Florida Senate - 2022                                     SB 268
       
       
        
       By Senator Diaz
       
       
       
       
       
       36-00464-22                                            2022268__
    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         providing an effective date.
   12  
   13         WHEREAS, more than 100 years have passed since the
   14  Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the formation of the first
   15  communist government under Vladimir Lenin, leading to decades of
   16  oppression and violence under communist regimes throughout the
   17  world, and
   18         WHEREAS, based on the economic philosophy of Karl Marx,
   19  communism has proven incompatible with the ideals of liberty,
   20  prosperity, and dignity of human life and has given rise to such
   21  infamous totalitarian dictators as Joseph Stalin, Vladimir
   22  Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot, and
   23         WHEREAS, communist regimes worldwide have killed more than
   24  100 million people and subjected countless others to
   25  exploitation and unspeakable atrocities, with victims
   26  representing many different ethnicities, creeds, and
   27  backgrounds, and
   28         WHEREAS, through false promises of equality and liberation
   29  or through coercion, brutality, and fear, communist regimes have
   30  systematically robbed their own citizens of the rights of
   31  freedom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom of
   32  association, and
   33         WHEREAS, many victims of communism were persecuted as
   34  political prisoners for speaking out against these regimes, and
   35  others were killed in genocidal state-sponsored purges of
   36  undesirable groups, and
   37         WHEREAS, in addition to violating basic human rights,
   38  communist regimes have suppressed intellectual freedom, cultural
   39  life, and self-determination movements in more than 40 nations,
   40  NOW, THEREFORE,
   41  
   42  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   43  
   44         Section 1. Section 683.334, Florida Statutes, is created to
   45  read:
   46         683.334Victims of Communism Day.—
   47         (1)The Governor shall annually proclaim November 7 as
   48  “Victims of Communism Day,” which must be suitably observed in
   49  the public schools of this state as a day honoring the 100
   50  million people who fell victim to communist regimes across the
   51  world and which must be suitably observed by public exercise at
   52  the State Capitol and elsewhere as the Governor may designate.
   53         (2)If November 7 falls on a day that is not a school day,
   54  Victims of Communism Day must be observed in the public schools
   55  in this state on the preceding school day or on such school day
   56  as may be designated by local school authorities.
   57         (3)Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, high school
   58  students enrolled in the United States Government class required
   59  by s. 1003.4282 must receive at least 45 minutes of instruction
   60  on Victims of Communism Day on topics such as Mao Zedong and the
   61  Cultural Revolution, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet System, Fidel
   62  Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Vladimir Lenin and the Russian
   63  Revolution, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and Nicolás Maduro and
   64  the Chavismo movement and how victims suffered under these
   65  regimes through poverty, starvation, migration, systemic lethal
   66  violence, and suppression of speech.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.