A proposal that would prevent publicly funded entertainment venues from breaking contracts with performers based on comments or political affiliations started to move forward Tuesday in the Senate.
The Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 4-1 to approve the measure (SB 1206), dubbed the “Right to Rock Act.”
The bill would apply to venues including schools, universities and other facilities that are operated, built or funded by the government.
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“They should not be deciding what is lawful speech, what is not lawful speech or what is appropriate speech,” bill sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said. “Private venues, private concert halls, they can discriminate however they want to based on speech. That’s their constitutional right.”
Without giving specifics, Martin said, “some live performers believe that they had their concerts canceled at venues because of their lawful exercise of free speech.”
A House version of the bill (HB 15) has not been heard in committees.
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