CS/CS/HB 423 - Florida Excellence in Higher Education Act of 2018

• Requires state universities to identify internship opportunities in high-demand fields and submit proposals by June 1, 2018 to improve undergraduate 4-year graduation rates through academic, financial, and curricular incentives.

• Modifies preeminent state research university requirements, changing graduation rate thresholds and adjusting funding distribution to emerging preeminent universities; removes authority for universities to require special courses for incoming students.

• Creates the "Campus Free Expression Act" establishing protections for expressive activities in outdoor campus areas while allowing reasonable, content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions; provides private right of action for violations.

• Regulates university direct-support organizations by requiring board of trustees oversight, limiting state appropriation transfers to capital projects only beginning July 1, 2019, and prohibiting political donations except those directly related to educational missions.

• Establishes USF St. Petersburg and Sarasota/Manatee as separate campuses with their own boards; requires consolidation of separate accreditations by July 1, 2020; creates World Class Faculty Program and Professional/Graduate Degree Excellence Program for faculty recruitment and retention.

• Expands scholarship programs including Florida Bright Futures awards for summer terms, enhanced Benacquisto Scholarship coverage, and new Florida Farmworker Student Scholarship Program; modifies First Generation Matching Grant Program to include Florida College System institutions.