Florida 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0855 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 02/20/2025

                               
 
HB 855   	2025 
 
 
 
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A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to postsecondary education; creating 2 
s. 1004.072, F.S.; prohibiting Florida College System 3 
institutions and state universities from accepting the 4 
application of or admitting an individual who is 5 
undocumented for federal immigration purposes; 6 
amending s. 1007.263, F.S.; conforming a provision to 7 
changes made by the act; making technical changes; 8 
providing an effective date. 9 
  10 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 
 12 
 Section 1.  Section 1004.072, Florida Statutes, is created 13 
to read: 14 
 1004.072  Admission of undocumented individuals 15 
prohibited.—A Florida College System institution or a state 16 
university may not accept the appli cation of or admit an 17 
individual who is undocumented for federal immigration purposes. 18 
 Section 2.  Section 1007.263, Florida Statutes, is amended 19 
to read: 20 
 1007.263  Florida College System institutions; admissions 21 
of students.—Each Florida College Syste m institution board of 22 
trustees is authorized to adopt rules governing admissions of 23 
students subject to this section , s. 1004.072, and rules of the 24 
State Board of Education. These rules shall include the 25     
 
HB 855   	2025 
 
 
 
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following: 26 
 (1)  Admissions counseling must shall be provided to all 27 
students entering college or career credit programs. For 28 
students who are not otherwise exempt from testing under s. 29 
1008.30, counseling must use the tests or alternative methods 30 
established by the State Board of Education under s. 1008.3 0 to 31 
measure achievement of college -level communication and 32 
computation competencies by students entering college credit 33 
programs. Counseling must measure achievement of basic skills 34 
for career education programs under s. 1004.91. Counseling 35 
includes providing developmental education options for students 36 
whose results, determined under s. 1008.30, indicate that they 37 
need to improve communication or computation skills that are 38 
essential to perform college -level work. 39 
 (2)  Admission to associate degree progr ams is subject to 40 
minimum standards adopted by the State Board of Education and 41 
must shall require: 42 
 (a)  A standard high school diploma; a State of Florida 43 
high school equivalency diploma awarded under s. 1003.435(2); a 44 
high school equivalency diploma iss ued by another state which is 45 
recognized as equivalent by State Board of Education rule and is 46 
based on an assessment recognized by the United States 47 
Department of Education; previously demonstrated competency in 48 
college credit postsecondary coursework; or , in the case of a 49 
student who is home educated, a signed affidavit submitted by 50     
 
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the student's parent or legal guardian attesting that the 51 
student has completed a home education program pursuant to the 52 
requirements of s. 1002.41. Students who are enrolled in a dual 53 
enrollment or early admission program pursuant to s. 1007.271 54 
are exempt from this requirement. 55 
 (b)  A demonstrated level of achievement of college -level 56 
communication and computation skills. 57 
 (c)  Any other requirement requirements established by the 58 
board of trustees. 59 
 (3)  Admission to other programs within the Florida College 60 
System institution must shall include education requirements as 61 
established by the board of trustees. 62 
 (4)  A student who has been awarded a certificate of 63 
completion under s. 1003.4282 is eligible to enroll in 64 
certificate career education programs. 65 
 (5)  A student with a documented disability may be eligible 66 
for reasonable substitutions, as prescribed in ss. 1007.264 and 67 
1007.265. 68 
 69 
Each board of trustees shall establish policies that notify 70 
students about developmental education options for improving 71 
their communication or computation skills that are essential to 72 
performing college-level work, including tutoring, extended time 73 
in gateway courses, free online courses, adul t basic education, 74 
adult secondary education, or private provider instruction. 75     
 
HB 855   	2025 
 
 
 
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 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 76