Kenneth Feinberg Oil Spill Claims Administrator Cancels Visit to Florida Legislature

Posted in Florida Maritime News,Government,Gulf Coast on April 11, 2011

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Due to “scheduling conflicts oil spill claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg will not attend the Senate Agriculture Committee meeting Monday as stated in a letter will not attend the Senate Agriculture Committee meeting Monday.

“You have my promise that during my next visit to Florida I will schedule a meeting with you and the committee members,” he wrote.

In February, a House committee criticized his leadership of a national facility that oversees $20 billion in relief.

The Miami Herald reports:

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, had been preparing for this meeting since January, taking notes from people who say their business was affected by the oil spill but their claims were ignored.

In other action Monday, the Committee on Community Affairs has about a dozen bills on its docket, including a big one sponsored by Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, that repeals a law legislators passed in 2010 requiring people to have their septic tanks inspected every five years. The intent of the program was to help prevent sewage from leaking out of septic tanks and into the state groundwater system. Now lawmakers say the program is too expensive for septic tank owners and needs adjusting.

Community Affairs could be the bill’s last stop before the full Senate takes it up.

The committee will also consider a bill, SB 722, from Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, that would strike a requirement that a dog be considered a dangerous dog if it was used or trained for dog fighting.