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90_HB0154ham001
LRB9000672THpkam01
1 AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 154
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend House Bill 154 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
4 "Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
5 27-23.5 as follows:
6 (105 ILCS 5/27-23.5 new)
7 Sec. 27-23.5. Student publications.
8 (a) The General Assembly declares that public high
9 school students shall have the right to exercise freedom of
10 the press, and no expression contained in a high school
11 student newspaper, whether or not such high school newspaper
12 is school-sponsored, is supported financially by the school
13 or by the use of school facilities, or is produced in
14 conjunction with a class, shall be subject to prior restraint
15 except for the types of expression described in subsection
16 (c) of this Section.
17 (b) Each governing board of a school district that
18 publishes a high school student newspaper shall adopt rules
19 and regulations in the form of a written student freedom of
20 expression policy in accordance with this Section that shall
21 include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner
22 of student expression and that shall be made available to all
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1 students.
2 (c) Student freedom of expression policies shall
3 recognize that truth, fairness, accuracy, research, and
4 responsibility are essential to the practice of journalism.
5 Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted to authorize the
6 publication by students of the following:
7 (1) expression which is libelous as defined by
8 State law;
9 (2) expression which is obscene or harmful to
10 minors;
11 (3) expression which constitutes an unwarranted
12 invasion of privacy;
13 (4) expression which so incites students as to
14 cause imminent lawless action, including the violation of
15 lawful school regulations or the disruption of the
16 orderly operation of the school.
17 (d) Student editors of school-sponsored high school
18 student newspapers shall be responsible for determining the
19 news, opinion, and advertising content of their publications
20 subject to the limitations of this Section. The
21 responsibilities of a journalism advisor of student
22 publications shall include but not be limited to supervising
23 the production of the school-sponsored high school student
24 newspaper, maintaining professional standards of English and
25 journalism, and maintaining the provisions of this Section.
26 (e) Any student, through a parent or guardian, may
27 institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief in
28 the circuit court to enforce the rights provided in this
29 Section.
30 (f) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to
31 require a school district to have a student newspaper.
32 Further, the provisions of this Section do not prohibit a
33 board of directors of a public school from adopting otherwise
34 valid rules relating to oral communications or distribution
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1 of leaflets or other materials by students upon the premises
2 of each school.
3 (g) If any provision of this Section or the application
4 thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such
5 invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications
6 of the Section which can be given effect without the invalid
7 provision or application, and to this end the provisions of
8 this Section are declared to be severable.".
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