Florida Senate - 2019                             CS for SB 1272
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       590-04032-19                                          20191272c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to anti-Semitism; amending s. 1000.05,
    3         F.S.; prohibiting discrimination in the Florida K-20
    4         public education system based on religion; requiring
    5         public K-20 educational institutions to take into
    6         consideration anti-Semitism under certain instances of
    7         discrimination; defining the term “anti-Semitism”;
    8         providing an exception; providing construction;
    9         amending s. 1002.20, F.S.; conforming provisions to
   10         changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Present subsection (7) of section 1000.05,
   15  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (8), a new
   16  subsection (7) is added to that section, and paragraphs (a),
   17  (b), (c), and (e) of subsection (2) are amended, to read:
   18         1000.05 Discrimination against students and employees in
   19  the Florida K-20 public education system prohibited; equality of
   20  access required.—
   21         (2)(a) Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity,
   22  national origin, gender, disability, religion, or marital status
   23  against a student or an employee in the state system of public
   24  K-20 education is prohibited. No person in this state shall, on
   25  the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender,
   26  disability, religion, or marital status, be excluded from
   27  participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
   28  discrimination under any public K-20 education program or
   29  activity, or in any employment conditions or practices,
   30  conducted by a public educational institution that receives or
   31  benefits from federal or state financial assistance.
   32         (b) The criteria for admission to a program or course shall
   33  not have the effect of restricting access by persons of a
   34  particular race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability,
   35  religion, or marital status.
   36         (c) All public K-20 education classes shall be available to
   37  all students without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin,
   38  gender, disability, religion, or marital status; however, this
   39  is not intended to eliminate the provision of programs designed
   40  to meet the needs of students with limited proficiency in
   41  English, gifted students, or students with disabilities or
   42  programs tailored to students with specialized talents or
   43  skills.
   44         (e) Guidance services, counseling services, and financial
   45  assistance services in the state public K-20 education system
   46  shall be available to students equally. Guidance and counseling
   47  services, materials, and promotional events shall stress access
   48  to academic and career opportunities for students without regard
   49  to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability,
   50  religion, or marital status.
   51         (7)A public K-20 educational institution must treat
   52  discrimination by students or employees or resulting from
   53  institutional policies motivated by anti-Semitic intent in an
   54  identical manner to discrimination motivated by race. For
   55  purposes of this section, the term “anti-Semitism” includes a
   56  certain perception of the Jewish people, which may be expressed
   57  as hatred toward Jewish people, rhetorical and physical
   58  manifestations of anti-Semitism directed toward a person, his or
   59  her property, or toward Jewish community institutions or
   60  religious facilities.
   61         (a)Examples of anti-Semitism include:
   62         1.Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or
   63  harming of Jews, often in the name of a radical ideology or an
   64  extremist view of religion.
   65         2.Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or
   66  stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of
   67  Jews as a collective, especially, but not exclusively, the myth
   68  about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the
   69  media, economy, government, or other societal institutions.
   70         3.Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real
   71  or imagined wrongdoings committed by a single Jewish person or
   72  group, the State of Israel, or even for acts committed by non
   73  Jews.
   74         4.Accusing Jews as a people or the State of Israel of
   75  inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
   76         5.Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel,
   77  or the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the
   78  interest of their own nations.
   79         (b)Examples of anti-Semitism related to Israel include:
   80         1.Demonizing Israel by using the symbols and images
   81  associated with classic anti-Semitism to characterize Israel or
   82  Israelis, drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to
   83  that of the Nazis, or blaming Israel for all interreligious or
   84  political tensions.
   85         2.Applying a double standard to Israel by requiring
   86  behavior of Israel that is not expected or demanded of any other
   87  democratic nation, or focusing peace or human rights
   88  investigations only on Israel.
   89         3.Delegitimizing Israel by denying the Jewish people their
   90  right to self-determination and denying Israel the right to
   91  exist.
   92  
   93  However, criticism of Israel that is similar to criticism toward
   94  any other country may not be regarded as anti-Semitic.
   95         (c)Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
   96  diminish or infringe upon any right protected under the First
   97  Amendment to the United States Constitution, or the State
   98  Constitution. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
   99  conflict with federal or state discrimination laws.
  100         Section 2. Subsection (7) of section 1002.20, Florida
  101  Statutes, is amended to read:
  102         1002.20 K-12 student and parent rights.—Parents of public
  103  school students must receive accurate and timely information
  104  regarding their child’s academic progress and must be informed
  105  of ways they can help their child to succeed in school. K-12
  106  students and their parents are afforded numerous statutory
  107  rights including, but not limited to, the following:
  108         (7) NONDISCRIMINATION.—All education programs, activities,
  109  and opportunities offered by public educational institutions
  110  must be made available without discrimination on the basis of
  111  race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability, religion,
  112  or marital status, in accordance with the provisions of s.
  113  1000.05.
  114         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.