The House Government Operations Subcommittee advanced a measure that would mandate foreign agents register and disclose their funding sources.

Apollo Beach Republican Rep. Michael Owen introduced the bill (HB 583), which would implement stricter policies around foreign political organizations.

“This bill is not a ban on participating in political activities, it doesn’t say you can’t participate in political activities whatsoever, this is a transparency bill,” Owen said. “It’s long overdue. Our enemies, as you know, they live in the shadows, they fund organizations and groups that are anti-American, they purchase our physical property, use our intellectual property laws against us, and use our citizens even against us.”

Owen explained that the bill requires individuals in organizations acting as agents of foreign principals to register with the Division of Elections and complete forms disclosing their identity, affiliations, financial transactions and political activities by Jan. 1, 2026.

“There are update requirements to the bill, and it authorizes the Florida Elections Commission to force compliance. It imposes fines for non-compliance, which is very important. It’s $500 per occurrence, $2,000 for repeated, and there are heightened penalties for violations involving hostile foreign principals,” Owen said.

“Hostile principals,” as defined in the legislation, include China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

“This bill does not prohibit lobbying for foreign interests, nor does it ban or restrict certain activities,” Owen said. “As stated before, it is purely to promote transparency with respect to foreign influence over American public opinion, policy and laws. This is not vague, it’s not ambiguous … maybe it’s a little inconvenient. Maybe it’s a little detailed. But that price to me is worth it.”

Owen said the need for the legislation is “critical” and further noted that lawmakers need to make a move to prevent foreign interference in American processes.

“This transparency bill to sum up, seeks to mandate registration of foreign agents, opens foreign supported political organizations to disclosure of foreign funding sources, and establishes penalties for non-compliance,” Owen said. “We have got to take steps right now to stop foreign influence in our political processes.

During debate, Spring Hill Republican Rep. Jeff Holcomb said that the listed “hostile principals” are “doing way more than what most people come close to realizing,” and that Owen’s bill was a step in the right direction.

The committee passed the measure by a vote of 16 to 0 and will now go to the State Affairs Committee.

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Higher education institutions that fail to effectively tamp down on antisemitism will face continued defunding until they correct course, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon says.

“Discrimination in any form is not to be tolerated on any campus,” she said. “It’s totally unacceptable.”

McMahon is doubling down on actions President Donald Trump’s administration took to address violence and discrimination against Jewish students at schools across the country, including canceling $400 million from Columbia University early this month.

McMahon said Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong has since asked for a list of actions the school must take to regain the funding. She described Armstrong’s request as “incredibly sincere.”

Columbia has become the first target in Trump’s campaign to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The university was at the forefront of U.S. campus protests over the war last Spring. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment in April and inspired a wave of similar protests. Protesters at Columbia went on to seize a campus building, resulting in dozens of arrests when police cleared the building.

Meanwhile, congressional Republicans grilled Columbia then-President Minouche Shafik about the university’s response to antisemitism. Shafik said she was “personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly.” She resigned four months later.

A few weeks after that, a university task force said that Jews and Israelis at the school were ostracized from student groups, humiliated in classrooms and subjected to verbal abuse amid the spring demonstrations.

In recent days, a much smaller contingent of demonstrators have staged brief occupations of buildings at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College to protest the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several students were arrested following an hours-long takeover of a building Wednesday.

Many people involved in the protests have said there’s nothing antisemitic about criticizing Israel over its actions in Gaza or expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

Some students, and an attorney advising them, see the university’s new disciplinary crackdown as an effort to mollify the government by suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.

Federal immigration authorities this month arrested multiple people who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. One had their student visa revoked. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration is expecting to revoke more student visas in the coming days.

Columbia is among a handful of colleges that have come under new federal antisemitism investigations. Others include the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; Northwestern University; and Portland State University.

“(To) our higher ed institutions, one of the things I wanted to make clear was this is not about free speech. This is about civil rights,” McMahon said. “Have debates, voice differences of opinion, but … let’s do it in a way that’s nonviolent.”

McMahon’s comments came Tuesday afternoon during a roundtable discussion on education at the Kendall campus of True North Classical Academy, a charter network in Miami-Dade.

Other roundtable participants included, among others, Florida International University Interim President Jeanette Nuñez, Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega, Miami-Dade School Board member Monical Colucci, education entrepreneur and former Collier County School Board member Erika Donalds, and former state Rep. Michael Bileca, True North’s CEO.

Nuñez, Florida’s immediate past Lieutenant Governor, said the state is “leading the charge” on combating on-campus antisemitism. After the Oct. 7 attack, she said, state lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis worked to “eliminate any opportunity to do any sort of camping” and ensure that protestors “could not cover their faces with masks” to shield themselves from consequence.

Laws the Legislature passed include measures defining antisemitism in Florida statute, allowing for recurring funding for private security at Jewish schools and hiking penalties for religious and ethnic harassment, among others.

Colucci noted that in August, the Miami-Dade School Board approved an initiative to review whether district-approved curriculum includes examples of antisemitism. Other school boards in Florida have taken similar steps.

Pumariega said Miami Dade College made its policies against antisemitism known early and that most on-campus agitators aren’t students and have no connection to the institution. But while Florida’s educational institutions have indeed led the fight against anti-Jewish speech and actions, she said, some other states have not passed laws strong enough for their schools to enforce rules against on-campus discrimination.

McMahon said she’d look into it.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent letters to 60 colleges and universities last week advising them that they are under investigation for violations “relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” The letters, McMahon said, warned the schools to take corrective steps or lose “enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers.”

“That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws,” she said.

Two Florida schools, the University of South Florida and University of Tampa, were on the list.

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Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. Republished with permission.

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