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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 educational 2
institutions; amending ss. 1001.03 and 1001.706, F.S.; 3
revising the date by which the State Board of 4
Education and the Board of Governors must annually 5
compile and publish specified assessments; creating s. 6
1001.741, F.S.; prohibiting public institutions of 7
higher education from requiring the completion of a 8
political loyalty test or for persons to meet certain 9
qualifications; providing requirements for such 10
prohibited tests and qualifications; authorizing the 11
State Board of Education and the Board of Governors to 12
adopt rules and regulations for specified purposes; 13
providing severability; creating s. 1001.93, F.S.; 14
providing legislative findings; providing definitions; 15
requiring each state university to establish an Office 16
of Public Policy Events; providing duties of the 17
offices; authorizing a state university to assign the 18
duties of the office to an existing office within the 19
university; requiring such offices to report to 20
specified state university offices; amend ing s. 21
1004.26, F.S.; designating the Florida Student 22
Association as the nonprofit advocacy organization for 23
students of the State University System; authorizing 24
the Chancellor of the Board of Governors, with 25
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approval from the Board of Governors, to design ate 26
another organization to serve such students under 27
certain circumstances; providing membership for the 28
board of directors of the association; providing 29
requirements for such board of directors relating to 30
the board's chair and the association's presiden t; 31
requiring the board of directors to adopt certain 32
bylaws; providing an effective date. 33
34
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 35
36
Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (19) of section 37
1001.03, Florida Statutes, is amended to re ad: 38
1001.03 Specific powers of State Board of Education. — 39
(19) INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM AND VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY 40
ASSESSMENT.— 41
(b) The State Board of Education shall require each 42
Florida College System institution to conduct an annual 43
assessment of the int ellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity 44
at that institution. The State Board of Education shall select 45
or create an objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid 46
survey to be used by each institution which considers the extent 47
to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented and 48
members of the college community, including students, faculty, 49
and staff, feel free to express their beliefs and viewpoints on 50
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campus and in the classroom. The State Board of Education shall 51
annually compile and publish t he assessments by December 31 52
September 1 of each year, beginning on December 31, 2024 53
September 1, 2022. The State Board of Education may adopt rules 54
to implement this paragraph. 55
Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (13) of section 56
1001.706, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 57
1001.706 Powers and duties of the Board of Governors. — 58
(13) INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM AND VIEWPOINT DIVERSITY 59
ASSESSMENT.— 60
(b) The Board of Governors shall require each state 61
university to conduct an annual assessment of the intellectual 62
freedom and viewpoint diversity at that institution. The Board 63
of Governors shall select or create an objective, nonpartisan, 64
and statistically valid survey to be used by each state 65
university which considers the extent to which competing ide as 66
and perspectives are presented and members of the university 67
community, including students, faculty, and staff, feel free to 68
express their beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the 69
classroom. The Board of Governors shall annually compile and 70
publish the assessments by December 31 September 1 of each year, 71
beginning on December 31, 2024 September 1, 2022. 72
Section 3. Section 1001.741, Florida Statutes, is created 73
to read: 74
1001.741 State university Boards of Trustees; personnel. — 75
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(1)(a) A public institution of higher education may not: 76
1. Require or solicit a person to complete a political 77
loyalty test as a condition of employment or admission into, or 78
promotion within, such institution. 79
2. Give preferential consideration to a person for 80
employment by, admission into, or promotion within the 81
institution for an opinion or actions in support of: 82
a. A partisan, a political, or an ideological set of 83
beliefs; or 84
b. Another person or group of persons based on the 85
person's or group's race or ethnicity or support of an ideology 86
or movement identified under sub -subparagraph (b)1.a. 87
(b)1. A political loyalty test includes compelling, 88
requiring, or soliciting a person to identify commitment to or 89
to make a statement of personal belief in support of: 90
a. Any ideology or movement that promotes the differential 91
treatment of a person or a group of persons based on race or 92
ethnicity, including an initiative or a formulation of 93
diversity, equity, and inclusion beyond upholding the equal 94
protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to 95
the United States Constitution or a theory or practice that 96
holds that systems or institutions upholding the equal 97
protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of 98
the United States Constit ution are racist, oppressive, or 99
otherwise unjust; or 100
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b. A specific partisan, political, or ideological set of 101
beliefs. 102
2. A political loyalty test does not include fidelity to, 103
or an oath or effort taken to uphold, general and federal law, 104
the United States Constitution, or the State Constitution. 105
(2) The State Board of Education and the Board of 106
Governors may adopt rules and regulations, respectively, to 107
implement this section and establish penalties for a willful 108
violation of this section. 109
(3) If any provision of this section or its application to 110
any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does 111
not affect other provisions or applications of this section or 112
chapter which can be given effect without the invalid provision 113
or application, and to this end the provisions of this section 114
are severable. 115
Section 4. Section 1001.93, Florida Statutes, is created 116
to read: 117
1001.93 Offices of Public Policy Events within the State 118
University System.— 119
(1) The Legislature finds that the adva ncement of 120
knowledge is the fundamental purpose of the State University 121
System and that such advancement is facilitated by the fearless 122
sifting and winnowing of a wide diversity of views and that the 123
open discussion and debate of contested public policy is sues 124
from diverse perspectives provides essential preparation for 125
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mature citizenship and an informed exercise of the right to 126
vote. 127
(2) For purposes of this section, the term: 128
(a) "Debate" means an event at which two or more 129
participants speak in favor of opposing approaches to the same 130
public policy dispute, after which each participant is allotted 131
time to address and rebut the position presented by the opposing 132
speakers. 133
(b) "Group forum" means an event at which two or more 134
speakers address a public policy dispute from divergent or 135
opposing perspectives, after which each participant is allotted 136
time to address questions from the audience and to comment on 137
the other speakers' positions. 138
(3) Each state university within the State University 139
System must have an Office of Public Policy Events and must 140
appoint a Director of Public Policy Events who is responsible 141
for the duties and reporting responsibilities of the office. The 142
office must, at a minimum: 143
(a)1. Organize, publicize, and stage debates or g roup 144
forums at the state university. These events must address, from 145
multiple, divergent, and opposing perspectives, an extensive 146
range of public policy issues widely discussed and debated in 147
society at large. The university shall sponsor no less than four 148
events each academic year. At least two events must occur during 149
the fall semester and at least two events must occur during the 150
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spring semester. 151
2. Such debates and group forums must include speakers who 152
represent widely held views on opposing sides of the most widely 153
discussed public policy issues of the day and who hold a wide 154
diversity of perspectives from within and outside of the state 155
university community. 156
3. If the office is unable to readily find an advocate 157
from within the state university co mmunity who is well-versed in 158
a perspective, the office shall invite a speaker who is able to 159
represent such perspective. The office shall, when necessary, 160
provide such speakers who are not from within the state 161
university community with per diem and a rei mbursement for 162
travel expenses. 163
(b) Maintain a permanent, publicly accessible, searchable, 164
and up-to-date calendar in print, on the office's website, and 165
on the state university's website listing all of the events 166
sponsored by the office and all other d ebates, group forums, and 167
events open to the entire campus community at the state 168
university that address public policy issues. The calendar must 169
itemize the title of the event, the name and institutional 170
affiliation of the speaker or speakers, and the off ice, 171
institute, department, program, or organization that sponsored 172
the event, excluding those events sponsored by off -campus groups 173
in rented state university facilities. Such calendars must be 174
kept in the library system of each state university. 175
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(c) Beginning September 1, 2024, and annually each 176
September 1 thereafter, provide to the Board of Governors a 177
report detailing the following: 178
1. The number of debates and group forums. 179
2. In chronological order, the calendars itemizing the 180
title of each event, the name and institutional affiliation of 181
the speaker or speakers, and the office, institute, department, 182
program, or organization that sponsored the event. 183
3. The number of enrolled students attending each event. 184
4. Expenditure information relatin g to any per diem or 185
reimbursement for travel expenses. 186
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The report must reflect prior academic year statistics. 188
(d) Make publicly available, in an online format, a 189
complete video record of every debate and group forum organized 190
by the office. The video recording for an event organized by the 191
office must be posted on the office's website within 10 business 192
days after the event. Such video must remain publicly accessible 193
on the office's website for at least 5 years after the date of 194
the event. Such videos must also be permanently preserved 195
within, and made available to the public through, the library of 196
the state university that hosted the event. 197
(4) Upon approval of the board of trustees of the state 198
university and the Board of Governors, a state university may 199
assign the duties of the office to an existing administrative 200
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office within the state university rather than establish a 201
separate office. 202
(5) Each office shall report directly to either the state 203
university's office that is responsible for compiling and 204
reporting the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System's 205
graduation rate survey or Office of General Counsel. 206
(6) Each debate and group forum organized by the office 207
must be open to all students, faculty, and staff of the state 208
university and, unless restricting attendance to such event is 209
necessary to achieve a compelling governmental interest, to the 210
general public. 211
Section 5. Subsection (5) of section 1004.26, Florida 212
Statutes, is renumbered as subsection (6), and a new subsection 213
(5) is added to that section, to read: 214
1004.26 University student governments ; the Florida 215
Student Association.— 216
(5)(a) The Florida Student Asso ciation is designated as 217
the nonprofit advocacy organization serving the needs of the 218
students of the State University System. If the Florida Student 219
Association fails to meet the requirements of this section, the 220
Chancellor of the Board of Governors shall designate an 221
equivalent nonprofit advocacy organization to serve the needs of 222
the students of the State University System with the approval of 223
the Board of Governors. 224
(b) The Florida Student Association shall be governed by a 225
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board of directors. The mem bership of the board of directors 226
shall be comprised of the 12 student body presidents of the 227
state universities. The board of directors shall annually elect 228
a chair from among the board's members. The chair shall also 229
serve as president of the association . 230
(c) The Florida Student Association shall adopt bylaws to 231
establish: 232
1. A due process for the removal or impeachment of the 233
president of the association. Such due process must provide that 234
the president of the association may be removed by the majori ty 235
vote of members of the board of directors. The grounds for 236
removal of the president of the association are limited to 237
malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, incompetence, 238
permanent inability to perform official duties, or conviction of 239
a felony. 240
2. Procedures for the suspension and removal of the 241
president of the association following the conviction of a 242
felony. 243
3. Procedures for a president of the association who has 244
been disciplined, suspended, or removed from his or her position 245
to directly appeal such decision to the Vice Chancellor for 246
Academic and Student Affairs for the Board of Governors. The 247
bylaws may not place any condition precedent on the exercise of 248
such right granted by this paragraph and the association may not 249
elect a new presiden t until the exhaustion of the appeals 250
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process or any other due process rights afforded by this 251
section. 252
Section 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 253