Florida Senate - 2022 SENATOR AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 7044 Ì356900ÃÎ356900 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House . . . Floor: 2/AD/2R . 03/04/2022 06:47 PM . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Senator Pizzo moved the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with directory and title amendments) 2 3 Delete lines 266 - 276 4 and insert: 5 (2) ACCREDITATION.— 6 (a) By September 1, 2022, the Board of Governors or the 7 State Board of Education, as applicable, shall identify and 8 determine the accrediting agencies or associations best suited 9 to serve as an accreditor for public postsecondary institutions. 10 Such accrediting agencies or associations must be recognized by 11 the database created and maintained by the United States 12 Department of Education. A public postsecondary institution may 13 not be accredited by the same accrediting agency or association 14 for consecutive accreditation cycles. In the year following 15 reaffirmation or fifth-year review by its accrediting agencies 16 or associations, each public postsecondary institution must seek 17 and obtain accreditation from an accrediting agency or 18 association identified by the Board of Governors or State Board 19 of Education, respectively, before its next reaffirmation or 20 fifth-year review date. The requirements of this subsection are 21 not applicable to those professional, graduate, departmental, or 22 certificate programs at public postsecondary institutions that 23 have specific accreditation requirements or best practices, 24 including, but not limited to, law, pharmacy, engineering, or 25 other similarly situated educational programs. 26 (b) Once a public postsecondary institution is required to 27 seek and obtain accreditation from an agency or association 28 identified pursuant to paragraph (a), the institution shall 29 provide quarterly reports of its progress to the Board of 30 Governors or State Board of Education, as applicable. If each 31 accreditation agency or association identified pursuant to 32 paragraph (a) has refused to grant candidacy status to a public 33 postsecondary institution, then the Board of Governors or State 34 Board of Education, as applicable, may identify additional 35 agencies or associations to which an institution may apply. If a 36 public postsecondary institution is not granted candidacy status 37 before its next reaffirmation or fifth-year review date, the 38 institution may remain with its current accrediting agency or 39 association. 40 41 ====== D I R E C T O R Y C L A U S E A M E N D M E N T ====== 42 And the directory clause is amended as follows: 43 Delete line 259 44 and insert: 45 Section 3. Effective upon this act becoming a law, section 46 1008.47, Florida Statutes, is created to 47 48 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 49 And the title is amended as follows: 50 Delete lines 18 - 27 51 and insert: 52 requiring the Board of Governors and State Board of 53 Education to identify and determine accrediting 54 agencies or associations best suited for public 55 postsecondary institutions by a specified date; 56 providing requirements for such accrediting agencies 57 or associations; prohibiting public postsecondary 58 institutions from being accredited by the same agency 59 or association for consecutive accreditation cycles; 60 requiring public postsecondary institutions to obtain 61 accreditation from accrediting agencies or 62 associations identified by the Board of Governors or 63 State Board of Education, respectively; providing that 64 specified academic programs are exempt from such 65 requirements; requiring institutions to provide 66 specified reports to the Board of Governors or the 67 State Board of Education; authorizing institutions to 68 remain with current accreditors under certain 69 circumstances; creating a cause of