Full Text of HB5902 99th General Assembly
HB5902eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Speech | 5 | | Rights of Student Journalists Act. | 6 | | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: | 7 | | "School-sponsored media" means any material that is | 8 | | prepared, substantially written, published, or broadcast by a | 9 | | student journalist at a public school, distributed or generally | 10 | | made available to members of the student body, and prepared | 11 | | under the direction of a student media adviser. | 12 | | School-sponsored media does not include media intended for | 13 | | distribution or transmission solely in the classroom in which | 14 | | the media is produced. | 15 | | "Student journalist" means a public high school student who | 16 | | gathers, compiles, writes, edits, photographs, records, or | 17 | | prepares information for dissemination in school-sponsored | 18 | | media. | 19 | | "Student media adviser" means an individual employed, | 20 | | appointed, or designated by a school district to supervise or | 21 | | provide instruction relating to school-sponsored media. | 22 | | Section 10. Free speech. Except as otherwise provided in |
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| 1 | | Section 15 of this Act, a student journalist has the right to | 2 | | exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored | 3 | | media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially | 4 | | by the school district or by use of school facilities or | 5 | | produced in conjunction with a class in which the student is | 6 | | enrolled. Subject to Section 15 of this Act, the appropriate | 7 | | student journalist is responsible for determining the news, | 8 | | opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored | 9 | | media. This Section shall not be construed to prevent a student | 10 | | media adviser from teaching professional standards of English | 11 | | and journalism to student journalists. There shall be no prior | 12 | | restraint of material prepared for official school | 13 | | publications except insofar as it violates Section 15 of this | 14 | | Act. School officials shall have the burden of showing | 15 | | justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of | 16 | | student expression under this Section. | 17 | | Section 15. Exceptions. This Act does not authorize or | 18 | | protect expression by a student journalist that: | 19 | | (1) is libelous, slanderous, or obscene; | 20 | | (2) constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy; | 21 | | (3) violates federal or State law; or | 22 | | (4) so incites students as to create a clear and | 23 | | present danger of the commission of an unlawful act, the | 24 | | violation of policies of the school district, or the | 25 | | material and substantial disruption of the orderly |
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| 1 | | operation of the school. | 2 | | Section 20. Liability. No expression made by students in | 3 | | the exercise of freedom of speech or freedom of the press shall | 4 | | be deemed to be an expression of school policy, and no school | 5 | | district or employee or parent, legal guardian, or official of | 6 | | the school district shall be held liable in any civil or | 7 | | criminal action for any expression made or published by | 8 | | students.
| 9 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 10 | | becoming law.
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