The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Rules
BILL: CS/SB 396
INTRODUCER: Education Pre-K - 12 Committee and Senator Berman
SUBJECT: Holocaust Remembrance Day
DATE: February 13, 2024 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Sabitsch Bouck ED Fav/CS
2. Sabitsch Twogood RC Favorable
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/SB 396 establishes Holocaust Remembrance Day. Specifically, the bill:
 Requires the Governor to annually proclaim the first weekday in “Holocaust Education
Week” as “Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
 Permits the day to be suitably observed in public schools, the capitol, and elsewhere as
designated by the Governor.
 Permits instruction to be delivered on the designated day on the harmful impacts of the
Holocaust and anti-Semitism as well as the positive impacts of the Jewish community on
humanity.
The bill takes effect on July 1, 2024.
II. Present Situation:
Legal Holidays and Observances
Chapter 683, F.S., provides designations for legal holidays and special observances. Special
observances are also found in other parts of Florida law. Recognition of a legal holiday or special
observance may apply statewide or may be limited to a particular region. For example,
“Gasparilla Day”1 is a legal holiday observed only in Hillsborough County, while “Bill of Rights
Day,”2 if issued by the Governor, is observed throughout the state. Depending on the holiday or
1
Section 683.08, F.S.
2
Section 683.25, F.S.
BILL: CS/SB 396 Page 2
special observance, certain actions may be required to be performed for the commemoration or
observance of the date, day, or month. For example, Florida law recognizes the month of
September as “American Founders’ Month,”3 urging, but not requiring, all civic, fraternal, and
religious organizations and public and private educational institutions to recognize this occasion.
In contrast, the last full week of classes in September is designated as “Celebrate Freedom
Week,”4 in which public schools are required to include at least three hours of grade-appropriate
instruction related to the meaning and importance of the Declaration of Independence in social
studies classes.5
There are 27 legal holidays6 established in law and 33 special observances.7 The state recognizes
nine paid holidays that are observed by all state branches and agencies.8
The Holocaust
The Holocaust (1933-1945) was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6
million European Jews and others by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. At
the beginning of Nazi rule, Dictator Adolf Hitler used the government to target and exclude Jews
from German society. Among other anti-Semitic measures, the Nazi German regime enacted
discriminatory laws and organized violence targeting Germany’s Jews. The Holocaust is also
sometimes referred to as “the Shoah,” the Hebrew word for “catastrophe”.9
The Nazis falsely accused Jews of causing Germany’s social, economic, political, and cultural
problems. In particular, they blamed them for Germany’s defeat in World War I (1914–1918).
Some Germans were receptive to these Nazi claims. Anger over the loss of the war and the
economic and political crises that followed contributed to increasing antisemitism in German
society. The instability of Germany under the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), the fear of
communism, and the economic shocks of the Great Depression also made many Germans more
open to Nazi ideas, including antisemitism.10
However, the Nazis did not invent antisemitism. Antisemitism is an old and widespread
prejudice that has taken many forms throughout history. In Europe, it dates back to ancient times.
In the Middle Ages (500–1400), prejudices against Jews were primarily based in early Christian
belief and thought, particularly the myth that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus.
Suspicion and discrimination rooted in religious prejudices continued in early modern Europe
(1400–1800). At that time, leaders in much of Christian Europe isolated Jews from most aspects
of economic, social, and political life. This exclusion contributed to stereotypes of Jews as
outsiders. As Europe became more secular, many places lifted most legal restrictions on Jews.
3
Section 683.1455, F.S.
4
Section 1003.421, F.S.
5
Id.
6
There are 21 state legal holidays, three judicial circuit court legal holidays, and three county legal holidays. Sections 683.01,
683.08, 683.09, 683.12, and 683.19, F.S.
7
Sections 683.04 - 683.335, F.S.
8
Section 110.117(1), F.S. Paid state holidays include: New Year’s Day, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
9
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Introduction to the Holocaust,
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust (last visited Jan 19, 2024).
10
Id.
BILL: CS/SB 396 Page 3
This, however, did not mean the end of antisemitism. In addition to religious antisemitism, other
types of antisemitism took hold in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. These new forms
included economic, nationalist, and racial antisemitism. In the 19th century, antisemites falsely
claimed that Jews were responsible for many social and political ills in modern industrial society.
Theories of race, eugenics, and Social Darwinism falsely justified these hatreds. Nazi prejudice
against Jews drew upon all of these elements, but especially racial antisemitism. Racial
antisemitism is the discriminatory idea that Jews are a separate and inferior race.11
The Nazi persecution of Jews became radicalized with the culminated plan known as the “Final
Solution to the Jewish Question.” The “Final Solution” came to fruition during World War II,
with mass shootings and gas poisoning killing centers in concentration camps. About 6 million
Jews and some 5 million others, targeted for racial, political, ideological, and behavioral reasons,
died in the Holocaust, more than 1 million of those who perished were children.12
Commemoration of the Holocaust
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated January 27, the anniversary of the
liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual
day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the 6 million Jewish victims
of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop education programs to
help prevent future genocides.13
Holocaust Education in Florida
In 2020, the Legislature directed the Department of Education (DOE) to develop standards for
Holocaust Education.14 The DOE worked closely with the Commissioner of Education’s Task
Force on Holocaust Education and Florida teachers to develop content-rich and developmentally
appropriate standards. In the process, DOE received and considered comments from state and
nationally recognized Holocaust educational organizations, Florida educators, school
administrators, representatives of the Florida College System and state universities, business and
industry leaders, and the public.15
In July 2021, the State Board of Education (SBE) adopted the updated State Standards for Social
Studies, incorporating revised civics and government standards16 and new standards for grades 5-
12 for Holocaust education for which instruction began in 2023-2024.17
11
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Introduction to the Holocaust,
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust (last visited Jan 19, 2024).
12
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Introduction to the Holocaust,
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust (last visited Jan 19, 2024).
13
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7. See also, United Nations, Outreach Programme on the Holocaust,
https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/observance/ (last visited Jan. 19, 2024).
14
Chapter 2020-88, s. 5, Laws of Fla.
15
Florida Department of Education, Commissioner of Education’s Task Force on Holocaust Education,
https://www.fldoe.org/holocausteducation/ (last visited Jan. 19, 2024).
16
Chapter 2019-150, s.1, Laws of Fla.
17
Florida Department of Education, Next Generation Sunshine State Standards – Social Studies, 2021, available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19975/urlt/5-3.pdf.
BILL: CS/SB 396 Page 4
Required instruction on the Holocaust (1933-1945) must include the history of the systematic
annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany, a watershed event in the
history of humanity, and be taught in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior,
an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an examination
of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purposes of encouraging
tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values
and institutions, including the policy, definition, and historical and current examples of anti-
Semitism and the prevention of anti-Semitism.18
Each school district must annually certify and provide evidence to the DOE that it has met the
instructional requirements on Holocaust education. In addition, the DOE may contract with any
state or nationally-recognized Holocaust educational organizations to develop training for
instructional personnel and grade-appropriate classroom resources to support the developed
curriculum.19
Florida recognizes the second week in November as Holocaust Education Week, which
coincided with the anniversary of Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938. Kristallnacht is widely
recognized as a precipitating event that led to the Holocaust.20 The DOE has created a portal
dedicated to Holocaust Education Week, which offers commemoration resources, educational
programs, and materials concerning the Holocaust, for school districts, teachers, parents, and the
general public.21
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
CS/SB 396 creates s. 683.196, F.S., to require the Governor to proclaim the first weekday in
“Holocaust Education Week” proclaimed under s. 1003.42(2)(g)2., as “Holocaust Remembrance
Day” and may be suitably observed in public schools and at the state capital and other locations
designated by the Governor.
The bill specifies that if the first weekday of Holocaust Education Week falls on a day that is not
a school day, Holocaust Remembrance Day may be observed in schools on the following school
day or on a school day designated by the local district school board.
The bill permits instruction about the harmful impacts on humanity of the Holocaust and anti-
Semitism as well as the positive impacts of the Jewish community on humanity. The instruction
may be delivered on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The bill does not specify if such instruction
is to be based on state academic standards or required instruction under s. 1003.42, F.S., for
Holocaust education.
This bill is effective July 1, 2024.
18
Section 1003.42(2)(g)1., F.S.
19
Section 1003.42(2)(g)1., F.S.
20
Section 1003.42(2)(g)2., F.S.
21
Florida Department of Education, Holocaust Education Week, https://www.fldoe.org/holocausteducation/holo-ed-
week.stml (last visited Jan. 19, 2024).
 BILL: CS/SB 396 Page 5
IV. Constitutional Issues:
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions:
None.
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues:
None.
C. Trust Funds Restrictions:
None.
D. State Tax or Fee Increases:
None.
E. Other Constitutional Issues:
None.
V. Fiscal Impact Statement:
A. Tax/Fee Issues:
None.
B. Private Sector Impact:
None.
C. Government Sector Impact:
None.
VI. Technical Deficiencies:
None.
VII. Related Issues:
None.
VIII. Statutes Affected:
This bill creates section 683.196 of the Florida Statutes.
BILL: CS/SB 396 Page 6
IX. Additional Information:
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Substantial Changes:
CS by Education Pre-K – 12 Committee on January 30, 2024:
The committee substitute modifies the required observance and instruction in public
schools related to Holocaust Remembrance Day and makes such observance and
instruction permissive.
B. Amendments:
None.
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.