Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 982
       
       
        
       By Senator Thurston
       
       
       
       
       
       33-00528A-19                                           2019982__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to human trafficking education in
    3         schools; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; revising the
    4         required health education in public schools to include
    5         information regarding the dangers and signs of human
    6         trafficking; authorizing a student to opt out of a
    7         specified portion of the health education under
    8         certain circumstances; requiring the Department of
    9         Legal Affairs to develop human trafficking awareness
   10         campaigns; requiring the department to develop and
   11         operate a hotline to receive reports of potential
   12         human trafficking activity; requiring the department
   13         to provide certain reports to appropriate law
   14         enforcement agencies for investigation and
   15         disposition; providing an effective date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (n) of subsection (2) of section
   20  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   21         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   22         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   23  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   24  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   25  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   26  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   27  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   28  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   29         (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts
   30  of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
   31  family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual
   32  abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of
   33  teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
   34  prevention and safety; Internet safety; the dangers and signs of
   35  human trafficking; nutrition; personal health; prevention and
   36  control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health
   37  education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall
   38  include a teen dating violence and abuse component that
   39  includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating
   40  violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and
   41  abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships,
   42  measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and
   43  community resources available to victims of dating violence and
   44  abuse. The human trafficking education portion of the health
   45  curriculum must include, but is not limited to, information on
   46  the warning signs of human trafficking, terms used by
   47  traffickers, red flags that would indicate a trafficker’s
   48  malicious intent toward a student, websites that are popular
   49  with traffickers, and details on how a student may get help. A
   50  student may elect to opt out of the instruction of the human
   51  trafficking portion of the health education by providing the
   52  school with a written note from his or her parent.
   53  
   54  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   55  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   56  character development program that incorporates the values of
   57  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   58  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   59  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   60  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   61         Section 2. Human trafficking awareness campaigns; hotline.
   62  The Department of Legal Affairs shall, subject to legislative
   63  appropriations:
   64         (1) Develop campaigns to increase awareness of human
   65  trafficking, particularly among children and other potentially
   66  vulnerable populations. Such campaigns may include information
   67  concerning approaches used by traffickers, warning signs of
   68  trafficking, and inappropriate behaviors that should be
   69  reported.
   70         (2) Develop and operate a toll-free hotline to receive
   71  reports of potential human trafficking incidents. The department
   72  shall promptly provide all such reports deemed to be credible to
   73  appropriate law enforcement agencies for investigation and
   74  disposition.
   75         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.