This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives.
STORAGE NAME: h0863a.EQS
DATE: 3/22/2023
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: HB 863 Holocaust Remembrance Day
SPONSOR(S): Harris and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 832
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Education Quality Subcommittee 18 Y, 0 N Dixon Sanchez
2) Constitutional Rights, Rule of Law &
Government Operations Subcommittee
3) Education & Employment Committee
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The Holocaust (1933-1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of millions of
European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany. About six million Jews and some five million others,
targeted for racial, political, ideological and behavioral reasons, died in the Holocaust, more than one million of
those who perished were children.
The bill requires the Governor to proclaim January 27 of each year to be “Holocaust Remembrance Day”. This
day will be suitably observed in public schools and by public exercise in the State Capitol and elsewhere as the
Governor may designate.
The bill specifies that if January 27 falls on a day that is not a school day, Holocaust Remembrance Day must
be observed in the schools on the preceding school day or on such school day as may be designated by local
school authorities.
The bill requires instruction about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and their harmful impacts on humanity to be
provided as part of public educational instruction on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The bill does not appear to have a fiscal impact.
This bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2023.
STORAGE NAME: h0863a.EQS PAGE: 2
DATE: 3/22/2023
FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
Legal Holidays and Observances
Chapter 683, F.S., provides designations for legal holidays and special observances.
Recognition of a legal holiday or special observance may apply statewide or may be limited to a
particular region. For example, “Gasparilla Day”
1
is a legal holiday observed only in Hillsborough
County, while “Bill of Rights Day,”
2
if issued by the Governor, applies throughout the state.
Depending on the holiday or special observance, certain actions may be required to be
performed for the commemoration or observance of the date, day, or month. For example, the
Governor may annually issue a proclamation designating April 2 as “Florida State Day” and may
designate the week of March 27 to April 2 as “Pascua Florida Week.”
3
Florida law recognizes
the month of September as “American Founders’ Month,”
4
urging all civic, fraternal, and
religious organizations and public and private educational institutions to recognize this occasion
through appropriate programs and celebrations, and the last full week of classes in September
as “Celebrate Freedom Week,”
5
in which public schools are required to include at least three
hours of grade-appropriate instruction related to the meaning and importance of the Declaration
of Independence in social studies classes.
6
There are 21 legal holidays
7
established in law and 36 special observances.
8
The state
recognizes nine paid holidays that are observed by all state branches and agencies.
9
The Holocaust
The Holocaust (1933-1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million
European Jews and others by Nazi Germany. In the beginning of Nazi rule, dictator Adolf Hitler used
the government to target and exclude Jews from German society. Among other antisemitic measures,
the Nazi German regime enacted discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany’s
Jews.
10
The Nazi persecution of Jews became radicalized with the culminated plan known as the “Final
Solution to the Jewish Question”. The “Final Solution” came to fruition during World War II, with mass
killing centers in concentration camps. About six million Jews and some five million others, targeted for
racial, political, ideological and behavioral reasons, died in the Holocaust, more than one million of
those who perished were children.
11
Commemoration of the Holocaust
1
Section 683.08, F.S.
2
Section 683.25, F.S.
3
Section 683.06, F.S.
4
Section 683.1455, F.S.
5
Section 1003.421, F.S.
6
See Florida Department of Education, American Founders’ Month, http://www.fldoe.org/academics/standards/subject-areas/social-
studies/American-Founders-Month.stml (last visited Mar. 16, 2023).
7
Section 683.01, F.S.
8
Sections 683.04 - 683.3341, F.S.
9
Section 110.117(1), F.S. Paid state holidays include: New Year’s Day, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day,
Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
10
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Introduction to the Holocaust,
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust (last visited Mar. 16, 2023).
11
Id. STORAGE NAME: h0863a.EQS PAGE: 3
DATE: 3/22/2023
The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz-Birkenau, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of
commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the
Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop education programs to help prevent
future genocides.
12
Florida Educational Standards
The educational standards are student-centered expectations from which all curriculum, instruction, and
assessments are based. The goal of the standards is to provide concise, developmentally appropriate,
and historically accurate information to contribute to an informed citizenry.
13
In compliance with
Executive Order 19-32,
14
from February 2019 through early April 2020,
15
the Florida Department of
Education (DOE) reviewed and updated its standards on mathematics and English language arts.
16
The
process included extensive collection of public opinion, analysis by a committee of experts, and
collection of stakeholder input, prior to approval from the State Board of Education (SBE) at its July
2021 meeting.
17
Holocaust Education in Florida
In 2020, the Legislature directed the DOE to develop standards for Holocaust Education.
18
The DOE
worked closely with the Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on Holocaust Education and Florida
teachers to develop content-rich and developmentally appropriate Holocaust Education standards. In
the process, DOE received and considered comments from state and nationally recognized Holocaust
educational organizations, Florida educators, school administrators, representatives of the Florida
College System and state universities, business and industry leaders, and the public.
19
In July 2021, the SBE adopted the updated State Standards for Social Studies, incorporating revised
civics and government standards
20
and new standards for grades 5-12 for Holocaust education.
21
Required instruction on the Holocaust (1933-1945) must include the history of the systematic, planned
annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the history of
humanity, and be taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, an
understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an examination of what it
means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity
in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions, including the
policy, definition, and historical and current examples of anti-Semitism.
22
12
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7. See also, United Nations, Outreach Programme on the Holocaust,
https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/observance/.
13
Florida Administrative Code and Florida Administrative Register, Next Generation Sunshine State Standards – Social Studies,
2021, available at https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13403 (lasted visited Mar. 16, 2023).
14
State of Florida, Office of the Governor Executive Order Number 19-32(2019), available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-
content/uploads/orders/2019/EO_19-32.pdf.
15
Florida Department of Education, Florida Standards Review Timeline Mathematics and English Language Arts, available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/18736/urlt/StandardsReviewTimeline.pdf.
16
See CPLAMS, Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards English Language Arts (2020), available at
https://cpalmsmediaprod.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/docs/standards/best/la/elabeststandardsfinal.pdf; See also CPLAMS,
Florida’s B.E.S.T. Standards Mathematics (2020), available at
https://cpalmsmediaprod.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/docs/standards/best/ma/mathbeststandardsfinal.pdf.
17
Florida Department of Education, State Board of Education July 14, 2021 Meeting Agenda, available at
https://www.fldoe.org/policy/state-board-of-edu/meetings/2021/2021-07-14/ (last visited Mar. 16, 2023).
18
Section 5, ch. 2020-88, L.O.F.
19
Florida Department of Education, Next Generation Sunshine Standards – Social Studies, 2021,
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/18736/urlt/SR-SocialStudies.pdf.
20
Section 1, ch. 2019-150, L.O.F.
21
FDOE, supra note 19.
22
Section 1003.42(2)(g)1., F.S. STORAGE NAME: h0863a.EQS PAGE: 4
DATE: 3/22/2023
Each school district must annually certify and provide evidence to the DOE that they have meet the
instructional requirements on Holocaust education. In addition, the DOE may contract with any state or
nationally recognized Holocaust educational organizations to develop training for instructional
personnel and grade-appropriate classroom resources to support the developed curriculum.
23
Florida recognized the second week in November as Holocaust Education Week, which coincided with
the anniversary of Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938. Kristallnacht is widely recognized as a
precipitating event that led to the Holocaust.
24
The DOE has created a portal dedicated to Holocaust
Education Week, which offers commemoration resources, educational programs, and materials
concerning the Holocaust, for school districts, teachers, parents, and the general public.
25
Effect of Proposed Changes
The bill requires the Governor to proclaim January 27 of each year to be “Holocaust Remembrance
Day”. This day will be suitably observed in public schools and by public exercise in the State Capitol
and elsewhere as the Governor may designate.
The bill specifies that if January 27 falls on a day that is not a school day, Holocaust Remembrance
Day must be observed in the schools on the preceding school day or on such school day as may be
designated by local school authorities.
The bill requires instruction about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and their harmful impacts on humanity
to be provided as part of public educational instruction on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
B. SECTION DIRECTORY:
Section 1: Creates s. 683.045, F.S.; requiring the Governor to proclaim January 27 of each year as
“Holocaust Remembrance Day”; requiring such day to be observed in public schools and
by public exercises as the Governor may designate; requiring educational instruction to
be provided.
Section 2: Provides an effective date.
II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
None.
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
1. Revenues:
None.
23
Id.
24
Section 1003.42(2)(g)2., F.S.
25
Florida Department of Education, Holocaust Education Week, https://www.fldoe.org/holocausteducation/holo-ed-week.stml (last
visited Mar. 16, 2023). STORAGE NAME: h0863a.EQS PAGE: 5
DATE: 3/22/2023
2. Expenditures:
None.
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
None.
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:
The bill does not appear to have a fiscal impact.
III. COMMENTS
A. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES:
1. Applicability of Municipality/County Mandates Provision:
None.
2. Other:
None.
B. RULE-MAKING AUTHORITY:
None.
C. DRAFTING ISSUES OR OTHER COMMENTS:
None.
IV. AMENDMENTS/COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE CHANGES
None.