CS/CS/SB 506 - Public Procurement Services by Senator Keith Perry (R – Gainesville), amends the definition of “continuing contract” under the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act (CCNA) to increase the maximum dollar amount for each individual project and each individual study under the contract for construction projects. The maximum dollar amount for each individual project is increased from $2 million to $4 million, and the maximum dollar amount for each individual study is increased from $200,000 to $500,000. The bill reported favorably by the Appropriations Committee last week. The identical bill in the House HB 441 by Representative Nick DiCeglie (R – Largo), has passed out of the House and is waiting to be heard in the Senate.

CS/CS/HB 613 – Higher Education by Representative Ray Rodrigues (R – Ft. Myers), is a comprehensive higher education bill that:

• Requires the Board of Governors (BOG) and the State Board of Education to report annually on the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at each institution by conducting a survey.
• Creates the Florida Institute for Great Citizenship at Florida State University to create opportunities for civic engagement and public policy discussion and increase civic literacy and requires the institute to establish affiliate institutes at the University of Florida and Florida International University.
• Revises the data for academic and research excellence standards of preeminent institutions by using more timely performance data and requiring the standards to be reported annually in the BOG Accountability Plan and amends the criteria for preeminence to include the concordant ACT score.
• Creates State Universities of Distinction and requires the BOG to establish standards and measures which identify universities who are achieving excellence, meeting state workforce needs, and fostering an innovation economy.
• Modifies state university performance funding metrics to include metrics that focus on the success rate of “2+2” Associate in Arts (AA) degree transfer students and Pell Grant students; and prohibits the adjustment of such metrics once data has been received.
• Requires Florida College System (FCS) institutions and state universities be given the choice to provide either an opt-in or an opt-out provision to students regarding textbook and instructional materials affordability.
• Removes the limitation that prohibits a Phosphate Research and Activities Board member from serving more than 180 days after the expiration of his or her term, until a successor is appointed.
• Requires the BOG legislative budget request to include 5-year trend information on the number of faculty and administrators at each university along with the proportion of full-time equivalent (FTE) dedicated to instruction and research compared to administration and specifies that the growth rate of administrators at any state university may not exceed the growth rate of faculty.
• Requires the selection of a university president to be from at least three candidates.
• Provides that a university board of trustees may use other factors, including price, for the procurement of construction management and program management, as long as these factors comply with BOG regulations.
• Revises dates for state university and FCS institution reporting of end-of-year fund balances and authorizes a spending plan to include funds in a contingency reserve for expenses incurred as a result of a state emergency declared by the Governor.
• Aligns requirements for the financial aid programs in the Florida Student Assistance Grant program and aligns the requirements of the Benacquisto Scholarship Program to other state scholarship programs.

The bill is waiting to be heard by the full House. The Senate companion, SB 72 by Senator Kelli Stargel (R – Lakeland), is very similar to the House bill. However, the Senate bill does not require the BOG and the SBE to report on intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at each institution by conducting a survey. Nor does it modify the state university performance funding metrics. The Senate bill is waiting to be heard in the House.

CS/HB 171 – Postsecondary Education for Certain Military Personnel by Representative Mel Ponder (R – Ft. Walton Beach, FSU Alum), requires the Board of Governors (BOG) to adopt regulations and the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt rules to create a process that enables servicemembers and veterans of the United States Armed Forces to earn uniform postsecondary credit or career education clock hours across all Florida public postsecondary educational institutions for college-level training and education acquired in the military. The regulations and rules must be developed in consultation with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and include procedures for credential evaluation and the uniform award of postsecondary credit or career education clock hours, including, but not limited to, equivalency and alignment of military coursework with appropriate postsecondary courses and course descriptions.

The bill requires the Articulation Coordinating Committee (ACC) to:

• convene a workgroup to develop a process for determining when courses taken and occupations held by individuals during their service in the military is appropriate for postsecondary credit or career education clock hours;
• provide recommendations to the BOG and the SBE regarding a process for determining postsecondary course equivalencies; and
• approve a list of postsecondary course equivalencies and the minimum credit or career education clock hours that must be awarded for courses taken and occupations held by individuals during their service in the military.

The bill requires the BOG and the SBE to adopt the list approved by the ACC. State universities, Florida College System (FCS) institutions, and career centers must award postsecondary credit or career education clock hours based on the list adopted by the BOG and the SBE, provided the credit is applicable toward the student’s degree or certificate.

The bill authorizes institutions to award additional postsecondary credit or career education clock hours, if appropriate, and guarantees credit and career education clock hours awarded in accordance with minimum credit and clock hour requirements to transfer to other state universities, FCS institutions, and career centers as if the credit or clock hours were earned at the receiving institution.

State universities, FCS institutions, and career centers must waive the transcript fee for active duty members and honorably discharged veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States, and their spouses and dependents.

The bill passed the legislature last week and will go to the Governor for signature. The bill is effective upon becoming law.

HB 737 – Moments of Silence in Public Schools by Representative Kimberly Daniels (D – Jacksonville, FSU Alum), requires a moment of silence to be set aside for public school students during each school day. The bill directs the principal of each school to require first-period classroom teachers in all grades to set aside one to two minutes for a moment of silence. The bill prohibits a teacher from making suggestions about the nature of a student’s reflection during the moment of silence. Instead, teachers must encourage parents to discuss the moment of silence with their children and to make suggestions to their children about how they should use this time.

The bill prohibits students from interfering with each other’s participation in the moment of silence.

The bill passed out of the House and is waiting to be heard in the Senate. A similar bill in the Senate, SB 946 by Senator Dennis Baxley (R – Lady Lake, FSU Alum), is waiting to be heard by the full Senate.