Florida Senate - 2018                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1234
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì101332gÎ101332                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/07/2018           .                                
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       The Committee on Education (Baxley) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 30 - 90
    4  and insert:
    5  public technical center, state university, law school, medical
    6  school, dental school, or Florida College System institution as
    7  defined in s. 1000.21.
    8         (2)RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH ACTIVITIES.—
    9         (a)Expressive activities protected under this section
   10  include, but are not limited to, any lawful verbal or written
   11  means by which an individual may communicate ideas to others,
   12  including all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches,
   13  and guest speakers; distributing literature; carrying signs;
   14  circulating petitions; and the recording and publication,
   15  including Internet publication, of video or audio recorded in
   16  outdoor areas of campus of public institutions of higher
   17  education.
   18         (b)A person who wishes to engage in an expressive activity
   19  in the outdoor areas of campus of a public institution of higher
   20  education may do so freely, spontaneously, and contemporaneously
   21  as long as the person’s conduct is lawful and does not
   22  materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the
   23  public institution of higher education.
   24         (c)The outdoor areas of campus of a public institution of
   25  higher education that accept federal funding are considered
   26  traditional public forums. A public institution of higher
   27  education may create and enforce restrictions that are
   28  reasonable and content-neutral on time, place, and manner of
   29  expression and that are narrowly tailored to a significant
   30  institutional interest. Restrictions must be clear, be
   31  published, and provide for ample alternative means of
   32  expression.
   33         (d)A public institution of higher education may not
   34  designate any area of campus as a free speech zone or otherwise
   35  create policies restricting expressive activities to a
   36  particular area of campus.
   37         (e)Students, faculty, or staff of a public institution of
   38  higher education may not materially disrupt previously scheduled
   39  or reserved activities on campus occurring at the same time.
   40         (3)CAUSE OF ACTION; DAMAGES.—
   41         (a)The Attorney General or a person whose expressive
   42  rights are violated by an action prohibited under this section
   43  may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction against
   44  the public institution of higher education to recover
   45  compensatory damages plus court costs and a reasonable attorney
   46  fee. If the court finds that a violation of this section
   47  occurred, the court shall award the aggrieved party at least
   48  $500 for each violation or shall award compensatory damages.
   49         (b) Excluding reasonable court costs and attorney fees, the
   50  total compensatory damages available to a plaintiff in a case
   51  arising from a single violation of this section may not exceed
   52  $100,000. If there are multiple plaintiffs, the court shall
   53  divide the damages equally among the plaintiffs until the
   54  maximum award is exhausted.
   55         (4)STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—A person aggrieved by a
   56  violation of this section must bring suit no later than 1 year
   57  after the date the cause of action accrues. For the purpose of
   58  calculating the 1-year limitation period, each day that a
   59  violation of this section persists or each day that a policy in
   60  violation of this section remains in effect constitutes a new
   61  violation and, therefore, a new day that the cause of action
   62  accrues.
   63         Section 3. Paragraphs (c) and (d) are added to subsection
   64  (10) of section 1009.24, Florida Statutes, to read:
   65         1009.24 State university student fees.—
   66         (10)
   67         (c) In the interest of preserving viewpoint neutrality in
   68  the allocation of activity and service fees, a student
   69  government organization that receives a request for activity and
   70  service fee funding from a recognized student organization must
   71  provide a written explanation to the recognized student
   72  organization regarding its funding determination.
   73         (d) Each student government association shall maintain on
   74  its website an organized record of the funding requests and
   75  awards it receives and disburses. The record must contain the
   76  name of each organization that requested funds, the amount the
   77  organization requested, the amount the organization received,
   78  and the written explanation required in paragraph (c). The
   79  record must be displayed prominently on the student government
   80  association’s website.
   81  
   82  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   83  And the title is amended as follows:
   84         Delete line 10
   85  and insert:
   86         providing a statute of limitations; amending s.
   87         1009.24, F.S.; requiring student government
   88         associations to provide specified information to
   89         recognized student organizations that request funding;
   90         requiring the organizations to maintain and
   91         prominently display on their websites certain
   92         information regarding such funding requests; providing
   93         an