Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Sunday eliminating “free speech zones,” which are known for restricting free speech on campuses to a certain location.
SB 4, which also enables students to levy state lawsuits against public universities that violate students’ rights to expression, cleared the Florida Senate with a 33-5 vote.
The bill previously passed the state House in an 84-28 vote, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a free speech nonprofit group.
“Students at public colleges and universities in Florida should not have their free speech quarantined by overly restrictive policies,” FIRE legislative and policy director Joe Cohn said in a news release.
“Now that Florida’s Campus Free Expression Act is law, these egregious policies of censorship must be rescinded immediately.”