Florida Senate - 2019                              CS for SB 982
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Education; and Senator Thurston
       
       
       
       
       
       581-03744-19                                           2019982c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to human trafficking education in
    3         schools; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; revising the
    4         required health education in public schools to include
    5         information regarding the dangers and signs of human
    6         trafficking; authorizing a student to opt out of a
    7         specified portion of the health education under
    8         certain circumstances; requiring the Department of
    9         Legal Affairs to develop human trafficking awareness
   10         campaigns; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Paragraph (n) of subsection (2) of section
   15  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   16         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   17         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   18  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   19  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   20  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   21  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   22  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   23  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   24         (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts
   25  of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
   26  family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual
   27  abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of
   28  teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
   29  prevention and safety; Internet safety; the dangers and signs of
   30  human trafficking; nutrition; personal health; prevention and
   31  control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health
   32  education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall
   33  include a teen dating violence and abuse component that
   34  includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating
   35  violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and
   36  abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships,
   37  measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and
   38  community resources available to victims of dating violence and
   39  abuse. The human trafficking education portion of the health
   40  curriculum must include, but is not limited to, information on
   41  the warning signs of human trafficking, terms used by
   42  traffickers, red flags that would indicate a trafficker’s
   43  malicious intent toward a student, websites that are popular
   44  with traffickers, and details on how a student may get help. A
   45  student may elect to opt out of the instruction of the human
   46  trafficking portion of the health education by providing the
   47  school with a written note from his or her parent.
   48  
   49  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   50  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   51  character development program that incorporates the values of
   52  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   53  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   54  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   55  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   56         Section 2. Human trafficking awareness campaigns.—The
   57  Department of Legal Affairs shall, subject to legislative
   58  appropriations, develop campaigns to increase awareness of human
   59  trafficking, particularly among children and other potentially
   60  vulnerable populations. Such campaigns may include information
   61  concerning approaches used by traffickers, warning signs of
   62  trafficking, and inappropriate behaviors that should be
   63  reported.
   64         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.