House bill sponsor Ben Diamond says there’s nothing controversial about the proposed legislation
Two St. Petersburg based state lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are still unhappy and confused that Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill (SB 146) last week that called for a civic literacy program that would be included in high school government classes.
“Every member of the Legislature voted for this,” noted Ben Diamond, the Pinellas County based state representative who sponsored the bill in the Florida House. Republican Jeff Brandes, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said the proposal was essentially creating “the Eagle Scouts program for civics” that could give students real life experiences to intern and “build some advocacy for something that you believe in and work the process to get your ideas heard.”
But social conservatives called on DeSantis to veto the legislation, none more prominently than National Review columnist Stanley Kurtz.
Kurtz labeled the legislation a “stealth protest-civics bill – or “action civics,” writing that it’s a “practice that grants course credit for student political protests and lobbying, almost invariably for leftist causes.”