Lawmakers could ban university trips to Cuba
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – State universities and community colleges may not be able to use any state money to pay for research trips to Cuba, or even help pay the cost to organize trips to Cuba.
A Cuban-American legislator has placed a ban on the use of state money in the House education budget that will be voted on Tuesday. Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, and an ardent critic of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, sponsored a similar ban in 2006. But the most of that law was struck down last summer by a federal judge.
The provision tucked inside the House budget states that community colleges and state universities cannot use state money or student tuition dollars to “implement, organize, coordinate or administer” or support the activities of traveling to countries designated by the United States Department of State as state sponsors of terror. Because the ban is in the actual state budget it would be good for just one year.
There are four countries on the U.S. terrorist list, but the legislation is aimed primarily at Cuba.