Florida bills target Chinese ‘mass infiltration and theft of American research’
(The Center Square) – Florida lawmakers will consider legislation restricting the interactions of state entities, largely state universities and medical research centers, with foreign governments, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on the eve of the Legislature convening its 60-day session Tuesday in Tallahassee.
The governor said state lawmakers during the 2021 session must take precautions against attempts by foreign governments, most notably China, to infiltrate agencies and universities to steal trade secrets.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s mass infiltration and theft of American research is well-documented, resulting in numerous arrests at college campuses across the country just within the last couple of years,” DeSantis said Monday.
Flanked Monday by House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, and Republicans from both chambers who will co-sponsor the yet un-filed bill, the governor added, “It’s high time we tackled these issues and eliminated any tolerance of clandestine foreign influence in our schools.”
China has been a target, especially among Republicans and particularly by former President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters – most notably, the governor of Florida.
As such, the measure would slide right onto a sled of bills reflecting conservative ideological domination of the Legislature.
Advancing through committees during preliminary January and February hearings are fast-tracked proposals to adopt COVID-19 liability protections, impose criminal penalties on protesters, erect new mail-in ballot requirements, further enlarge the nation’s biggest school choice program and slap “free speech” prohibitions on Big Tech social media platforms.
But there is legitimate cause for action against trade secret theft, especially by China, Republicans argue, noting the Confucian Institute, an oft-cited as a primary source of “plants,” was integrated into several Florida schools, including Miami-Dade College.
Other recent instances of concern include a former University of Florida professor charged with fraud in February for allegedly accepting a federal grant while concealing the Chinese source of other grants for his research, and Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center administrators being ousted for alleged failure to disclose receiving money to recruit U.S. researchers to work in China.
Sprowls, who spearheaded a 2019 committee probe of the four University of Central Florida professors who resigned or were fired amid fears of theft of research by China, said the issue is more urgent than some would realize.
“It sounds like an Ian Fleming novel,” he said, “but, in fact, here in Florida it is very real. China is engaged in an aggressive propaganda and espionage campaign right here in the state of Florida.”
Sen. Manny Díaz, R-Hialeah Gardens, will carry the measure in the Senate, and Reps. Mike Beltran, R-Lithia, and Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, in the House.
Under the bill’s vague parameters, screening of overseas applicants for university research positions would be boosted; scrutiny of overseas travel required; and higher education gifts of $50,000 or more from foreign sources extensively examined.
Also, state and local agencies must disclose grants, gifts, or anything more than $50,000 from overseas sources and are barred from accepting donations or entering agreements with foreign entities.
The companion bills will allow state inspectors general to conduct random audits and the state’s Attorney General to issue penalties up to 105 percent of any grant or gift.
Incorporated in the package will be boosted penalties for trade-secrets theft or trafficking in trade secrets and statute that allows state courts to issue injunctions against improper use of trade secrets of assess royalties for their use.
In addition to China, the prohibitions would also apply to grants received from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria or Venezuela sources.
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