Bill Text: AZ HB2548 | 2016 | Fifty-second Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Public forums; activities; postsecondary campuses
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-05-16 - Chapter 249 [HB2548 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2016-HB2548-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: postsecondary campuses; public forums; activities |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-second Legislature Second Regular Session 2016
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HB 2548 |
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Introduced by Representative Boyer
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AN ACT
repealing section 15‑1864, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending Title 15, chapter 14, article 6, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding a new section 15‑1864; relating to universities and community colleges.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Repeal
Section 15-1864, Arizona Revised Statutes, is repealed.
Sec. 2. Title 15, chapter 14, article 6, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section 15-1864, to read:
15-1864. Traditional public forums; use; restrictions; cause of action
A. The outdoor areas of campuses of universities and community colleges are traditional public forums. Universities and community colleges may maintain and enforce reasonable time, place and manner restrictions to further a significant institutional interest only if those restrictions employ clear, published, content and viewpoint-neutral criteria and provide for alternative means of expression. Any such restrictions shall allow for members of the campus community to spontaneously and contemporaneously assemble.
B. Any person who wishes to engage in noncommercial expressive activity on campus shall be allowed to do so freely if the person's conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the university or community college subject to the requirements of subsection A of this section.
C. Expressive activities that are protected under this section include all forms of peaceable assembly, protests, speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs and circulating petitions.
D. This section does not limit the right of student expression elsewhere on the campus of a university or community college.
E. The following persons may bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin any violation of this section or to recover compensatory damages, reasonable court costs and attorney fees:
1. The attorney general.
2. A Person whose expressive rights were violated by a violation of this section.
F. In an action brought under subsection E of this section, if the court finds that a violation of this section occurred, the court shall award the aggrieved person at least five hundred dollars for the initial violation, plus fifty dollars for each day the violation remains ongoing.
G. A person shall bring an action for a violation of this section within one year after the date the cause of action accrues. For the purpose of calculating the one-year limitation period, each day that the violation persists or each day that a policy in violation of this section remains in effect constitutes a new violation of this section and shall be considered a day that the cause of action has accrued.
Sec. 3. Short title
This act may be cited as the "Campus Free Expression Act".
