Governmental Relations

SB 72 – Postsecondary Education by Senator Kelli Stargel (R – Lakeland), is a comprehensive higher education bill that:

• Expands the criteria by which a state agency may contract with a specified nonpublic college or university.
• Modifies the Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) criteria for new construction, renovation, or remodeling at a Florida College System (FCS) institution.
• Modifies the preeminence standards source of data and removes the emerging preeminent funding provision. The bill specifies equal distribution of funding increases between preeminent institutions, rather than as determined by the Legislature.
• Replaces the State University System Programs of Excellence with State Universities of Distinction, but the amendment excludes preeminent universities from the program.
• Modifies the state university performance-based incentive metric to require:
  • A 4-year graduation rates for first-time-in-college students;
  • Beginning in FY 2021-2022, a 2-year graduation rates for FCS institution associate in arts transfer students;
  • Beginning in FY 2021-2022, the 6-year graduation rate for students who are awarded a Pell Grant in their first year.
• Creates the Florida Institute of Politics at FSU. The bill requires the institute to collaborate with related policy institutes and research activities at FSU and other institutions of higher education to motivate, increase, and sustain citizen involvement in public affairs.
• Creates the Adam Smith Center for the Study of Economic Freedom at Florida International University.
• Authorizes FCS institution and state university BOT innovative pricing techniques and payment options policies to include either an opt-in or opt-out provision for students.
• Revises Florida Student Assistant Grant (FSAG) provisions, follows:
  • Priority in the distribution of summer awards must be given to students who are within one semester of completing a degree or certificate program, as applicable (the FSAG Public program also includes priority for students who have not yet earned 9 semester hours in summer terms); and
  • Priority in the distribution of grant moneys may be given to students who are within one semester of completing a degree or certificate program, as applicable.
• Modifies the Florida Academic Scholars award to specify an annual stipend (rather than $300) for textbooks, as appropriated in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
• Modifies the Florida Medallion Scholars award to specify that beginning in the fall 2021 semester, a Florida Medallion Scholar who is enrolled in an associate degree program at an FCS institution is eligible for an award equal to the amount necessary to pay 100 percent of tuition and fees.
• Modifies requirements for initial eligibility and scholarship renewal provisions for the Benacquisto Scholarship Program.
• Modifies provisions relating to the carry forward of operational funds by state universities and FCS institutions, the bill does not remove the requirement in the spending plan that specified operating expenditures be nonrecurring.
• Provides that expenditures in a carry forward spending plan may include a commitment of funds to a contingency reserve for expenses incurred as a result of a state emergency declared by the Governor.
• Requires the BOG LBR request to also include 5-year trend information on the number of faculty and administrators at each university and the proportion of full-time equivalent (FTE) dedicated to instruction and research compared to administration.
• Requires that employees of a state university or research entity comply with policies of the university or entity, BOG regulations, and state laws. Also requires that employees engaged in the design, conduct, or reporting of research disclose and receive a determination that the outside activity or financial interest does not affect the integrity of the state university or entity, with penalties for noncompliance.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

SB 646 – Intercollegiate Athlete Compensation and Rights by Senator Debbie Mayfield (R – Melbourne), establishes the right of intercollegiate athletes and the responsibilities for postsecondary educational institutions concerning an intercollegiate athlete’s right to be compensated for her or his name, image, or likeness (NIL). Specifically, the bill:

• Authorizes an intercollegiate athlete at a postsecondary educational institution to earn compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness.
• Stipulates that such compensation must be commensurate with the market value and may not be provided in exchange for athletic performance or attendance at a particular institution and may only be provided by a third party unaffiliated with the athlete’s postsecondary educational institution.
• Prohibits a postsecondary educational institution from adopting or maintaining a contract, rule, regulation, standard, or other requirement that prevents or unduly restricts an intercollegiate athlete from earning compensation for the use of her or his name, image or likeness.
• Stipulates that earning such compensation may not affect the intercollegiate athlete’s grant-in-aid or athletic eligibility.
• Prohibits a postsecondary educational institution, an entity whose purpose includes supporting or benefitting the institution or its athletic programs, or an officer, director, or employee of such institution or entity from compensating or causing compensation to be directed to a current or prospective intercollegiate athlete for her or his name, image, or likeness.
• Prohibits a postsecondary educational institution from preventing or unduly restricting an intercollegiate athlete from obtaining professional representation by an athlete agent or attorney engaged for the purpose of securing compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness.
• Requires an athlete agent representing an intercollegiate athlete for purposes of securing compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness, to be licensed under part IX of chapter 468.
• Requires an attorney representing an intercollegiate athlete for purposes of securing compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness must be a member in good standing of The Florida Bar.
• Specifies that grant-in-aid, including cost of attendance, awarded to an intercollegiate athlete by a postsecondary educational institution is not compensation for the purposes of name, image, or likeness, and may not be revoked or reduced as a result of an intercollegiate athlete earning compensation or obtaining professional representation for the purpose of name, image, or likeness.
• Requires an intercollegiate athlete under 18 years of age to have any contract for compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness approved under law.
• Prohibits an intercollegiate athlete from entering into a contract for compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness if a term of the contract conflicts with a term of the intercollegiate athlete’s team contract.
• Requires a postsecondary educational institution asserting a conflict to disclose each relevant contract term that conflicts with the team contract to the intercollegiate athlete or her or his representative.
• Requires an intercollegiate athlete who enters into a contract for compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness to disclose the contract to the postsecondary educational institution at which she or he is enrolled, in a manner designated by the institution.
• Specifies that the duration of a contract for representation of an intercollegiate athlete or compensation for the use of an intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness may not extend beyond her or his participation in an athletic program at a postsecondary educational institution.
• Requires each postsecondary institution to conduct a financial literacy and life skills workshop for a minimum of 5 hours at the beginning of the intercollegiate athlete’s first and third academic years, and requires such workshop to:
  • Include information concerning financial aid, debt management, and a recommended budget for full and partial grant-in-aid intercollegiate athletes based on the current academic year’s cost of attendance.
  • Include information on time management skills necessary for success as an intercollegiate athlete and available academic resources.
  • Not include any marketing, advertising, referral, or solicitation by providers of financial products or services.
• Requires the Board of Governors and the State Board of Education to adopt regulations and rules relevant to implementation.
• Requires a person to hold a valid license as an athlete agent to act as an athlete agent representing an intercollegiate athlete for purposes of contracts authorized under law.
• Authorizes an athlete agent to represent an intercollegiate athlete in securing compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness under law, notwithstanding athletic conference or collegiate athletic association rules, bylaws, regulations, and policies to the contrary.

The bill is effective July 1, 2021.

SB 1714 – Sale of Surplus State-owned Office Building and Associated Non-conservation Lands by Senator Rob Bradley (R – Orange Park), provides that funds received through the sale of surplus state-owned office buildings and associated non-conservation lands are deposited into the Architects Incidental Trust Fund as opposed to the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, and must be used for the acquisition, lease, planning, entitlement, design, permitting, construction, or maintenance of state-owned office buildings.

The bill removes the requirement that state universities and Florida College System institutions be offered the option to lease a building or parcel of land with priority consideration before the same is offered to another government entity or private party.

The bill also provides that when appraising surplus lands’ value, the Division of State Lands must base the value on the “highest and best use” of the property after considering any applicable developmental rights.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

CS/CS/HB 441 – Public Procurement of Services by Representative Nick DiCeglie (R – Largo), increases the maximum limit for continuing contracts covered by the Consultant’s Competitive Negotiation Act from an estimated per project construction cost of $2 million to $4 million. The bill also increases the maximum limit for procuring a study using a continuing contract from $200,000 per study to $500,000.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

CS/SB 738 – Jury Service by Senator Gayle Harrell (R – Stuart), allows students who are 18 to 21 years of age to be excused from a specific jury summons upon request if they are enrolled as a full-time student at a high school, state university, private post-secondary educational institution, Florida College System Institution, or career center.

The bill does not affect jury service for those students older than 21 years of age.

The bill takes effect July 1, 2020.

CS/CS/CS SB 662 – Education and the Military by Senator Tom Wright (R – Port Orange), gives greater flexibility to transitioning students from military families by considering a student a resident of the school district at the point in time in which the parent is transferred or pending transfer to a military installation within the state, for purposes of enrollment and preferential treatment in special programs. The bill also modifies the school grading model for high schools by adding to the calculation the percentage of students who earn a Category II Armed Forces Qualification Test score or higher on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and have earned a minimum of two credits in Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps courses from the same branch of the United States Armed Forces as a school grade college and career acceleration component.

The bill takes effect July 1, 2020, although the provisions to modify the school grading model begin with the 2022-2023 school year.

CS/CS/CS/SB 70 – Alert Systems in Public Schools by Senator Lauren Book (D – Plantation), creates “Alyssa’s Law.” The bill modifies statute to:

• Allows each public school, beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, to implement a mobile panic alert system, known as “Alyssa’s Alert”, capable of connecting diverse emergency services technologies to ensure real-time coordination between multiple first responders.
• For the 2020-2021 fiscal year, subject to legislative appropriation, require the Department of Education, in consultation with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to develop a competitive solicitation for a statewide mobile panic alert system.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

HB 101 – Public Construction by Representative Alex Andrade (R – Pensacola), changes the limits on retainage permitted to be withheld on state and local government contracts.

For contracts more than $200,000, the bill reduces the maximum amount that may be retained:

• From ten percent before half of the work is complete, and five percent after half of the work is complete
  • To five percent for the entire project; and
• From ten percent for the entire project if the government entity is a municipality with a population of 25,000 or less or a county with a population of 100,000 or less
  • To five percent for the entire project.

The bill repeals:

• The ability of a contractor to make a request the government entity release up to half of the retained amount after half of the project is completed; and
• The ability of a contractor to withhold more than five percent of each progress payment to his or her subcontractors after half of a project for a government entity is completed.

For contracts less than $200,000, the bill reduces the amount that the state may retain from a progress payment to a contractor from ten percent to five percent.

The bill is effective October 1, 2020.

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 is effective upon becoming law.

CS/CS/HB 1213 – Holocaust Education by Representative Randy Fine (R – Palm Bay), requires the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to prepare and offer curriculum standards for teaching the history of the Holocaust. The DOE may work with the Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on Holocaust Education, the Florida Holocaust Museum, and other state or nationally recognized Holocaust educational organizations to develop curricula, training for instructional personnel, and classroom instructional material for the instruction.

The bill requires each school district to include in this instruction the state policy against anti-Semitism. The DOE must create a process for school districts to annually certify and provide evidence of compliance with the Holocaust instructional requirements to the DOE.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

CS/HB 7011 K-12 Student Athletes by Representative Ralph Massullo (R – Beverly Hills), requires the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to:

• require member schools to monitor heat stress and modify athletic activities (i.e., contests, practices, workouts, and conditioning) based on heat stress guidelines;
• identify heat stress levels at which a cooling zone must be made available for athletic activities;
• make training and materials available for the effective monitoring of heat stress;
• establish requirements for cooling zones and individuals with related training at athletic activities, including the use of cold water immersion tubs or equivalent means;
• require school emergency action plans to include a procedure for onsite cooling using cold water immersion or equivalent means before transport to the hospital for exertional heat stroke (EHS);
• establish hydration guidelines, including appropriate introduction of electrolytes; and
• require student athletes to pass the annual medical evaluation each year before engaging in any athletic activities that occur outside of the school year. The bill specifies that these requirements apply year-round.

The bill also requires all athletic coaches and sponsors of extracurricular activities involving outdoor practices or events to complete annual training in EHS identification, prevention, and response, including effective administration of cooling zones.

Beginning June 1, 2021, the bill requires an employee or volunteer with current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) training to be present at each athletic activity during and outside of the school year. All employees or volunteers who are reasonably expected to use an AED must complete the training and must be notified annually of the location of each AED on school grounds, which must be available in a clearly marked and publicized location for each athletic activity.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

CS/HB 101 – Public Construction by Representative Alex Andrade (R – Pensacola), changes the limits on retainage permitted to be withheld on state and local government contracts. For contracts less than $200,000, the bill reduces the maximum amount the state may retain from a payment to a contractor from ten percent to five percent. For contracts more than $200,000, the bill reduces the maximum amount that may be retained from a payment to a contractor:

• From ten percent before half of the project is complete, and five percent after half of the project is complete
  • To five percent for the entire project; and
• From ten percent for the entire project if the project is for a municipality with a population of 25,000 or less or a county with a population of 100,000 or less
  • To five percent for the entire project.

The bill repeals:

• The ability of a contractor to request the state or local government to release up to half of the retained amount after half of the project is complete; and
• The ability of a contractor to withhold more than five percent of each payment to his or her subcontractors after half of a project for a state or local government is complete.

The provisions of the bill do not apply to FDOT construction projects authorized by ch. 337, F.S., or any contract for construction services entered into, pending approval, or advertised by a government entity, on or before October 1, 2020.

The bill is effective October 1, 2020.

SB 1326 – Child Welfare by Senator Wilton Simpson (R – Spring Hill), referred to as the “State of Hope Act,” makes several changes to the child welfare programs administered by the Department of Children and Families (DCF or department) to promote accountability and improve program performance. As it relates to FSU, the bill:

• Expands the functions of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare (FICW) to inform, train, and engage social work students for a successful career in child welfare and directs the FICW to work with the FSU College of Social Work to redesign the social work curriculum to enable students to learn from real-world child welfare cases.
• Directs the DCF, in collaboration with the FICW, to develop an expanded career ladder for child protective investigators.
• Directs the FICW, subject to an appropriation, to design and implement a career long professional development curriculum for child welfare professionals by July 1, 2021.

The bill is effective July 1, 2020.

PCB EDC 03 – Higher Education by Representative Randy Fine (R – Palm Bay), required the University of Florida to merge with Florida Polytechnic University and New College. The bill died in committee.

HB 7081 – Public Records and Meetings/Postsecondary Education Executive Search by Representative Ramon Alexander (D – Tallahassee) and SB 774 by Senator Manny Diaz (R – Hialeah Gardens), created an exemption from public record and public meeting requirements for information associated with the applicant recruitment process and discussions associated with the applicant search for the position of president of a state university or FCS institution. The bill provided that any personal identifying information of an applicant for president of a state university or FCS institution is confidential and exempt from public record requirements. The bills were indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.

CS/CS/HB 7 – Legal Notices by Representative Randy Fine (R – Palm Bay) and SB 1340 by Senator Joe Gruters (R – Sarasota, FSU Alum), allowed a governmental agency to option to publish legally required advertisements and notices on a publicly accessible website. The bills were indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.

SB 1270 – Fiduciary Duty of Care for Appointed Public Officials and Executive Officers by Senator Tom Lee (R – Brandon) and HB 1111 by Representative Josie Tomkow (R – Auburndale), established an express fiduciary duty of care for appointed public officials’ and executive officers acting on behalf of governmental entities. The bills were indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.

SB 96 – Educational Opportunities for Veterans by Senator Janet Cruz (D – Tampa), granted disabled veterans an education benefit to fully provide for the cost of tuition and fees charged at a public postsecondary academic institution. An award provided in this bill was intended to supplement what is provided to a recipient through the federal Post 9/11 GI Bill to reach a 100 percent payment of tuition and fees. The bill died in the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.