Florida Senate - 2021                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. PCS (126670) for CS for SB 264
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì804586IÎ804586                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/18/2021           .                                
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       The Committee on Appropriations (Rodrigues) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 92 - 116
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) and subsection
    6  (4) of section 1004.097, Florida Statutes, are amended, and
    7  paragraph (f) of is added to subsection (2), and paragraphs (f)
    8  and (g) are added to subsection (3) of that section, to read:
    9         1004.097 Free expression on campus.—
   10         (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   11         (f) “Shield” means to limit students’, faculty members’, or
   12  staff members’ access to, or observation of, ideas and opinions
   13  they may find uncomfortable, unwelcome, disagreeable, or
   14  offensive.
   15         (3) RIGHT TO FREE-SPEECH ACTIVITIES.—
   16         (a) Expressive activities protected under the First
   17  Amendment to the United States Constitution and Art. I of the
   18  State Constitution include, but are not limited to, any lawful
   19  oral or written communication of ideas, including all forms of
   20  peaceful assembly, protests, and speeches; distributing
   21  literature; carrying signs; circulating petitions; faculty
   22  research, lectures, writings, and commentary, whether published
   23  or unpublished; and the recording and publication, including the
   24  Internet publication, of video or audio recorded in outdoor
   25  areas of campus. Expressive activities protected by this section
   26  do not include defamatory or commercial speech.
   27         (f) A Florida College System institution or a state
   28  university may not shield students, faculty, or staff from
   29  expressive activities.
   30         (g) Notwithstanding s. 934.03 and subject to the
   31  protections provided in the Family Educational Rights and
   32  Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. s. 1232g and ss. 1002.22 and
   33  1002.225, a student may record video or audio of class lectures
   34  for their own personal educational use, in connection with a
   35  complaint to the public institution of higher education where
   36  the recording was made, or as evidence in, or in preparation
   37  for, a criminal or civil proceeding. A recorded lecture may not
   38  be published without the consent of the lecturer.
   39         (4) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person injured by a violation of
   40  whose expressive rights are violated by an action prohibited
   41  under this section may bring an action:
   42         (a) Against a public institution of higher education based
   43  on the violation of the individual’s expressive rights in a
   44  court of competent jurisdiction to obtain declaratory and
   45  injunctive relief and may be entitled to damages plus court
   46  costs and reasonable attorney fees, which may only be paid from
   47  nonstate funds, reasonable court costs, and attorney fees.
   48         (b) Against a person who has published video or audio
   49  recorded in a classroom in violation of paragraph (3)(g) in a
   50  court of competent jurisdiction to obtain declaratory and
   51  injunctive relief and may be entitled to damages plus court
   52  costs and reasonable attorney fees, with the total recovery not
   53  to exceed $200,000.
   54  
   55  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   56  And the title is amended as follows:
   57         Delete lines 23 - 30
   58  and insert:
   59         “shield”; providing that certain faculty
   60         communications are protected expressive activity;
   61         prohibiting specified entities from shielding
   62         students, faculty, or staff from certain speech;
   63         authorizing students at public postsecondary
   64         institutions to record video and audio in classrooms
   65         for specified purposes; prohibiting the publication of
   66         certain video or audio recordings; providing an
   67         exception; revising available remedies for certain
   68         causes of action to include damages; providing that
   69         such damages and specified costs and fees must be paid
   70         from nonstate funds; providing a cause of action
   71         against a person who publishes certain video or audio
   72         recordings; providing a limitation on the amount that
   73         can be recovered; providing an