Florida Senate - 2023                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 308
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì2739349Î273934                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/06/2023           .                                
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       The Committee on Education Pre-K -12 (Collins) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsection (1), paragraph (a) of subsection (2),
    6  paragraphs (a) and (e) of subsection (4), paragraphs (a) and (h)
    7  of subsection (5), paragraph (b) of subsection (6), and
    8  subsection (8) of section 1006.20, Florida Statutes, are amended
    9  to read:
   10         1006.20 Athletics in public K-12 schools.—
   11         (1) GOVERNING NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The Florida High
   12  School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is designated as a the
   13  governing nonprofit organization of athletics in Florida public
   14  schools. If the FHSAA fails to meet the provisions of this
   15  section, the commissioner must shall designate a nonprofit
   16  organization to govern athletics with the approval of the State
   17  Board of Education. The FHSAA is not a state agency as defined
   18  in s. 120.52. The FHSAA is shall be subject to the provisions of
   19  s. 1006.19. A private school that wishes to engage in high
   20  school athletic competition with a public high school may become
   21  a member of the FHSAA. Any high school in this the state,
   22  including charter schools, virtual schools, and home education
   23  cooperatives, may become a member of the FHSAA and participate
   24  in the activities of the FHSAA;. however, membership in the
   25  FHSAA is not mandatory for any school. The FHSAA shall must
   26  allow a private school the option of maintaining full membership
   27  in the association or joining by sport and may not discourage a
   28  private school from simultaneously maintaining membership in
   29  another athletic association. The FHSAA shall allow any school
   30  joining by sport to participate in the championship contest or
   31  series of contests for that sport may allow a public school the
   32  option to apply for consideration to join another athletic
   33  association. The FHSAA may not deny or discourage
   34  interscholastic competition between its member schools and non
   35  FHSAA member Florida schools, including members of another
   36  athletic governing organization, and may not take any
   37  retributory or discriminatory action against any of its member
   38  schools that participate in interscholastic competition with
   39  non-FHSAA member Florida schools. The FHSAA may not unreasonably
   40  withhold its approval of an application to become an affiliate
   41  member of the National Federation of State High School
   42  Associations submitted by any other organization that governs
   43  interscholastic athletic competition in this state. The bylaws
   44  of the FHSAA are the rules by which high school athletic
   45  programs in its member schools, and the students who participate
   46  in them, are governed, unless otherwise specifically provided by
   47  statute. For the purposes of this section, the term “high
   48  school” includes grades 6 through 12.
   49         (2) ADOPTION OF BYLAWS, POLICIES, OR GUIDELINES.—
   50         (a) The FHSAA shall adopt bylaws that, unless specifically
   51  provided otherwise by statute, establish eligibility
   52  requirements for all students who participate in high school
   53  athletic competition in its member schools. The bylaws governing
   54  residence and transfer must shall allow the student to be
   55  immediately eligible in the school in which he or she first
   56  enrolls each school year or the school in which the student
   57  makes himself or herself a candidate for an athletic team by
   58  engaging in a practice before prior to enrolling in the school.
   59  The bylaws must shall also allow the student to be immediately
   60  eligible in the school to which the student has transferred. The
   61  student remains shall be eligible in that school so long as he
   62  or she remains enrolled in that school. Subsequent eligibility
   63  must shall be determined and enforced through the FHSAA’s
   64  bylaws. Requirements governing eligibility and transfer between
   65  member schools must shall be applied similarly to public school
   66  students and private school students. The commissioner may
   67  direct the FHSAA to revise its bylaws at any time.
   68         1. Any changes to the FHSAA’s bylaws must be ratified by
   69  the State Board of Education.
   70         2. A bylaw adopted by the FHSAA board of directors may not
   71  take effect until it is ratified by the State Board of
   72  Education.
   73         (4) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—
   74         (a) The executive and legislative authority of the FHSAA is
   75  shall be vested in its board of directors, which is. Any entity
   76  that appoints members to the board of directors shall examine
   77  the ethnic and demographic composition of the board when
   78  selecting candidates for appointment and shall, to the greatest
   79  extent possible, make appointments that reflect state
   80  demographic and population trends. The board of directors shall
   81  be composed of 9 members, 8 of whom are appointed by the
   82  Governor and confirmed by the Senate 16 persons, as follows:
   83         1. Two Four public member school representatives appointed
   84  from different administrative regions, one elected from among
   85  its public school representative members within each of the four
   86  administrative regions.
   87         2. Two Four nonpublic member school representatives
   88  appointed from different administrative regions that are also
   89  different than those represented by the public member school
   90  representatives appointed under subparagraph 1., one elected
   91  from among its nonpublic school representative members within
   92  each of the four administrative regions.
   93         3. Two Three representatives appointed by the commissioner,
   94  one appointed from the two northernmost administrative regions
   95  and one appointed from the two southernmost administrative
   96  regions. The third representative shall be appointed to balance
   97  the board for diversity or state population trends, or both.
   98         4. One Two district school superintendent appointed from
   99  superintendents, one elected from the two northernmost
  100  administrative region regions by the members in those regions
  101  and one elected from the two southernmost administrative regions
  102  by the members in those regions.
  103         5. One Two district school board member appointed members,
  104  one elected from the two northernmost administrative regions by
  105  the members in those regions and one elected from the two
  106  southernmost administrative region regions by the members in
  107  those regions.
  108         6. The commissioner or his or her designee from the
  109  department executive staff.
  110         (e) The authority and duties of the board of directors,
  111  acting as a body and in accordance with the FHSAA’s bylaws, are
  112  as follows:
  113         1. To act as the incorporated FHSAA’s board of directors
  114  and to fulfill its obligations as required by the FHSAA’s
  115  charter and articles of incorporation.
  116         2. To establish such guidelines, regulations, policies, and
  117  procedures as are authorized by the bylaws.
  118         3. To employ an FHSAA executive director, who has shall
  119  have the authority to waive the bylaws of the FHSAA in order to
  120  comply with statutory changes. The hiring of the executive
  121  director must be ratified by the State Board of Education.
  122         4. To levy annual dues and other fees and to set the
  123  percentage of contest receipts to be collected by the FHSAA.
  124         5. To approve the budget of the FHSAA. The budget adopted
  125  by the board of directors must be ratified by the State Board of
  126  Education.
  127         6. To organize and conduct statewide interscholastic
  128  competitions, which may or may not lead to state championships,
  129  and to establish the terms and conditions for these
  130  competitions.
  131         7. To act as an administrative board in the interpretation
  132  of, and final decision on, all questions and appeals arising
  133  from the directing of interscholastic athletics of member
  134  schools.
  135         8. To approve, reject, or amend any legislative
  136  recommendations from the representative assembly. Approval of
  137  such recommendations requires a majority vote of the board.
  138         (5) REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY.—
  139         (a) The legislative authority of the FHSAA is vested in its
  140  representative assembly may make legislative recommendations to
  141  the board of directors.
  142         (h) The authority of the representative assembly is limited
  143  to its sole duty, which is to consider, adopt, or reject any
  144  recommended proposed amendments to the FHSAA’s bylaws.
  145         (6) PUBLIC LIAISON ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—
  146         (b) A No member of the board of directors or the, committee
  147  on appeals may not, or representative assembly is eligible to
  148  serve on the public liaison advisory committee.
  149         (8) AMENDMENT OF BYLAWS.—Each member school representative,
  150  the board of directors acting as a whole or as members acting
  151  individually, any advisory committee acting as a whole to be
  152  established by the FHSAA, the commissioner, and the FHSAA’s
  153  executive director may are empowered to propose amendments to
  154  the bylaws. Any other individual may propose an amendment by
  155  securing the sponsorship of any such of the aforementioned
  156  individuals or bodies. All proposed amendments must be submitted
  157  directly to the representative assembly for its consideration.
  158  The representative assembly shall provide a recommendation to
  159  the board of directors to either adopt, reject, or revise any
  160  proposed amendments, while empowered to adopt, reject, or revise
  161  proposed amendments, may not, in and of itself, as a body be
  162  allowed to propose any amendment for its own consideration.
  163         Section 2. Section 1006.185, Florida Statutes, is created
  164  to read:
  165         1006.185 Opening remarks at high school athletic contests.
  166  Each athletic association designated under s. 1006.20 whose
  167  membership includes public schools shall adopt bylaws, policies,
  168  or procedures that provide each school participating in a high
  169  school championship contest or series of contests under the
  170  direction and supervision of the association the opportunity to
  171  make brief opening remarks, if requested by the school, using
  172  the public address system at the event. Such remarks may not be
  173  longer than 2 minutes per participating school. The athletic
  174  association may not control, monitor, or review the content of
  175  the opening remarks and may not control the school’s choice of
  176  speaker. Member schools may not provide remarks that are
  177  derogatory, rude, or threatening. Before the opening remarks, an
  178  announcement must be made that the content of any opening
  179  remarks by a participating school is not endorsed by and does
  180  not reflect the views and or opinions of the athletic
  181  association. The decision to allow opening remarks before
  182  regular season contests is at the discretion of each school.
  183         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.
  184  
  185  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  186  And the title is amended as follows:
  187         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  188  and insert:
  189                        A bill to be entitled                      
  190         An act relating to interscholastic activities;
  191         amending s. 1006.20, F.S.; requiring the Florida High
  192         School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to allow any
  193         school joining the organization by sport to
  194         participate in the championship contest or series of
  195         contests for that sport; providing that the
  196         Commissioner of Education may direct the FHSAA to
  197         revise its bylaws at any time; requiring that any
  198         changes to the FHSAA bylaws be ratified by the State
  199         Board of Education; deleting a requirement that the
  200         appointing authority of members of the FHSAA Board of
  201         Directors make appointments that reflect the
  202         demographic and population trends of this state;
  203         revising the composition of the board of directors;
  204         providing that all appointed board members be
  205         appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate;
  206         requiring that the hiring of the FHSAA executive
  207         director be ratified by the State Board of Education;
  208         requiring that the budget adopted by the board of
  209         directors be ratified by the State Board of Education;
  210         requiring a majority vote of the board of directors
  211         for the approval of legislative recommendations from
  212         the representative assembly; creating s. 1006.185,
  213         F.S.; requiring each approved athletic association
  214         whose membership includes public schools to allow each
  215         participating school to make opening remarks at
  216         certain athletic contests; providing requirements for
  217         the remarks; providing an effective date.