HB 7051 2022
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to postsecondary education; amending 2
s. 1004.085, F.S.; providing requirements for lists of 3
required and recommended textbooks and instructional 4
materials for Florida College System institution and 5
state university courses; amending s. 1007 .24, F.S.; 6
revising the maintenance requirements of and 7
information that must be included in the statewide 8
course numbering system; requiring certain 9
postsecondary educational institutions' registration 10
processes to include specified information; requiring 11
certain postsecondary educational institutions to 12
accept and apply general education courses and credit 13
in a specified manner; requiring the State Board of 14
Education to adopt rules; providing requirements for 15
the rules; creating s. 1008.47, F.S.; defining the 16
term "postsecondary education institution"; 17
prohibiting public postsecondary education 18
institutions from being accredited by the same agency 19
or association for consecutive accreditation cycles; 20
requiring public postsecondary education institutions 21
to collaborate to identify accrediting agencies or 22
associations that are recognized by the database 23
created and maintained by the United States Department 24
of Education, other than their current accrediting 25
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agencies or associations, from which to seek 26
accreditation and seek and obtain accreditation; 27
creating a cause of action for postsecondary education 28
institutions; authorizing the award of specified 29
damages, court costs, and attorney fees; providing for 30
the future expiration of the section; amending ss. 31
1009.23 and 1009.24, F.S.; requiring Florida College 32
System institutions and state universities, 33
respectively, to post specified information relating 34
to tuition and fee rates on their websites; revising 35
the information that must be included in a required 36
notice to students; requiring a specific press release 37
to be e-mailed to enrolled students; providing 38
requirements for a Florida College System institution 39
or state university, respectively, to raise, impose, 40
or authorize certain fees; providing a directive to 41
the Division of Law Revision; providing an effective 42
date. 43
44
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 45
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Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 1004.085, Florida 47
Statutes, is amended to read: 48
1004.085 Textbook and instructional materia ls 49
affordability and transparency.— 50
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(5)(a) Each Florida College System institution and state 51
university shall post prominently in the course registration 52
system and on its website , as early as is feasible, but at least 53
45 days before the first day of cla ss for each term, a hyperlink 54
to lists of required and recommended textbooks and instructional 55
materials for at least 95 percent of all courses and course 56
sections offered at the institution during the upcoming term. 57
The lists must include the Internationa l Standard Book Number 58
(ISBN) for each required and recommended textbook and 59
instructional material or other identifying information, which 60
must include, at a minimum, all of the following: the title, all 61
authors listed, publishers, edition number, copyrig ht date, 62
published date, and other relevant information necessary to 63
identify the specific textbooks or instructional materials 64
required and recommended for each course. The State Board of 65
Education and the Board of Governors shall include in the 66
policies, procedures, and guidelines adopted under subsection 67
(6) certain limited exceptions to this notification requirement 68
for classes added after the notification deadline. 69
(b) The lists of required and recommended textbooks and 70
instructional materials requir ed in paragraph (a) must: 71
1. Be posted as early as is feasible but at least 45 days 72
before the first day of class for each term. 73
2. Remain posted for at least 5 academic years. 74
3. Be searchable by the course subject, course number, 75
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course title, the name of the instructor of the course, the 76
title of each assigned textbook or instructional material, and 77
each author of an assigned textbook or instructional material. 78
4. Be easily downloadable by current and prospective 79
students. 80
(c) If a course subje ct to the requirements of paragraphs 81
(a) and (b) is a general education core course option identified 82
pursuant to s. 1007.25, course syllabi information containing 83
sufficient detail to inform students of all of the following 84
must be included: 85
1. The course curriculum. 86
2. The goals, objectives, and student expectations of the 87
course. 88
3. How student performance will be measured. 89
Section 2. Subsection (8) of section 1007.24, Florida 90
Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (9), subsections (4), (5), 91
and present subsection (8) are amended, and a new subsection (8) 92
is added to that section, to read: 93
1007.24 Statewide course numbering system. — 94
(4) The statewide course numbering system must be shall 95
maintained electronically and regularly updated by the 96
department, and include the courses at the recommended levels , 97
course numbers, course titles, credits awarded, and other 98
identifiable information by institution and academic year, as 99
required by state board rule. 100
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(5) The registration process at each state university and 101
Florida College System institution shall include the courses at 102
their designated levels , and statewide course numbers , course 103
titles, credits awarded, and other identifiable informati on, as 104
required by state board rule . 105
(8) Participating postsecondary institutions receiving 106
transfer course credit must accept and apply general education 107
courses and credit in accordance with this section, s. 1007.25, 108
and other provisions of law, includ ing credit earned through 109
dual enrollment, course equivalencies, and other acceleration 110
mechanisms, as first satisfying general education core course 111
credit requirements and other general education subject area 112
course credit requirements before applying th e course credit as 113
elective credit. 114
(9)(8) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules that 115
provide for the collection of course information from 116
participating institutions, identifiable information required 117
for each course, and the conduct of regularly scheduled faculty 118
committee reviews and recommendations. At a minimum, rules must 119
address all of the following: 120
(a) Required institutional reporting formats, timelines, 121
and procedures for the timely and uniform collection and 122
publication of course data information. 123
(b) Regularly scheduled faculty committee reviews and 124
recommendations to the commissioner for the alignment or 125
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realignment of courses, course numbers, course titles, 126
designated levels, credits awarded, and other identifiable 127
information for the purpose of facilitating credit transfer and 128
acceptance for substantially similar courses at receiving 129
institutions. 130
(c) Regularly scheduled faculty committee reviews and 131
recommendations to the commissioner for the classification or 132
reclassification of courses as satisfying general education, 133
general education core, prerequisite, substitution, equivalency, 134
civic literacy, or other course types, pursuant to s. 1007.25, 135
consistent with subject area, course content, programmatic, and 136
other requirements o utlined in rule. 137
(d) Purges of courses that are listed in the statewide 138
course numbering system but have not been taught at an 139
institution for the preceding 5 years. These rules must include 140
waiver provisions that allow course continuation if an 141
institution has reasonable cause for having not offered a course 142
within the 5-year limit and an expectation that the course will 143
be offered again within the following 5 years. 144
Section 3. Section 1008.47, Florida Statutes, is created 145
to read: 146
1008.47 Postsecondary education institution 147
accreditation.— 148
(1) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 149
"postsecondary education institution" means a Florida College 150
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System institution, state university, or nonpublic postsecondary 151
education institution that receives state funds. 152
(2) ACCREDITATION.—A public postsecondary education 153
institution may not be accredited by the same accrediting agency 154
or association for consecutive accreditation cycles. In the year 155
following reaffirmation or fifth -year review by their 156
accrediting agencies or associations, public postsecondary 157
education institutions must collaborate to identify accrediting 158
agencies or associations that are recognized by the database 159
created and maintained by the United States Department of 160
Education, other than their current accrediting agencies or 161
associations, from which to seek accreditation and seek and 162
obtain accreditation before their next reaffirmation date. 163
(3) CAUSE OF ACTION. —A postsecondary education institution 164
negatively impacted by ret aliatory action taken against the 165
postsecondary education institution by an accrediting agency or 166
association may bring an action against the accrediting agency 167
or association in a court of competent jurisdiction and may 168
obtain liquidated damages up to the amount of federal financial 169
aid received by the postsecondary education institution, court 170
costs, and reasonable attorney fees. 171
(4) This section expires December 31, 2032. 172
Section 4. Subsection (20) of section 1009.23, Florida 173
Statutes, is amended, and subsection (21) is added to that 174
section, to read: 175
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1009.23 Florida College System institution student fees. — 176
(20) All tuition and fees described in this section, and 177
any proposed changes to such tuition and fees, must be 178
prominently posted on the F lorida College System institution's 179
website in an area that is transparent and easily accessible. 180
Each Florida College System institution shall publicly notice 181
and notify all enrolled students of any proposal to increase 182
tuition or fees at least 28 days be fore its consideration for a 183
vote taken at a board of trustees meeting. The notice must: 184
(a) Include the date and time of the meeting at which the 185
proposal will be considered. 186
(b) Specifically outline the details of existing tuition 187
and fees, including how such tuition and fees are expended, the 188
rationale and necessity for the proposed increase, and how the 189
funds from the proposed increase will be used. 190
(c) Be posted on the institution's website and issued in a 191
press release, which must also be enclos ed in an email sent to 192
all enrolled students . 193
(21) Any proposal or action of a Florida College System 194
institution to raise, impose, or authorize any fee, as 195
authorized by law, except for tuition, must be approved by a 196
supermajority vote of the members of the board of trustees of 197
the institution, if approval by the board of trustees is 198
required by general law, and at least a supermajority vote of 199
the members of the State Board of Education, if approval by the 200
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State Board of Education is required by general law, in order to 201
take effect. 202
Section 5. Subsection (20) of section 1009.24, Florida 203
Statutes, is amended, and subsection (21) is added to that 204
section, to read: 205
1009.24 State university student fees. — 206
(20) All tuition and fees described in this s ection, and 207
any proposed changes to such tuition and fees, must be 208
prominently posted on the state university's website in an area 209
that is transparent and easily accessible. Each state university 210
shall publicly notice and notify all enrolled students of an y 211
proposal to change tuition or fees at least 28 days before its 212
consideration for a vote taken at a board of trustees meeting. 213
The notice must: 214
(a) Include the date and time of the meeting at which the 215
proposal will be considered. 216
(b) Specifically outl ine the details of existing tuition 217
and fees, including how such tuition and fees are expended, the 218
rationale and necessity for the proposed change, and how the 219
funds from the proposed change will be used. 220
(c) Be posted on the university's website and i ssued in a 221
press release, which must also be enclosed in an email sent to 222
all enrolled students . 223
(21) Pursuant to s. 7(e), Art. IX of the State 224
Constitution, any proposal or action of a constituent university 225
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to raise, impose, or authorize any fee, as authorized by law, 226
except for tuition, must be approved by at least nine 227
affirmative votes of the members of the board of trustees of the 228
constituent university, if approval by the board of trustees is 229
required by general law, and at least twelve affirmati ve votes 230
of the members of the Board of Governors, if approval by the 231
Board of Governors is required by general law, in order to take 232
effect. 233
Section 6. The Division of Law Revision shall prepare a 234
reviser's bill for the 2023 Regular Session of the Le gislature 235
to replace references to the phrases "the Southern Association 236
of Colleges and Schools," "the Commission on Colleges of the 237
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools," and "the Southern 238
Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on College s" 239
wherever they occur in Florida Statutes with the phrase "an 240
accrediting agency or association recognized by the database 241
created and maintained by the United States Department of 242
Education." 243
Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022. 244