PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A new Florida House bill filed by a lawmaker in Northwest Florida proposes stricter policies and new guidelines for instruction on Florida's public universities.

Rep. Alex Andrade says HB 999 is designed to address growing issues lawmakers across Florida have seen in recent years.

Andrade says it aims to course correct some of the programs that have lost their way.

But critics argue it's shuttering the minds of students and strengthening a political agenda. These are policies that constituents themselves have said they want.

Florida's HB 999 is the newest piece of legislation furthering conservative policy in education -- this time, at state universities.

The bill creates new hiring practices for university staff, such as prohibiting a school from using "Critical Race Theory" or diversity, equity and inclusion rhetoric on employment applications.

It also bans "CRT" and gender studies in the classroom, as well as any programs or campus activities related to the subjects.

"These are departments that only exist if there's a controversy to correct," Rep. Andrade said.

Rep. Andrade, who authored the bill, says filing the legislation was simply answering the call from voters.

"Conservative voters have told us for years that college campuses have been far too focused on political indoctrination and not enough focus has been on preparing students for the real world," Rep. Andrade said. "This is really serious."

Critics argue the existence of such programs that include diversity, equity and inclusion opens opportunities for students.

Former Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo-Smith, a Democrat, says HB 999 centralizes control for the governor, calling it "a hostile takeover of higher education."

"This bill will prohibit and ban on initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education as if its a bad thing," Guillermo-Smith said. "This is part of a culture war that Governor Ron DeSantis started with CRT and led to AP African American Studies and now he's conflating diversity, equity and inclusion with CRT."

"You've gotta look at what some of these national organizations are saying about this proposal," Guillermo-Smith said.

On Monday, the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Coalition Against Censorship released a statement saying the bill would “destroy higher education as we know it.”

The statement, sent to WEAR News by the organizations states in part "Florida’s HB 999 would destroy academic freedom, tenure, shared governance, and university independence in the state’s public higher education system."

It goes on to say "it would make Florida's colleges and universities into an arm of the DeSantis political operation."

"It's just evidence that they're exaggerating lying and making more political statements than policy statements," Rep. Andrade said. "I believe in our Republican majority legislature that my colleagues will agree with me, and yeah I believe it will pass."

In the bill, the Board of Governors will be required to develop a strategic plan to include standards at all 12 public universities in Florida.

They'll also be tasked with rewriting mission statements at each school to align with academic standards.

Andrade says he's hopeful will be heard within the first few weeks of the legislative session beginning in March.