Soon after its formation, the Special Committee drafted several legislative recommendations for Governor Collins, who promptly pushed them through during a Special Session of the state legislature. The most consequential of these was Senate Bill 11-XX, also known as the Pupil Assignment Act, which was modeled after a similar North Carolina law. It allowed county boards to assign individual students to each school. So long as race was not listed as an official criteria for school assignment, the tactic was a legal way to prevent integration.
Senate Bill 11-XX or the Pupil Assignment Act. (Florida State University Heritage & University Archives, HUA 2018-062, Florida State University Office of the President: Doak Campbell Administrative Files, 1941-1957. Folder 30, item 10).
The law went into effect in the Fall of 1956. The memorandum below suggests rules for implementing the assignment law in public Florida schools. Notice section 8, which describes an arduous appeals process.
Memorandum to Florida County Superintendents and Suggested Rules and Regulations and Forms for Consideration by County School Boards when Planning Implementation of the Pupil Assignment Law. (Florida State University Heritage & University Archives, HUA 2018-062, Florida State University Office of the President: Doak Campbell Administrative Files, 1941-1957. Folder 30, item 10).
Pupil Assignment was not the only tactic used by segregationists. Florida politicians also passed an Interposition Resolution, claiming that the state has a right to block certain federal laws that encroach on state rights. Governor Collins vigorously opposed the interposition, believing the issue of segregation should be approached through legal means. As Florida Attorney General Richard Ervin explains in the document below, an interposition cannot overrule federal authority and is merely a statement on the position of the state. Still, many lawmakers insisted that integration was "impossible." Ervin cites the Hawkins case and a study on desegregation by the Board of Control as proof that integration would create "public mischief."
Opinion from Attorney General Richard Ervin to Senator Scott Kelly concerning the meaning and legal effect of an interposition resolution. (Florida State University Heritage & University Archives, HUA 2018-062, Florida State University Office of the President: Doak Campbell Administrative Files, 1941-1957. Folder 31, item 2).
A final option was also put on the table for supporters of segregation: closing public schools. The Last Resort or Local Option Bill was designed as a "safety valve" in the event that the Pupil Assignment Law could not effectively delay integration. The bill was passed in both houses but ultimately vetoed by Governor Collins.
Statement from Attorney General Richard Ervin to State Representative William V. Chappell Jr. concerning the Last Resort or Local Option Legislation. (Florida State University Heritage & University Archives, HUA 2018-062, Florida State University Office of the President: Doak Campbell Administrative Files, 1941-1957. Folder 31, item 6).
To his credit, Governor Collins eventually reversed his attitude towards integration. At the time of his 1955 inauguration, he was considered a political moderate, but he was still a firm supporter of segregation. Nevertheless, he advocated the rule of law above all else and called on Florida citizens to reject violence and hatred. In the end, he accepted change and even stood by the side of civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr.