AB553,,70 (i) An institution shall ensure that all parties to a disciplinary proceeding, including the accused student, the accused employee, the accused organization, and, if applicable, the accusing student, have access to all material evidence, including both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, not later than one week prior to the start of any formal hearing or similar adjudicatory proceeding. This evidence may include complainant statements, 3rd-party witness statements, electronically stored information, written communications, social media posts, and demonstrative evidence but may not include any materials that are privileged under applicable federal or state law.

AB553,,71 (j) An institution shall ensure that a disciplinary proceeding is carried out free from conflicts of interest by prohibiting overlap of administrative or adjudicative roles. An individual may not serve in more than one of the following roles:

AB553,,72 1. Counselor or advocate of the accuser or victim.

AB553,,73 2. Investigator.

AB553,,74 3. Hearing panel member.

AB553,,75 4. Institutional prosecutor.

AB553,,76 5. Adjudicator.

AB553,,77 6. Appellate adjudicator.

AB553,,78 (k) This subsection does not affect the obligation of an institution to provide equivalent rights to a student who is the accuser or victim in the disciplinary proceeding, including equivalent opportunities to have others present and fully participate during the disciplinary proceeding, to not limit the choice of attorney or non-attorney advocate in any meeting or in the disciplinary proceeding, and to provide simultaneous notification of the institution’s procedures for the accused and the accuser or victim to appeal the result of the disciplinary proceeding.

AB553,,79 (L) Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the temporary suspension of a student, employee, or organization pending an investigation.

AB553,,80 (3) Penalties. (a) An institution that violates this section more than once in a 10-year period is ineligible for allocation of grants under s. 39.435, except grants awarded under s. 39.435 (2) or (5), for a period of no less than one fiscal year.

AB553,,81 (b) In addition to the period of ineligibility under par. (a), if an institution’s administrator causes the violation of this section, the institution is not eligible for allocation of grants under s. 39.435, except grants awarded under s. 39.435 (2) or (5), until the administrator is permanently removed from his or her administrative role.

AB553,,82 (c) The penalties under this subsection apply if any of the following find, on the basis of a preponderance of the evidence, that the institution violated this section:

AB553,,83 1. A state or federal court in this state.

AB553,,84 2. The higher educational aids board.

AB553,,85 3. Any standing committee of the legislature having jurisdiction over matters relating to higher education.

AB553,4 Section 4. 38.04 (7m) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB553,,87 38.04 (7m) Financial aids. By February 10 of each year, the board shall develop and submit to the higher educational aids board for its review under s. 39.285 (1) a proposed formula for the awarding of grants under s. 39.435, except for grants awarded under s. 39.435 (2) or (5), for the next fiscal year to students enrolled in the technical colleges. The proposed formula shall take into consideration any technical college’s loss of funding allocation under s. 38.35 (3) (a) and (b).

AB553,5 Section 5. 38.34 of the statutes is created to read:

AB553,,89 38.34 Campus free speech and academic freedom. (1) Definitions. In this section:

AB553,,90 (a) “Employee” means a staff member, faculty member, or administrator employed by a district board.

AB553,,91 (b) “Student” means an individual enrolled in a district school.

AB553,,92 (2) First Amendment protections. (a) Except as specified in this section, a district board may not do any of the following:

AB553,,93 1. Restrict speech protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, including noncommercial expressive activities protected under the provisions of this section, which include all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches, distribution of literature, carrying signs, circulation petitions, and the recording and lawful publication, including Internet publication, of video and audio lawfully recorded in public outdoor areas of public institutions of higher education, if the speaker’s conduct is not unlawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the district school.

AB553,,94 2. Maintain and enforce time, place, and manner restrictions on expressive activities on the open outdoor areas of district campuses that are generally accessible to the public and indoor areas that have been designated as public forums, except classrooms while they are in use for instructional purposes, unless those restrictions meet all of the following requirements:

AB553,,95 a. The restrictions are reasonable, in furtherance of a significant interest of the district board, and employ clear, published, content-neutral, and viewpoint-neutral criteria.

AB553,,96 b. The restrictions provide for ample alternative means for communication of the information and allow for members of the district campus’s community to spontaneously and contemporaneously distribute literature and assemble.

AB553,,97 3. Designate any area of a district campus a “free speech zone” or otherwise create policies restricting noncommercial expressive activities to a particular area of a district campus.

AB553,,98 4. Require a permit from any individual or group as a condition of being allowed to engage in expressive activities protected under this section, unless the individual or group is seeking exclusive control of a location for its expressive activity at a reserved time. Any such permitting process may not be overly burdensome, and applications for permits shall be evaluated solely using published content and viewpoint-neutral criteria.