The News Service of Florida
May 31, 2017
An open-government group on Wednesday asked Gov. Rick Scott to veto a key higher-education bill, arguing that it was passed as part of a “secretive process.” In a letter to Scott, Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, asked him to reject SB 374, which includes changes such as requiring state universities to begin using block tuition, creating a 13-member board to oversee the 28 state colleges and imposing more disclosure requirements on university and college foundations. Petersen said the final version of the bill, which drew objections from University of South Florida supporters because of changes related to what are known as pre-eminent universities, was “decided in secrecy” and in apparent violation of the constitutional right of public access to legislative meetings. “The secretive process precluded any opportunity for public oversight or input on major changes to Florida’s postsecondary education policy,” Petersen wrote. “We are extremely concerned that not only were university and higher education officials shut out, but also legislators from key committees were unaware of changes made to this critically important bill.” Scott has yet to receive the bill, which contains many of the major higher-education policy initiatives supported by Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart. Once he receives the bill, Scott will have 15 days to act on it. [READ MORE]