State insurance fixes get OK Oct 5, 2005
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday tentatively approved a plan by Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher to crack down on impropriety at Citizens and other state-created insurers. In doing so, Bush, Gallagher, Attorney General Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson joined a swelling crowd of legislators and officials offering ideas to fix the troubled firm. (Florida Times-Union)
Should Scripps project be scaled down? Judges ruling spurs debate Oct 5, 2005
That would cut Gov. Jeb Bush's vision for a sprawling biotech park on 1,919-acre Mecca Farms by more than two-thirds without considering the 9,000 homes planned on neighboring Vavrus Ranch. The source of such scaled-back expectations is Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks invalidating an environmental permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. (Sun-Sentinel.com)
Cabinet votes for more Citizens oversight Oct 5, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - In an attempt to repair the battered image of Citizens Property Insurance, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet voted Tuesday to ask state lawmakers to create new rules to avoid future conflicts of interest at the state-run insurer. The proposed rules came from Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, one of four members of the Cabinet's Financial Services Commission, which oversees insurance regulation. (Miami.com, FL -- Business)
Keep crisis response under local control Oct 5, 2005
Perhaps the strongest case against such a plan was made recently by the president's own brother, Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. In a recent opinion piece in The Washington Post, Gov. Bush said "federalizing emergency response to catastrophic events would be a disaster as bad as Hurricane Katrina.". (Burlington Free Press)
CFO Suggests More Oversight for Citizens Property Oct 5, 2005
Gallagher told Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet that he wants the joint legislative committee to oversee Citizens and other government-created insurers, including companies that sell policies to uninsurable drivers, doctors and others. Citizens was created by the Florida Legislature to sell property insurance to people who can't get a policy in the private market because they live in hurricane-prone areas. (Tampa Bay Online -- Florida)
MMC strongly seeking doctors Oct 5, 2005
In other business, board members appointed Dr. Jeb Johnson, family practitioner, to the medical staff and reappointed Drs. Reza Malek in radiology, Daksheshkumar Parikh in cardiology, McFarland in family practice and Marcelina Rupley in pediatrics. (Port Lavaca Wave, TX)
Mourning Again Bali: Oct 5, 2005
Jeb Bush was not among them. Last week, he wrote an saying that"federalizing emergency response to catastrophic events would be a disaster as bad as Hurricane Katrina." The leads with when their glass-enclosed tour boat capsized after apparently being hit by the wake of a much larger craft. (Slate)
Miers: Forget Souterism: Oct 5, 2005
Miers: Forget Souterism - The fatal objection is "cronyism." By MickeyKaus. A mostly political Weblog. (Slate)
Group Warns Florida Tourists They Could Be Shot Oct 5, 2005
Gov. Jeb Bush has denounced the Brady Campaign as "pure, unadulterated politics.". But the tourism industry is taking the campaign seriously. (KSBW 8, CA)
Florida offers HSA for state employees Oct 5, 2005
Gov. Jeb Bush launched a new health plan for state employees that features a consumer-driven health savings account. Recent Company News. (South Florida Business Journal, FL)
Scrambling to Offset Katrina Costs, Republicans Continue Dangerous Fiscal Policy Oct 5, 2005
Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), both members of the RSC, to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and former Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), in which they suggest that the 2006 implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit be delayed by one year, in order to contain costs related to Hurricane Katrina. Many other members of Congress advocated for the re-opening of the recently passed highway transportation bill that contained over 6,000 lawmaker "pet projects" to find... (OMB Watch)
