Delaware House Bill 163 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-1)
Status: Passed on June 30 2021 - 100% progression
Action: 2021-06-30 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Engrossed) [HTML]

The Delaware Code does not currently contain any explicit direction for public schools relating to school absences for observance of religious holidays. This Act requires schools to excuse a pupil's absence for observance of a religious holiday, and further requires districts and charters to have a policy discouraging teachers from scheduling tests, presentations and the like on days where some students may be absent for a religious holiday. A pupil who does miss a grading event must be allowed to make-up the test or otherwise recover credit. The Department of Education is directed to promulgate rules and regulations relating to implementation of this Act, including a list of holidays on which an absence for religious observance must be excused.

An Act To Amend Title 14 Of The Delaware Code Relating To School Attendance And Religious Holidays.

Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton [D]	Sen. Laura Sturgeon [D]	Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker [D]	Sen. Sarah McBride [D]
Sen. David Sokola [D]	Sen. Bryan Townsend [D]	Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]	Rep. Krista Griffith [D]
Rep. John Kowalko [D]	Rep. Eric Morrison [D]	Rep. Edward Osienski [D]	Rep. Bryan Shupe [R]

2021-06-24 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 17 N: 1 NV: 3 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2021-06-17 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 40 N: 1 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2021-06-30		Signed by Governor
2021-06-24		Passed By Senate. Votes: 17 YES 1 NO 3 NOT VOTING
2021-06-22		Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits
2021-06-17		Assigned to Education Committee in Senate
2021-06-17		Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NO
2021-06-17		Amendment HA 1 to HB 163 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
2021-06-08		Amendment HA 1 to HB 163 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2021-05-12		Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 5 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits
2021-04-28		Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=68637
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=68637&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB163
Text	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocumentEngrossment?engrossmentId=24624&docTypeId=6
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52334
Roll Call	https://legis.delaware.gov/json/RollCall/GetRollCallVoteByRollCallId#52495