Fla. Senate Passes Bills on Broadband Records, Social Media in Schools

The Florida Senate passed a bill to make more of the state’s broadband program confidential. Senators voted 39-0 Tuesday for SB-552, which would exempt from public record inspection requirements information on communications services locations, project proposals and challenges submitted to the Department of Economic Opportunity through state or federal grant programs (see 2303290071). It goes next to the House. Also, the Senate voted unanimously for HB-379, which would include requiring district school boards to implement an internet filter to stop student devices from connecting to social media over district-owned servers. It would ban TikTok on district-owned devices and using that platform for communications for school purposes. And it would require social media literacy education to grades six through 12. The House passed HB-379 last month but must now concur with Senate changes.