Florida 2023 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H1479 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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10	10	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
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12	12	House Concurrent Resolution 1
13	13	A concurrent resolution acknowledging the injustices 2
14	14	perpetrated against the targets of the Florida 3
15	15	Legislative Investigation Committee between 1956 and 4
16	16	1965, and offering a formal and heartfelt apology to 5
17	17	those whose lives, well -being, and livelihoods were 6
18	18	damaged or destroyed by the activities and public 7
19	19	pronouncements of those who served on the committee. 8
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21	21	WHEREAS, following the special session of the Florida 10
22	22	Legislature in July 1956, the act establishing the Florida 11
23	23	Legislative Investigation Committee (FLIC) became law, and 12
24	24	WHEREAS, following its establishment, the committee, in 13
25	25	conjunction with Tallahassee police, surveilled, harassed, 14
26	26	intimidated, and arrested members of the Inter -Civic Council, 15
27	27	students from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, 16
28	28	and other participants in the bus boycott and carpool network 17
29	29	that began in May 1956 and continued until December 1956, and 18
30	30	WHEREAS, on February 1, 1957, the FLIC held its first 19
31	31	public hearings, questioning Virgil Hawkins, an African -American 20
32	32	man who had been seeking admission to the University of Florida 21
33	33	law school since 1949, as well as National Association for the 22
34	34	Advancement of Colored Peop le (NAACP) attorneys Francisco 23
35	35	Rodriguez and Horace Hill, claiming that the NAACP was violating 24
36	36	the law by soliciting plaintiffs for desegregation lawsuits, and 25
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47	47	WHEREAS, on February 25, 1957, the committee began public 26
48	48	hearings in Miami, demanding that th e local NAACP branch 27
49	49	surrender all records, including membership lists, and claiming 28
50	50	that the branch had been infiltrated by current and former 29
51	51	communists, and 30
52	52	WHEREAS, the committee devoted the years of 1957 and 1958 31
53	53	to besmirching NAACP members as crimi nals and communist 32
54	54	sympathizers in order to slow or halt their efforts to 33
55	55	desegregate Florida schools and public spaces, and 34
56	56	WHEREAS, in November and December of 1958, the chief 35
57	57	investigator of the FLIC began an inquiry into alleged 36
58	58	homosexual activity by faculty, staff, and students at the 37
59	59	University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville; allowed officers of 38
60	60	the UF police department to entrap and question without legal 39
61	61	counsel those suspected of such activity; and threatened and 40
62	62	coerced those individuals with a public hearing or perjury 41
63	63	charges into confessing and identifying others as alleged 42
64	64	homosexuals, and 43
65	65	WHEREAS, the committee continued the UF and Gainesville 44
66	66	investigations into 1959, having entrapped and intimidated 45
67	67	dozens of individuals on and off campus , interrogating them in 46
68	68	motel rooms and basements, resulting in the firing of 14 faculty 47
69	69	and staff at UF, and 48
70	70	WHEREAS, in the spring of 1959 the committee reported to 49
71	71	the Florida Legislature that homosexual professors were 50
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82	82	recruiting students into "homose xual practices" and they in turn 51
83	83	were becoming teachers in Florida's public school system and 52
84	84	recruiting even younger students, and 53
85	85	WHEREAS, the committee began 4 years of statewide 54
86	86	investigations into alleged homosexual activity by public school 55
87	87	teachers, administrators, and students, working with local law 56
88	88	enforcement and employing the same tactics used at the 57
89	89	University of Florida, and cooperating with the State Board of 58
90	90	Education to revoke individuals' teaching certificates, and 59
91	91	WHEREAS, in the spring of 1961, the committee began an 60
92	92	inquiry into alleged homosexual activity, liberal teaching 61
93	93	methods, curricula, and policies at the University of South 62
94	94	Florida (USF) in Tampa, and 63
95	95	WHEREAS, the FLIC investigator and attorney, together with 64
96	96	local law enforcement, questioned USF faculty, staff, and 65
97	97	students in a motel room without appropriate legal counsel, and 66
98	98	gathered information about the allegedly anti -Christian, pro-67
99	99	integration, and pro -communist slant of reading assignments, 68
100	100	classroom lectures, and invi ted campus speakers, and 69
101	101	WHEREAS, the committee held public hearings to question USF 70
102	102	faculty and administrators about the content of their courses, 71
103	103	and policies related to hiring faculty and inviting speakers in 72
104	104	an effort to discredit them as atheists, in tegrationists, and 73
105	105	communist sympathizers, damaging individuals' careers and the 74
106	106	state's national standing in higher education, and 75
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117	117	WHEREAS, in 1964 and 1965, the committee published 76
118	118	misleading and inflammatory reports about homosexuals and civil 77
119	119	rights activists in Florida, drawing continued unfavorable 78
120	120	national attention and perpetuating falsehoods against residents 79
121	121	of the state, and 80
122	122	WHEREAS, the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee 81
123	123	spent 9 years at the expense of the taxpayers of the state using 82
124	124	unconstitutional and unjust methods to discredit and combat 83
125	125	legal, peaceful desegregation efforts; to destroy or otherwise 84
126	126	jeopardize the livelihoods and reputations of educators, 85
127	127	administrators, and other professionals in Florida's public 86
128	128	schools and universities; and to create a climate of fear that 87
129	129	caused pain and suffering among vulnerable residents and made 88
130	130	Florida a national symbol of intolerance, NOW, THEREFORE, 89
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132	132	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of 91
133	133	Florida, the Senate Concurring: 92
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135	135	That the Legislature acknowledges the injustices 94
136	136	perpetrated against the targets of the Florida Legislative 95
137	137	Investigation Committee between 1956 and 1965, and offers a 96
138	138	formal and heartfelt apology to those whose lives, well -being, 97
139	139	and livelihoods were damaged or destroyed by the activities and 98
140	140	public pronouncements of those who served on the committee. 99