republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-308.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Students; DOE to establish guideline for excused absence due to mental and behavioral health."
description: "Public elementary and secondary school students; excused absences; mental and behavioral health. Requires the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no later than December 31, 2020, guidelines for the granting of excused absences to students who are absent from school due to mental or behavioral health and requires any student who is absent from school due to his mental or behavioral health to be granted an excused absence, subject to such guidelines."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 308"
citation: "Virginia HB 308 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Patrick A. Hope"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 35
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-12-31"
last_action: "2020-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c31adae4-e8b8-4bee-9470-7723ebd35d3b"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB308"
source_hash: "278644e51f550f0dd3091235da373e6e25e0b4495f076b33a0dc4b2ee953d130"
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-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 308 (2020) — Students; DOE to establish guideline for excused absence due to mental and behavioral health.

Public elementary and secondary school students; excused absences; mental and behavioral health. Requires the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no later than December 31, 2020, guidelines for the granting of excused absences to students who are absent from school due to mental or behavioral health and requires any student who is absent from school due to his mental or behavioral health to be granted an excused absence, subject to such guidelines.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0869)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0869)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB308ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB308ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB308)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB308)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB308H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB308H1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N) — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (60-Y 38-N) — **59–38** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate with amendment (38-Y 2-N) — **38–2** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education with substitute (13-Y 8-N) — **13–8** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 1-N) — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Adoption (59-Y 37-N) — **58–37** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Patrick A. Hope — primary (person)
- Chris L. Hurst — cosponsor (person)
- Elizabeth R. Guzman — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-12-31** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100877D `introduction`
- **2019-12-31** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-13** Impact statement from DPB (HB308)
- **2020-01-13** Assigned Education sub: Pre-K-12 `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 1-N)
- **2020-01-29** Committee substitute printed 20106887D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-29** Reported from Education with substitute (13-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-31** Impact statement from DPB (HB308H1)
- **2020-01-31** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-03** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute agreed to 20106887D-H1
- **2020-02-03** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB308H1
- **2020-02-04** Read third time and passed House (60-Y 38-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-04** VOTE: Passage (60-Y 38-N)
- **2020-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-05** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-11** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** Reported from Education and Health with amendment (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-21** Constitutional reading dispensed (32-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-24** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-24** Reading of amendment waived
- **2020-02-24** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2020-02-24** Passed by temporarily
- **2020-02-24** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2020-02-24** Passed Senate with amendment (38-Y 2-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-26** Senate amendment agreed to by House (59-Y 37-N)
- **2020-02-26** VOTE: Adoption (59-Y 37-N)
- **2020-03-02** Enrolled
- **2020-03-02** Impact statement from DPB (HB308ER)
- **2020-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-03** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 869 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c31adae4-e8b8-4bee-9470-7723ebd35d3b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).