Sen. Ashley moody (R-Fla.) (Photo: official Senate photo)
Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) isn't up for reelection, but it hasn't stopped some MAGA followers from championing her removal from office after she began pushing to protect a major corporation that is making people sick, the New Republic reported on Friday.
Wade Hanicker’s lungs are scarred, and his income has fallen by half. Just playing with his kids leaves him gasping for breath. Moody wants to take away his right to sue the company he said did this to him.
The 39-year-old Florida stoneworker and Trump supporter worked a lot with engineered stone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report in January saying that "countertop fabricators working with engineered stone are at risk of developing silicosis due to the high respirable crystalline silica content."
"Silicosis is an irreversible occupational lung disease," the report explained, and it's caused by respirable crystalline silica (RCS).
The disease is potentially fatal and it has completely upended Hanicker’s life and livelihood. He's closed his countertop business and had a double hip replacement after complications and now he may even need a lung transplant.
His medical bills are stacking up to roughly $100,000 and that was the reason he decided to join the lawsuit against the manufacturers.
In California alone, which tracks the silicosis cases, there are 668 confirmed engineered stone silicosis cases and 35 deaths, the New Republic reported. Australia has already banned engineered stone, and California regulators are considering doing the same.
Against that backdrop, Moody has sponsored the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Stone Slab Products Act of 2026. The report says it would grant manufacturers sweeping protection from civil lawsuits. Another bill doing the same has already been introduced in the House and approved by the Judiciary Committee.
The New Republic revealed some of that might come from the campaign donations she got from the family of Cambria CEO Marty Davis, who is also a major Trump donor. So far, Davis and his family members have given $38,000 to her campaign and political action committee. One contribution came from an industry lobbyist after she introduced the bill.
At a time when Americans are hyperfocused on political corruption, the donations raise questions about a quid pro quo.
Cambria blames unsafe practices, not the products, for workers' illnesses. It’s a little like the ‘the product is perfectly safe until you use it’ defense. The slab is safe, they argue, as long as nobody does the work of turning it into a countertop. Moody’s bill similarly declares the materials themselves are not dangerous.
The stones “do not pose an inherent risk of injury to human beings," Moody's bill claims.
Hanicker counters that cutting is unavoidable and that even using a wet saw sends dust into the air. Even if someone were cleaning up or handling the material rather than cutting it, they risk exposure.
“Once the slurry dries, there’s still dust. Even if it gets sucked into a vacuum, somebody still has to clean that filter out. There’s going to be human interaction with the dust regardless of the form of the dust," he explained.
The report said Moody's bill is unlikely to pass in the two months before the new legislative session, but it raised questions about Hanicker's loyalty to the GOP. He's now "up in the air" about whether he'd vote for Moody again.
“I don’t support her on how she’s supporting this bill,” he said. “She was the main sponsor on that. I can’t stand that. There are certain aspects where I want the Democrats to win here for everyone that’s being affected in this industry.”
Moody may have good reason for wanting to stay quiet on the issue.
The New Republic cited a recent Bloomberg investigation that revealed Cambria’s own internal studies of air sampling showed “dozens of times” that respirable crystalline silica exposed those working with it. The numbers were well “above the threshold that the company insists it’s staying below." In fact, some tests showed that the exposure is higher than what OSHA said was permissible in 2016.
Hanicker knows that Trump is connected to Davis and Cambria and even bragged that his trade policies have helped the company. Trump slapped hefty tariffs on imported engineered stone.
Hanicker is still trying to work and now when he does fabrication he has a robot cut the stone while he stays in an office.
“I’m sure they’re also paying Trump off on these tariffs,” he said. “It’s hurting the industry all the way around.”
Still, Hanicker doesn't want to support a Democrat.
“Just because I’m a Republican and a Trump supporter doesn’t mean I agree with everything he does," he said.
He even sent the president a letter talking about his illness. What he got back was essentially a note that Hanicker summed up: “Sorry about your health and hope that you and your family are well.”