines was tipped in Republicans' favor by Vice President JD Vance, who cast the decisive tiebreaker vote. Has the Big, Beautiful Bill Been Signed? President Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday during a White House ceremony. How the Big, Beautiful Bill Will Impact Medicaid Beneficiaries The bill includes changes to eligibility for Medicaid, including mandating that Medicaid recipients must carry out some kind of work for at least 80 hours a month, which has prompted many health care experts and lawmakers to warn that it will only push millions off the program. Other concerns include diminished care in rural communities and increased out-of-pocket costs for doctors' visits. To accommodate the bill's signature tax cuts, which mostly benefit the wealthy, the cuts have to come from somewhere, according to Miranda Yaver, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Consistent with prior Republican approaches, the cuts are coming from America's safety net programs, she said. "One in five Americans relies on Medicaid for their health coverage, and one in seven Americans relies on SNAP for their food security, so cutting these critical programs will be devastating," Yaver said. Roughly 92 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries are already working or would be exempt, according to KFF. But what threatens their coverage is not noncompliance with work hours; rather, the administrative burdens of documenting their work or exemption, according to Yaver. "For that reason, the requirement can be better characterized not as a work requirement, but rather as a paperwork requirement. ... Some have characterized Medicaid paperwork requirements as a solution in search of a problem, because contrary to some characterizations of people playing video games in basements, most people on Medicaid are working or would be exempt," she said. A Medicaid accepted here sign in Kokomo, Indiana, in September 2019. A Medicaid accepted here sign in Kokomo, Indiana, in September 2019. GETTY "I don't think it's a solution in search of a problem so much as it is a solution to a different problem: low-income Americans being provided health insurance." Jake Haselswerdt, associate professor at the Truman School of Government & Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, agreed that the paperwork aspect is likely going to be an issue. "We're going to have to see, what are the regulations look like? How do states implement this?" Haselswerdt told Newsweek. "But I'm not optimistic, especially coming from a Missouri standpoint. "We have maybe the worst Medicaid agency in the country. The call center wait times at times have been the worst in the country." 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"Nothing's permanent because policy can change, but we think of them as permanent cuts—this kind of short-term, financial Band-Aid," Haselswerdt said. "I don't really think makes that much of a difference. [When] people lose coverage that means these hospitals are delivering more freer charity care that never gets paid for. "That was something that was demonstrated with the ACA. When coverage expanded under the ACA, it helped hospitals; they had less uncompensated care to deal with. So, if you change policy in such a way that more people are showing up at hospitals without health coverage, it's not going to be good for those hospitals." President Donald Trump, from left, speaks as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, listen during an event in the... President Donald Trump, from left, speaks as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, listen during an event in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Washington. More Associated Press What the White House Has Said About Impact on Medicaid A "Myth vs. Fact" sheet released by the White House on June 29 responds to numerous critiques of the One Big Beautiful Bill, including on Medicaid. The White House called it a "myth" that the legislation "kicks American families off Medicaid." "As the President has said numerous times, there will be no cuts to Medicaid," the statement reads. "The One Big Beautiful Bill protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it—pregnant women, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families—while eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. "The One Big Beautiful Bill removes illegal aliens, enforces work requirements, and protects Medicaid for the truly vulnerable."

Politico
14 hours ago
- Politico
Blue state lawmakers' response to Medicaid cuts: Keep calm and bash Republicans
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The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
How Trump's megabill will impact health care
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'No matter how often repeated, the magnitude of these reductions — and the number of individuals who will lose health coverage — cannot be simply dismissed as waste, fraud, and abuse,' American Hospital Association president Rick Pollack said in a statement. 'The faces of Medicaid include our children, our disabled, our seniors, our veterans, our neighbors, and friends. The real-life consequences of these reductions will negatively impact access to care for all Americans.' Almost 12 million lower-income Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), blunting the significant coverage gains made under the ACA. The cuts were deep enough to give some Republicans in both chambers pause, but in the end, only two GOP House members and three senators voted against the bill. It passed the Senate 51-50, and the House 218-214. Here's how the bill could impact Americans: By design, the group that would be hit the hardest are people whose income is between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly between $32,150 and $42,760 for a family of four) who gained insurance when their states expanded Medicaid. The most significant change will be a first-ever requirement for adults under age 65 — including low-income parents of children older than 14 — to prove they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours a month. States will need to develop and launch systems to verify individuals' work status at least every six months, beginning in December 2026. Health experts and advocates warn that a blizzard of red tape and administrative hurdles will strip people of needed health care, even those who would normally be eligible. GOP lawmakers say they are fine with those consequences, even those who have said they oppose cutting Medicaid benefits, because the requirements will only target the 'able-bodied' people who should be working but choose not to. Groups such as the disabled, pregnant women and people who are in prison or rehabilitation centers would be exempt from the requirements. Those people, Republicans say, are the truly needy. But someone who qualifies would need to prove they are exempt, which would require submitting the correct forms and documentation — in the correct order — at the time they apply for Medicaid and after they are already enrolled. Outside of work requirements, the legislation requires states to do an extra eligibility check on Medicaid enrollees starting in 2027. Checking every six months opens the possibility of a person losing coverage mid-year. 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Hospitals would see a spike in uncompensated care and overcrowding of emergency rooms. 'Millions of Americans will see their health care coverage vanish through burdensome Medicaid work requirements and other eligibility changes throughout the bill. Hospitals across the country have been destabilized, affecting their ability to serve patients and their communities. We are in a crisis,' said Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America's Essential Hospitals, a group that represents hospitals serving primarily low-income patients. 'Widespread coverage losses plus weakened hospitals is a recipe for disaster, and patients will pay the price.'