republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/152/hb-3.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 RELATING TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.	According to a recent CDC survey, the COVID pandemic exacerbated an existing mental health crisis for students. One in 5 school aged children has a mental health condition, and 45% of children may have experienced a traumatic event. This bill provides for excused absences for the mental or behavior health of a student and requires that any student taking more than 2 such excused absences will be referred to a behavioral health specialist. This bill provides a supplemental tool to identify students struggling with mental and behavioral health issues and legitimizes these struggles faced by many students. Moreover, this bill makes clear that the mental and behavioral health of students is a priority in this State.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	152	HB 3	Delaware HB 3 (152)	bill		enacted	Brian Pettyjohn David P. Sokola Edward S. Osienski Eric Morrison John "Jack" Walsh Kendra Johnson Laura V. Sturgeon Marie Pinkney Michael F. Smith Peter C. Schwartzkopf Russell Huxtable S. Elizabeth Lockman Sarah McBride Sherry Dorsey Walker Stell Parker Selby Trey Paradee Valerie Longhurst	2	9	2	2023-04-25	2023-08-16	openstates	ocd-bill/a7fb20d1-2536-4d98-8ce7-827a7cb63e33	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=130248	0e52d597ddbdade4dc22013f167a39e5486fda7fa5b95c92fc285182e316e971	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 3 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 RELATING TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

According to a recent CDC survey, the COVID pandemic exacerbated an existing mental health crisis for students. One in 5 school aged children has a mental health condition, and 45% of children may have experienced a traumatic event. This bill provides for excused absences for the mental or behavior health of a student and requires that any student taking more than 2 such excused absences will be referred to a behavioral health specialist. This bill provides a supplemental tool to identify students struggling with mental and behavioral health issues and legitimizes these struggles faced by many students. Moreover, this bill makes clear that the mental and behavioral health of students is a priority in this State.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source
2. HA 1 to HB 3 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 34–3 (pass) · lower
• SM — 15–6 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
• David P. Sokola — primary (person)
• Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
• Eric Morrison — primary (person)
• John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
• Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
• Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
• Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
• Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
• Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
• Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
• S. Elizabeth Lockman — primary (person)
• Sarah McBride — primary (person)
• Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
• Stell Parker Selby — primary (person)
• Trey Paradee — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2023-04-25 Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2023-05-10 Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 10 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-05-16 Amendment HA 1 to HB 3 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2023-05-16 Amendment HA 1 to HB 3 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2023-05-16 Passed By House. Votes: 34 YES 3 NO 4 ABSENT passage
• 2023-05-16 Assigned to Education Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2023-06-07 Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 2 Favorable, 5 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-06-30 Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 6 NO passage
• 2023-08-16 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/a7fb20d1-2536-4d98-8ce7-827a7cb63e33. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).