HCR 1479 - Florida Legislative Investigation Committee Apology

• Florida Legislature formally acknowledges injustices perpetrated by the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee (FLIC) between 1956 and 1965, and offers a formal apology to those harmed.

• FLIC surveilled, harassed, and arrested civil rights activists including participants in the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott and NAACP members seeking school desegregation.

• Committee conducted investigations into alleged homosexual activity at the University of Florida (1958-1959) using entrapment and coercion tactics, resulting in 14 faculty and staff terminations, and launched 4-year statewide investigations targeting public school teachers and students.

• FLIC questioned University of South Florida faculty and staff in motel rooms (1961) about course content and hiring policies, attempting to discredit them as atheists, integrationists, and communist sympathizers.

• Committee spent 9 years using unconstitutional methods to combat legal desegregation efforts, jeopardize educators' livelihoods, and create a climate of fear that made Florida a national symbol of intolerance.