---
type: "Bill"
title: "SCH CD-IL HISTORY INSTRUCTION"
description: "Amends the School Code. With regard to the required history of the United States course, provides that, beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the course must also include instruction on the history of Illinois."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "101st"
identifier: "SB 1601"
citation: "Illinois SB 1601 (101st)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 24
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-15"
last_action: "2019-08-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6b67f86f-89be-416e-9d21-28566ce38c60"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=1601&GAID=15&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=118631&SessionID=108&GA=101"
source_hash: "1fc25597e2c1000a5592b616fdb3b3c2bd89152445f57c1ff9ed11fad954b17a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-il"]
---

# Illinois SB 1601 (101st) — SCH CD-IL HISTORY INSTRUCTION

Amends the School Code. With regard to the required history of the United States course, provides that, beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the course must also include instruction on the history of Illinois.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB1601&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=118631&DocNum=1601&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB1601eng&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=118631&DocNum=1601&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=10100SB1601enr&GA=101&SessionId=108&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=118631&DocNum=1601&GAID=15&SpecSess=&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **74–42** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **53–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Elgie R. Sims, Jr. — primary (person)
- Robert Martwick — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-15** Filed with Secretary by Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr. `filing`
- **2019-02-15** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-02-15** Referred to Assignments `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-27** Assigned to Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-20** Do Pass Education; 011-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-20** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading March 21, 2019
- **2019-04-04** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2019-04-04** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading April 9, 2019
- **2019-04-10** Third Reading - Passed; 053-003-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2019-04-11** Arrived in House `introduction`
- **2019-04-11** Chief House Sponsor Rep. Robert Martwick
- **2019-04-11** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-04-11** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-30** Assigned to Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-08** Do Pass / Short Debate Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee; 012-008-000 `committee-passage`
- **2019-05-08** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2019-05-21** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2019-05-21** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2019-05-23** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 074-042-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2019-05-23** Passed Both Houses
- **2019-06-21** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-08-09** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2019-08-09** Effective Date January 1, 2020
- **2019-08-09** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 101-0341 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6b67f86f-89be-416e-9d21-28566ce38c60`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).