Bill Text: FL S7070 | 2021 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Impact of COVID-19 on Educational Institutions
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-26 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 1261 (Ch. 2021-232) [S7070 Detail]
Download: Florida-2021-S7070-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2021 CS for SB 7070
By the Committees on Rules; and Education
595-04573-21 20217070c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the impact of COVID-19 on
3 educational institutions; amending s. 464.019, F.S.;
4 requiring the Board of Nursing to extend an approved
5 program’s probationary status under certain
6 circumstances; creating s. 768.39, F.S.; providing
7 legislative findings; defining the term “educational
8 institution”; prohibiting an educational institution
9 that has taken certain reasonably necessary actions to
10 diminish the impact or spread of COVID-19 from being
11 civilly liable for such actions; specifying that the
12 provision of certain services by educational
13 institutions was impossible during certain periods of
14 time; providing that certain reasonably necessary
15 actions are deemed justified; providing that certain
16 publications of educational institutions are not
17 evidence of an express or implied contract to provide
18 specified services during the COVID-19 public health
19 emergency; providing exceptions; providing
20 severability; specifying conditions for an action
21 against an educational institution; providing an
22 effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section
27 464.019, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
28 464.019 Approval of nursing education programs.—
29 (5) ACCOUNTABILITY.—
30 (a)1. An approved program must achieve a graduate passage
31 rate for first-time test takers which is not more than 10
32 percentage points lower than the average passage rate during the
33 same calendar year for graduates of comparable degree programs
34 who are United States educated, first-time test takers on the
35 National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensing
36 Examination, as calculated by the contract testing service of
37 the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. For purposes of
38 this subparagraph, an approved program is comparable to all
39 degree programs of the same program type from among the
40 following program types:
41 a. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
42 in a bachelor’s degree.
43 b. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
44 in an associate degree.
45 c. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
46 in a diploma.
47 d. Practical nursing education programs.
48 2. If an approved program’s graduate passage rates do not
49 equal or exceed the required passage rates for 2 consecutive
50 calendar years, the board shall place the program on
51 probationary status pursuant to chapter 120 and the program
52 director shall appear before the board to present a plan for
53 remediation, which shall include specific benchmarks to identify
54 progress toward a graduate passage rate goal. The program must
55 remain on probationary status until it achieves a graduate
56 passage rate that equals or exceeds the required passage rate
57 for any 1 calendar year. The board shall deny a program
58 application for a new prelicensure nursing education program
59 submitted by an educational institution if the institution has
60 an existing program that is already on probationary status.
61 3. Upon the program’s achievement of a graduate passage
62 rate that equals or exceeds the required passage rate, the
63 board, at its next regularly scheduled meeting following release
64 of the program’s graduate passage rate by the National Council
65 of State Boards of Nursing, shall remove the program’s
66 probationary status. If the program, during the 2 calendar years
67 following its placement on probationary status, does not achieve
68 the required passage rate for any 1 calendar year, the board may
69 extend the program’s probationary status for 1 additional year,
70 provided the program has demonstrated adequate progress toward
71 the graduate passage rate goal by meeting a majority of the
72 benchmarks established in the remediation plan. If the program
73 is not granted the 1-year extension or fails to achieve the
74 required passage rate by the end of such extension, the board
75 shall terminate the program pursuant to chapter 120. If a
76 program on probationary status fails to achieve the required
77 passage rate for the 2020 calendar year, including a program
78 subject to termination during the 2021 calendar year, the board
79 shall extend the program’s probationary status for 1 additional
80 year. The board shall grant such extension at a regularly
81 scheduled meeting during the 2021 calendar year.
82 Section 2. Section 768.39, Florida Statutes, is created to
83 read:
84 768.39 Immunity for educational institutions for actions
85 related to the COVID-19 pandemic.—
86 (1) The Legislature finds that during the COVID-19 public
87 health emergency, educational institutions had little choice but
88 to close or restrict access to their campuses in an effort to
89 protect the health of their students, educators, staff, and
90 communities. Despite these efforts, more than 120,000 cases of
91 COVID-19 have been linked to colleges and universities
92 nationwide, and the deaths of more than 100 college students
93 have been attributed to the disease. The Legislature further
94 finds that lawsuits against educational institutions based on
95 their efforts to provide educational services while keeping
96 students, faculty, staff, and communities safe during the COVID
97 19 public health emergency are without legal precedent. One
98 court has even acknowledged that the “legal system is now
99 feeling COVID-19’s havoc with the current wave of class action
100 lawsuits that seek tuition reimbursement related to forced
101 online tutelage.” Under these circumstances, the Legislature
102 finds that there is an overpowering public necessity for, and no
103 reasonable alternative to, providing educational institutions
104 with liability protections against lawsuits seeking tuition or
105 fee reimbursements or related damages resulting from the
106 institutions changing the delivery of educational services,
107 limiting access to facilities, or closing campuses during the
108 COVID-19 public health emergency.
109 (2) For the purposes of this section, the term “educational
110 institution” means a school, including a preschool, elementary
111 school, middle school, junior high school, secondary school,
112 career center, or postsecondary school, whether public or
113 nonpublic. The Board of Governors of the State University System
114 and the State Board of Education are also included within the
115 immunity protections afforded by this section.
116 (3)(a) An educational institution that has taken reasonably
117 necessary actions in compliance with federal, state, or local
118 guidance to diminish the impact or the spread of COVID-19 may
119 not be held liable for, and shall be immune from, any civil
120 damages, equitable relief, or other remedies relating to such
121 actions. Reasonably necessary actions taken while a state of
122 emergency was declared for this state for the COVID-19 pandemic
123 include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
124 1. Shifting in-person instruction to online or remote
125 instruction for any period of time.
126 2. Closing or modifying the provision of facilities, other
127 than housing or dining facilities, on the campus of the
128 educational institution.
129 3. Pausing or modifying ancillary student activities and
130 services available through the educational institution.
131 (b) The provision of in-person or on-campus education and
132 related services is deemed to have been impossible for
133 educational institutions during any period of time in which such
134 institutions took reasonably necessary actions described in
135 paragraph (a) to protect students, staff, and educators in
136 response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
137 (c) As a result of the various governmental orders and the
138 need for educational institutions to protect their communities,
139 the reasonably necessary actions described in paragraph (a) are
140 deemed justified.
141 (4) In any action against an educational institution, the
142 Board of Governors of the State University System, or the State
143 Board of Education for the reimbursement of tuition or fees,
144 invoices, catalogs, and general publications of an educational
145 institution are not evidence of an express or implied contract
146 to provide in-person or on-campus education and related services
147 or access to facilities during the COVID-19 public health
148 emergency.
149 (5)(a) This section does not apply to losses or damages
150 that resulted solely from a breach of an express contractual
151 provision allocating liability in the event of a pandemic event.
152 (b) This section does not apply to losses or damages caused
153 by an act or omission of a college or university which was in
154 bad faith or malicious.
155 (6) If any aspect of the immunity under subsection (3) is
156 limited by a court or by operation of law from applying to
157 certain types of claims or causes of action, the immunity under
158 this section must still be provided to the fullest extent
159 authorized by law to any other types of claims or causes of
160 action.
161 (7) If an educational institution is required by federal,
162 state, or local order or a directive of the Board of Governors
163 of the State University System or the State Board of Education
164 issued in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency to
165 alter the mode of delivery of instruction and related services
166 or access to facilities, the burden of proof for any plaintiff
167 bringing an action against the educational institution for such
168 change shall be by clear and convincing evidence to prevail for
169 damages against the institution.
170 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
