A Florida Senate bill granting in-state tuition to undocumented students was halted Thursday night, and Gainesville advocacy groups are upset.
The bill, SB 1400, would have qualified undocumented students for in-state tuition if they attended a Florida high school for four years. The House bill passed in March.
Its Senate twin was one committee away from a general assembly vote, which would have meant passage of the bill, when state Sen. Joe Negron announced he would not add the bill to the agenda for the final meeting of the Senate appropriations committee.
“In-state tuition discounts should, in my view, be reserved for legal residents of Florida,” Negron told the Miami Herald.
The announcement is a blow to groups who had hoped for passage. Colleen Baublitz of Gainesville’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter called the decision illogical and unfounded.
“We are very dismayed,” she said. “There was large support across state from universities and state legislatures. (The) bill looked like it would pass.”
Joselin Padron-Rasines, a spokeswoman for the Hispanic Students Association, said it’s only a delay for the bill.
“It’s only going to make us fight for it harder,” she said. “Legislators are not representing their constituents. Its the leadership that is in the way. We have a majority.”
UF declined to comment.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 4/18/2014 under the headline "Tuition equity bill hits roadblock in state Senate"]
