Check out the crop of bad bills for Florida’s upcoming legislative session
Because 2020 is an election year, the Florida Legislature holds its lawmaking sessions earlier than in non-election years.
That means we’re getting an early preview of the hundreds of bills that get filed, which also means an early look at some of the bills that have no business getting a serious hearing.
Let’s take a look at a few:
Intellectual diversity. Who can argue with the idea of intellectual diversity on college campuses? We can, when the means to achieve the goal is an ideological purity test for students, faculty and staff. A bill sponsored by Lee County Republican Rep. Ray Rodrigues describes the annual statemandated survey as an “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity assessment.”
Put simply, Rodrigues and others think colleges and universities have too many liberals running things and teaching students. Oddly, the bill doesn’t say what ultimate purpose the survey would serve. We suspect it would become a pretext for the state to exert even more control over higher education.
Conservatives and liberals alike have valid reasons to worry about attempts by faculty to quell ideas in the classroom, or by students to impede the speech of conservative figures like Ben Shapiro when they’re invited to speak on campus.
Mandating state-run surveys to assess the politics of students and faculty is how you wage the fight for intellectual freedom or diversity.
Bible study. Rep. Kimberly Daniels, a Jacksonville Democrat, isn’t satisfied that Florida gives school districts the option of offering an elective course on the Bible and religion. She’s filed a bill that would force school districts to offer such a course.
The bill makes a specific reference to studying the Bible and “Hebrew Scriptures” but, not surprisingly, makes no mention of Islam’s Quran or Hinduism’s Vedas. An identical bill has been filed in the Senate by Ocala Republican Dennis Baxley.
Daniels is a pastor who — among other things — once thanked God for slavery, else she might be in Africa “worshiping a tree.” In 2018 she successfully got a bill passed forcing schools to conspicuously display the motto “In God We Trust.”
Daniels’ bill imposes another state mandate on school districts in an effort to promote one religion over another. It should not be taken seriously if this Legislature wishes to be taken seriously.
Confederate monuments. Pensacola Republican Rep. Mike Hill introduced this bill last year and it went nowhere. It’s likely to go nowhere again, in part because Hill is persona non grata in Tallahassee after getting caught giggling about a constituent’s suggestion that gay people should be stoned to death.
Hill’s bill presumes to dictate to local governments what they may or may not do with certain monuments, markers or commemorations that honor someone who served in the military or other “heroes,” which the bill defines as police, firefighters and astronauts. (Worth noting: Murdered civil rights figures like Harry T. Moore are not afforded “hero” status under this legislation.)
Let’s be clear: Hill’s measure is to stop Florida’s cities and counties from removing or relocating memorials to the Confederacy, which, like it or not, is none of the state’s business.
Guns on campus. Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Lake County Republican, wants to allow students with state-issued concealed-carry permits to carry their weapons around Florida’s college and university campuses.
Even in a gun-friendly state like Florida, legislators recognize the folly of guns on campuses. One of the leading opponents is Florida State University President John Thrasher, a former speaker of the Florida House and chairman of the state Republican Party. He gets it, even if Sabatini doesn’t.
Secret addresses. Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel of Lakeland thinks legislating is getting to be a dangerous business, so she wants to make sure no one knows her address, phone number or date of birth. Or the addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth of the other 159 members of the Florida Legislature, plus the Florida Cabinet for good measure.
This elemental information would become secret under a bill she’s filed, which also would make secret where the spouses of lawmakers are employed.
What political space have we entered when a constituent isn’t allowed to find out where their elected representative lives? A bad space.
Keep an eye on this bill. It has a better chance of passing that the other examples in this editorial. That’s because the state has few champions of sunshine in state government. Both parties seem equally committed to whittling away transparency, and the chance to keep their addresses secret may be too tempting to pass up.