(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed legislation Wednesday that would allow students, parents and even private employees to sue schools and businesses if they say they are forced to learn what the bill defines as critical race theory.

The move appeared to follow a trend in which states seek to achieve policy goals by giving residents more power for civil action. In Texas, the Heartbeat Act established the public’s right to sue those who perform illegal abortions. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said Saturday that he wanted to do something similar to give citizens the power to block assault weapons in his state.

Earlier in the year, Florida’s Department of Education prohibited schools from teaching critical race theory, which posits that any analysis of American society should take into account its history of racism. The proposal would enshrine that prohibition as Florida law, but also go further, extending the principles to corporate employees who are given certain types of diversity training. 

It also adds the so-called private right of action for all those groups to seek damages and recover attorneys’ fees.

“The parents know best what’s going on,” DeSantis said Wednesday from Wildwood, Florida. “A lot of times these people will fear lawsuits more than a fine from the state Department of Education because when you do a lawsuit you get discovery.”

DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said the Florida law wasn’t the same tactic as in Texas, because an individual would have to be personally affected by critical race theory to sue. In Texas, essentially anyone can initiate legal action against an abortion provider.

The proposed legislation hasn’t been released, so it’s unclear how narrowly it will define the term critical race theory. DeSantis said Wednesday that it would be called the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, or Stop W.O.K.E. Act. 

Most teachers don’t even see critical race theory as part of their grade school curricula, but opposition to the idea has become a rallying cry for the national GOP. Attacks on CRT, as it’s sometimes known, may have helped Glenn Youngkin win back the Virginia governorship for Republicans. DeSantis is up for reelection in 2022, and although he denies he is looking beyond that, he is a popular choice to represent the party in presidential elections in 2024. 

At DeSantis’s campaign-style press conference on the proposal Wednesday, men and women held up no-smoking-style signs with CRT in place of a cigarette and a stop sign that read STOP W.O.K.E.

In addition to Florida GOP legislators, the event was attended by the Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo, a prominent conservative activist who has helped push the recent wave of critical race theory opposition.

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