Florida Senate - 2019 CS for SB 982
By the Committee on Education; and Senator Thurston
581-03744-19 2019982c1
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; authorizing a student to opt out of a
7 specified portion of the health education under
8 certain circumstances; requiring the Department of
9 Legal Affairs to develop human trafficking awareness
10 campaigns; providing an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Paragraph (n) of subsection (2) of section
15 1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
16 1003.42 Required instruction.—
17 (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
18 schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
19 and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
20 faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
21 highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
22 following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
23 approved methods of instruction, the following:
24 (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts
25 of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
26 family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual
27 abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of
28 teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
29 prevention and safety; Internet safety; the dangers and signs of
30 human trafficking; nutrition; personal health; prevention and
31 control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health
32 education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall
33 include a teen dating violence and abuse component that
34 includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating
35 violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and
36 abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships,
37 measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and
38 community resources available to victims of dating violence and
39 abuse. The human trafficking education portion of the health
40 curriculum must include, but is not limited to, information on
41 the warning signs of human trafficking, terms used by
42 traffickers, red flags that would indicate a trafficker’s
43 malicious intent toward a student, websites that are popular
44 with traffickers, and details on how a student may get help. A
45 student may elect to opt out of the instruction of the human
46 trafficking portion of the health education by providing the
47 school with a written note from his or her parent.
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. Human trafficking awareness campaigns.—The
57 Department of Legal Affairs shall, subject to legislative
58 appropriations, develop campaigns to increase awareness of human
59 trafficking, particularly among children and other potentially
60 vulnerable populations. Such campaigns may include information
61 concerning approaches used by traffickers, warning signs of
62 trafficking, and inappropriate behaviors that should be
63 reported.
64 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.