Senate Bill hb9209

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9209

        By Representative Lynn






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution supporting civic education and

  3         declaring the third Friday of September 2000 as

  4         Florida's Legislators Back to School Day.

  5

  6         WHEREAS, Florida was created as a representative

  7  democracy in which all governmental power is inherent in the

  8  people who exercise that power through the legislative,

  9  executive, and judicial branches, and

10         WHEREAS, the changing political environment requires an

11  increased knowledge of the citizenry on the role of state

12  legislatures in assuring that the voice of all people will be

13  heard and the issues of public policy will be openly debated,

14  and

15         WHEREAS, Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of

16  Independence stated, "There is but one method of rendering a

17  republican form of government durable, and that is by

18  disseminating the seeds of virtue and knowledge through every

19  part of the state by means of proper places and modes of

20  education and this can be done effectively only by the aid of

21  the legislature," and

22         WHEREAS, the National Conference of State Legislatures

23  (NCSL) has passed a resolution which asserts that the

24  operations of the state legislatures and the roles of

25  individual legislators are often little understood by

26  citizens, and that public understanding of the institutions

27  and processes of the government is critical to building public

28  trust and confidence, and

29         WHEREAS, the NCSL resolution also declares that state

30  legislatures need to bring about better understanding of the

31  concept of representative democracy and that education about

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9209

    560-232A-00






  1  representative democracy should emphasize the importance of

  2  compromise and the difficulty of resolving competing interests

  3  in a diverse society, and

  4         WHEREAS, civic education is a vital tool to promote

  5  greater understanding of the legislative institution and the

  6  role of legislators in representative democracy, and

  7         WHEREAS, the NCSL urges the nation's state legislatures

  8  to promote civic education about representative democracy, and

  9         WHEREAS, the NCSL has established America's Legislators

10  Back to School Day, a national day on which state legislators

11  across the nation visit schools and classrooms to talk about

12  the Legislature and to observe activities in the schools, and

13         WHEREAS, legislators will benefit from interacting with

14  students, teachers, and administrators, NOW, THEREFORE,

15

16  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

17  Florida:

18

19         That the Florida Legislature supports civic education

20  to promote greater understanding of the legislative

21  institution and the role of legislators in representative

22  democracy.

23         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida Legislature

24  declares that the third Friday in September 2000 shall be

25  designated as Florida's Legislators Back to School Day and

26  urges all members of the Legislature to visit schools on that

27  day.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.