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CS/CS/HB 1059 2026
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to speech and debate education; 2
creating s. 683.221, F.S.; designating Florida Speech 3
and Debate Week annually in February; providing 4
purposes for the annual observance; authorizing 5
specified entities to observe Florida Speech and 6
Debate Week; creating s. 1000.09, F.S.; subject to 7
legislative appropriation, establishing the Florida 8
Debate Initiative, Inc., (FDI) as a statewide speech 9
and debate organization that performs certain 10
functions in support of the Florida Civics and Debate 11
Initiative (FCDI) in the Department of Education; 12
providing the duties of the FDI; providing 13
construction; authorizing the FDI to establish and 14
maintain certain partnerships; specifying activities 15
for the FDI and FCDI; providing authorized uses of 16
funds for the FDI; requiring the FDI to publish a 17
report online and submit the report to the department 18
annually by a specified date; specifying requirements 19
for the report; requiring the FCDI to annually provide 20
certain data to the FDI by a specified date; providing 21
an effective date. 22
23
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 24
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Section 1. Section 683.221, Florida Statutes, is created 26
to read: 27
683.221 Florida Speech and Debate Week.— 28
(1) February 1 through February 7 shall be annually 29
designated as "Florida Speech and Debate Week." 30
(2) Florida Speech and Debate Week shall be observed for 31
all of the following purposes: 32
(a) To recognize the academic, civic, and leadership value 33
of competitive speech and debate. 34
(b) To honor educators, coaches, judges, and school 35
districts that support debate programming. 36
(c) To inspire students statewide to participate in debate 37
as a pathway to civic engagement. 38
(d) To promote Florida's role as the national leader in 39
scholastic speech and debate. 40
(3) Public and charter schools, state agencies, and other 41
entities may observe Florida Speech and Debate Week. 42
Section 2. Section 1000.09, Florida Statutes, is created 43
to read: 44
1000.09 Competitive speech and debate.— 45
(1) CREATION, DESIGNATION, AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—Subject 46
to legislative appropriation and in alignment with, and in 47
support of, the Department of Education and the program it 48
operates called the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative (FCDI), 49
the Florida Debate Initiative, Inc., (FDI) is established as 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
this state's nonprofit statewide speech and debate organization 51
that manages, develops, and expands K–20 civics, speech, and 52
debate programs. 53
(a)1. The FDI shall support and expand access to statewide 54
civic literacy and speech and debate programs by undertaking the 55
following, which list is not exhaustive: 56
a. Educating and training coaches and students. 57
b. Training judges and volunteers. 58
c. Promoting educational competition opportunities. 59
d. Leading training and leadership development 60
experiences. 61
e. Establishing competition standards. 62
f. Maintaining statewide data reporting. 63
g. Assisting the FCDI, upon its request, in civics-focused 64
education, training, and programming initiatives. 65
2. This paragraph may not be construed to prohibit 66
schools, districts, or students from participating in civics, 67
speech and debate activities, leagues, or competitions not 68
operated or supervised by the FDI. 69
(b) The FDI may establish and maintain partnerships with 70
school districts, charter schools, state agencies, postsecondary 71
institutions, nonprofit organizations, private entities, and 72
national or international organizations to achieve the purposes 73
of this section, including collaborative efforts with the FCDI. 74
In such collaboration: 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
1. The FCDI and FDI shall jointly host and operate the 76
annual National Civics and Debate Championship known as The 77
Great Debate, a nationally recognized synthesis of civics 78
education and debate competition that challenges students' civic 79
knowledge, debate skills, and endurance through multi-day, 80
multi-event competition. 81
2. The FCDI shall lead specific civics immersion events, 82
including FCDI Day at the Capitol and the Great American Civics 83
Challenge, which includes the Ronald Reagan Presidential Debates 84
and the We The People Civics Showdown. 85
3. The FDI shall provide logistical support, debate 86
tournament operations support, and tournament coordination 87
support for The Great Debate and other collaborative initiatives 88
to advance statewide speech and debate opportunities. 89
(2) AUTHORIZED USES OF FUNDS.—The FDI may expend program 90
funds on all of the following: 91
(a) Administrative operations, including staffing, 92
insurance, compliance, reporting, and statewide infrastructure. 93
(b) Programmatic operations, including curriculum, 94
training, summer programs, workshops, camps, and mentorship 95
programs. 96
(c) Tournament operations, including logistics, staff, 97
judge training, technology, awards, and regional team 98
operations. 99
(d) Travel, lodging, training, and transportation for 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
participants, including local, state, and national travel to 101
competitions hosted by the FDI, FCDI, or other civics, speech, 102
and debate organizations. 103
(e) Public-private partnership development, including 104
sponsorship and philanthropic support. 105
(f) Memberships, affiliations, and participation fees 106
related to civics education, speech, debate, leadership, and 107
academic competition programs, provided such memberships, 108
affiliations, and participation advance the purposes of this 109
section. 110
(3) REPORTING.—The FDI shall make publicly available 111
online and submit, no later than December 31 of each year, an 112
annual report to the Department of Education which includes all 113
of the following: 114
(a) Student participation in statewide FDI programs, by 115
district and demographics. 116
(b) The number of active student teams in statewide FDI 117
speech and debate programs. 118
(c) Competitive and educational outcomes of statewide FDI 119
programs. 120
(d) A categorized summary of all expenditures. 121
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No later than November 1 of each year, the FCDI shall provide 123
the FDI with the FCDI's most current reporting and data 124
regarding paragraphs (a)-(d) above in order for the FDI to 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
accurately report on the outcomes and expenditures related to 126
any joint programming. 127
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026. 128