House Bill 3445

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 3445

        By Representative Wallace






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to academic degrees; amending

  3         s. 817.567, F.S.; providing for disclosure of

  4         unrecognized degrees; providing an effective

  5         date.

  6

  7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  8

  9         Section 1.  Subsection (2) of section 817.567, Florida

10  Statutes, is amended to read:

11         817.567  Making false claims of academic degree or

12  title.--

13         (2)  No person awarded a doctorate degree from an

14  institution not listed in subsection (1) shall claim in the

15  state, either orally or in writing, the title "Dr." before the

16  person's name or any mark, appellation, or series of letters,

17  numbers, or words, such as, but not limited to, "Ph.D.,"

18  "Ed.D.," "D.N.," or "N.D.," "D.Th.," which signifies,

19  purports, or is generally taken to signify satisfactory

20  completion of the requirements of a doctorate degree, after

21  the person's name, unless the degree is from an institution

22  unrecognized by the state or by the Federal Government and

23  that fact is disclosed, either orally or in writing.

24         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

25  law.

26

27            *****************************************

28                          SENATE SUMMARY

29    Provides that a person who discloses that a doctorate
      degree is from an unrecognized institution is not in
30    violation of the prohibition against making false claims
      of academic degrees.
31

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