Florida Senate - 2022              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. SB 268
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì430822|Î430822                          
       
       576-03090-22                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on Education)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the proclamation of “Victims of
    3         Communism Day”; creating s. 683.334, F.S.; requiring
    4         the Governor to annually proclaim November 7 as
    5         “Victims of Communism Day”; requiring the day to be
    6         observed in public schools and by public exercise;
    7         requiring a day other than November 7 to be observed
    8         by public schools under a specified circumstance;
    9         requiring certain high school students to receive
   10         specified instruction on Victims of Communism Day;
   11         requiring the State Board of Education to adopt
   12         specified revised social studies standards; providing
   13         an effective date.
   14  
   15         WHEREAS, more than 100 years have passed since the
   16  Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the formation of the first
   17  communist government under Vladimir Lenin, leading to decades of
   18  oppression and violence under communist regimes throughout the
   19  world, and
   20         WHEREAS, based on the economic philosophy of Karl Marx,
   21  communism has proven incompatible with the ideals of liberty,
   22  prosperity, and dignity of human life and has given rise to such
   23  infamous totalitarian dictators as Joseph Stalin, Vladimir
   24  Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot, and
   25         WHEREAS, communist regimes worldwide have killed more than
   26  100 million people and subjected countless others to
   27  exploitation and unspeakable atrocities, with victims
   28  representing many different ethnicities, creeds, and
   29  backgrounds, and
   30         WHEREAS, through false promises of equality and liberation
   31  or through coercion, brutality, and fear, communist regimes have
   32  systematically robbed their own citizens of the rights of
   33  freedom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom of
   34  association, and
   35         WHEREAS, many victims of communism were persecuted as
   36  political prisoners for speaking out against these regimes, and
   37  others were killed in genocidal state-sponsored purges of
   38  undesirable groups, and
   39         WHEREAS, in addition to violating basic human rights,
   40  communist regimes have suppressed intellectual freedom, cultural
   41  life, and self-determination movements in more than 40 nations,
   42  NOW, THEREFORE,
   43  
   44  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         Section 1. Section 683.334, Florida Statutes, is created to
   47  read:
   48         683.334 Victims of Communism Day.—
   49         (1) The Governor shall annually proclaim November 7 as
   50  “Victims of Communism Day,” which must be suitably observed in
   51  the public schools of this state as a day honoring the 100
   52  million people who fell victim to communist regimes across the
   53  world and which must be suitably observed by public exercise at
   54  the State Capitol and elsewhere as the Governor may designate.
   55         (2) If November 7 falls on a day that is not a school day,
   56  Victims of Communism Day must be observed in the public schools
   57  in this state on the preceding school day or on such school day
   58  as may be designated by local school authorities.
   59         (3)(a) Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, high school
   60  students enrolled in the United States Government class required
   61  by s. 1003.4282(3)(d) must receive at least 45 minutes of
   62  instruction on Victims of Communism Day to include topics such
   63  as Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, Joseph Stalin and the
   64  Soviet System, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Vladimir
   65  Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge,
   66  and Nicolás Maduro and the Chavismo movement, and how victims
   67  suffered under these regimes through poverty, starvation,
   68  migration, systemic lethal violence, and suppression of speech.
   69         (b) No later than April 1, 2023, the State Board of
   70  Education must adopt revised social studies standards for
   71  inclusion in the United States Government course required by s.
   72  1003.4282(3)(d) which incorporate the requirements of this
   73  subsection.
   74         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.