Politics
House panel moves forward anti-weather modification bill
A House bill that is rooted in the belief that aircraft in the skies over the state are seeding dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere is going to the floor of the chamber for full consideration.
The House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee approved the “Weather Modification Activities” bill (HB 477). The measure, if approved by the full Legislature, “prohibits certain acts intended to affect temperature, weather, or intensity of sunlight within the atmosphere of this state.”
The proposed legislation stems at least in part from the chemtrails conspiracy theory. It’s a decades-old, debunked belief that contrails, the white lines of condensed water vapor that jets leave behind in the sky, are actually toxic chemicals that the government and other entities are using to do everything from altering the weather to sterilizing and mind-controlling the populace.
Rep. Kevin Steele, a Tallahassee Republican, sponsored the bill and told the subcommittee members he understands there is skepticism about the claims regarding chemtrails. The measure would ban such activity from taking place.
“It’s a fact that they can do this, whoever ‘they’ is, and they shouldn’t be allowed to do that in the state of Florida,” Steele said. “I started the process as a naysayer and … now I’m in the middle.”
Bradford Thomas, a recently retired Judge for the Florida First District Court of Appeals and former prosecutor, is far from being in the middle. He already testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government in March when that panel was considering a similar measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia (SB 56) that calls for similar measures for aerial spraying activity.
Thomas ramped up his concerns before the House subcommittee. He reiterated that he has noticed what he calls chemtrails above the skies of Crescent Beach while strolling along the shore just south of St. Augustine. Thomas said the activity will harm Florida on a large scale.
“If this is not curtailed, this is going to destroy coastal tourism in the state of Florida,” Thomas said.
Other residents supporting the bill spoke before the subcommittee Tuesday and said they believed activity in the skies is being done to include “solar radiation modification,” “aluminum spraying in the atmosphere,” “marine cloud brightening” and “toxic polluting.”
Augustus Doricko, founder of Rainmaker, a cloud-seeding geoengineering startup company, testified before the subcommittee that there is indeed cloud seeding going on. But it’s already heavily regulated and the proposed measures before the Legislature isn’t really necessary.
Cloud seeding “can be used to mitigate the risk of wildfire,” Doricko said.
The measure still has another reading set before the House State Affairs Committee.
The Florida House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure Thursday that would ensure newborn babies can be safely surrendered to authorities.
Eustis Republican Rep. Nan Cobb presented the bill (HB 791) to establish and regulate the use of newborn safety devices installed in the walls of hospitals, fire stations, and emergency medical services (EMS) stations.
Similar legislation was introduced during the 2023 Legislative Session; however, the bill never made it out of Committee.
Cobb’s bill aims to provide a safe and anonymous way for parents to surrender their newborn baby, defined in the bill as under 30 days old, without the fear of legal repercussions as long as there is no abuse or neglect suspected.
The proposed devices would be temperature-controlled, ventilated, and physically attached to the outside wall of a hospital EMS station or fire station. Alarm systems must also be installed to ensure that staff know when a baby has been placed in the safety device.
During the bill’s passage through the House Health and Human Services Committee, Cobb detailed some of the statistics surrounding the abandonment of newborn infants.
“In 2000, Florida enacted the Safe Haven legislation in response to tragedies concerning newborn abandonment at unsafe locations such as public restrooms, and trash recepticals,” Cobb told the Committee. “Since 2000, approximately 414 newborns have surrendered at a Safe Haven in Florida. In that time, 65 infants are known to have been unsafely abandoned, of which 32 survived and unfortunately 33 did not.”
While the bill was being presented to the House, Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart commended Cobb for bringing it to the floor and said Cobb had addressed previous concerns about the device’s alarms once a baby was placed in it.
“Representative, I want to applaud you for bringing this back,” Hart said. “I know that we had some problems in the past where people thought, well, if you put the baby in a box, nobody will know the baby’s there, but the way that you have structured this bill, immediately someone will be notified. There’s nothing like caring for our babies, and I greatly appreciate you taking this under your wing this year and bringing it back.”
Surveillance systems would also be required to allow employees to monitor the device 24 hours a day, and staff would be required to check the device physically at least twice daily.
The legislation will now move to the Senate floor.
St. Pete City Council voted to approve $22.5 million to replace the iconic domed roof on Tropicana Field after it was destroyed by high winds from Hurricane Milton in October.
Replacing the roof has been a source of contention throughout the city as the future of Major League Baseball in St. Petersburg — or even perhaps the Tampa Bay region — remains in peril. The Rays are contractually obligated to play at Tropicana Field through the 2027 season, and as the team’s landlord, the city is required to fix the stadium.
While the vote may come as a frustration to some — including City Council member Richie Floyd, who voted against the expenditure because he wanted to see numbers worked up on how much it would cost to buy the Rays out of their remaining contract — the approved expenditure is about half the original estimated cost to fix the roof, estimated at nearly $56 million in November.
In response to Floyd’s concern about buying the Rays out of their remaining contract, City Administrator Rob Gerdes said it was considered, but doing so would have cost the city insurance reimbursements and Federal Emergency Management Agency aid, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The vote paves the way for the Rays to return to Tropicana Field for the 2026 season, after they play this season in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field.
A report sent to St. Pete City Council in November outlined needed repairs and estimates to complete them, including $24 million to replace the roof. In all, the estimate came to $39 million in damages to the stadium, with another $16 million in other related needs.
The price tag is particularly stinging considering a calculated risk the city took last March, reducing its insurance coverage on Tropicana Field from $100 million to just $25 million. The move saved the city $275,000 on insurance premiums. The policy also has a $22 million deductible.
And it comes less than a month after Rays leadership announced it would not move forward with a previously approved stadium deal.
The team blamed “a series of events beginning in October” for its “difficult decision.” That’s in reference to Hurricane Milton and its damage to the stadium, which led to approval delays for bonds necessary to move forward with the deal.
The team has said those bond approval delays caused cost overruns and blamed the city of St. Pete and Pinellas County for hitches in what had seemed like a done deal.
Rays Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said at the time that the team was “excited to return to our home field next spring,” pointing to the city’s efforts to move forward with stadium repairs.
The latest also comes as investors are lining up to buy the Rays amid frustration with current ownership.
Tampa businessman Joe Molloy, who is a former minority owner of the New York Yankees, is heading a group of prospective Tampa-based investors seeking to buy the Rays. They would keep the team in St. Pete under the existing stadium deal, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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