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:
46 683.334 Victims 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.