Bill Text: FL S0554 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Human Trafficking Education in Schools

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-04-30 - Died in Education, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 519 (Ch. 2021-83) [S0554 Detail]

Download: Florida-2021-S0554-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2021                                     SB 554
       
       
        
       By Senator Thurston
       
       
       
       
       
       33-00375-21                                            2021554__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to human trafficking education in
    3         schools; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.; revising the
    4         required health education in public schools to include
    5         information regarding the dangers and signs of human
    6         trafficking; specifying the minimum requirements of
    7         the human trafficking education portion of the
    8         comprehensive health education curriculum; providing
    9         an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Paragraph (n) of subsection (2) of section
   14  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   15         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   16         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   17  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   18  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   19  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   20  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   21  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   22  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   23         (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts
   24  of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
   25  family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual
   26  abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of
   27  teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
   28  prevention and safety; Internet safety; the dangers and signs of
   29  human trafficking; nutrition; personal health; prevention and
   30  control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health
   31  education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall
   32  include a teen dating violence and abuse component that
   33  includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating
   34  violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and
   35  abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships,
   36  measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and
   37  community resources available to victims of dating violence and
   38  abuse. The human trafficking education portion of the health
   39  curriculum must include, at a minimum, recognition of the signs
   40  of human trafficking; awareness of resources, including
   41  national, state, and local resources; prevention of the abuse of
   42  and addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and drugs; information on
   43  the prevalence and nature of human trafficking; strategies to
   44  reduce the risk of human trafficking; techniques that may be
   45  used in setting healthy boundaries and how to safely seek
   46  assistance; and information on how social media and mobile
   47  device applications are used for human trafficking.
   48  
   49  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   50  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   51  character development program that incorporates the values of
   52  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   53  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   54  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   55  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   56         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.