Bill Text: NY S02743 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes the Diwali school holiday in certain qualifying school districts to commemorate the Hindu festival of lights.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S02743 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S02743-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2743

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 24, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. COMRIE, LIU, PERSAUD, RAMOS, STAVISKY -- read twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the Diwa-
          li school holiday

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3204-a
     2  to read as follows:
     3    §  3204-a.   Hindu festival of lights school holiday. 1. The fifteenth
     4  day of the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartik, known as Lakshmi Puja, shall
     5  be a school holiday for  any  or  all  schools  in  a  qualified  school
     6  district  where  the  board  of  education  or  trustees determines such
     7  schools have a significant South-Asian population.
     8    2. A qualified school district, for purposes of  this  section,  shall
     9  include  a  city  school  district  of a city having a population of one
    10  million or more inhabitants and having an Asian population equal  to  or
    11  greater  than  seven  and  one-half  percent.  The Asian population, for
    12  purposes of this section, shall include those persons, adults and  chil-
    13  dren,  who are fully or partially of Asian descent and shall include all
    14  those persons and ethnic groups identified as Asian by the United States
    15  census bureau in the most recent decennial United States census.  In the
    16  event that the state of New York or  the  United  States  census  bureau
    17  collects  population  data  for  the state of New York which denotes the
    18  number of citizens  of  Asian-Indian,  Bangladeshi,  Pakistani,  Nepali,
    19  Myanmari, Bhutanese, Indo-Caribbean which includes Guyanese and Trinida-
    20  dians,  and  Sri  Lankan descent, then a qualified school district shall
    21  include a city school district of a city  having  a  population  of  one
    22  million or more inhabitants and having a South Asian population, includ-
    23  ing  Asian-Indian,  Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepali, Myanmari, Bhutanese,

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04376-01-3
        S. 2743                             2

     1  Indo-Caribbean which includes Guyanese and Trinidadians, and Sri  Lankan
     2  equal to or greater than three percent.
     3    3. The school authorities of every qualified school district are here-
     4  by  authorized  and  directed  to  cause  all public schools within such
     5  district to be closed on Lakshmi Puja, during the festival of Diwali.
     6    § 2. Section 3604 of the education law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
     7  subdivision 7-a to read as follows:
     8    7-a.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law, for purposes of any
     9  calculation under subdivision  seven  or  eight  of  this  section,  the
    10  commissioner  shall disregard any reduction resulting from observance of
    11  Lakshmi Puja, during the festival of  Diwali  and,  if  necessary,  such
    12  observed holiday shall be calculated as a session day.
    13    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    14  it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    15  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    16  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    17  completed on or before such effective date.