republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2021/sb-1439.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	Students; guidelines on excused student absences, civic engagement.	Department of Education; guidelines on excused student absences; civic engagement. Requires, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, each local school board to permit at least one school day-long excused absence per school year for any middle school or high school student in the local school division who is absent from school to engage in a civic event. The bill allows local school boards to require that a student provide advance notice of the intended absence and documentation of participation in a civic event to be granted an excused absence.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2021	SB 1439	Virginia SB 1439 (2021)	bill		enacted	Jennifer L. McClellan	4	38	8	2021-01-15	2021-03-12	openstates	ocd-bill/b1331960-b238-4200-84f8-e7cb776d9cca	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+sum+SB1439	396f38c24b5b91325ebad2dd6e14bc69baf642a06ec05c05c3141aba35ad9348	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 1439 (2021) — Students; guidelines on excused student absences, civic engagement.

Department of Education; guidelines on excused student absences; civic engagement. Requires, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, each local school board to permit at least one school day-long excused absence per school year for any middle school or high school student in the local school division who is absent from school to engage in a civic event. The bill allows local school boards to require that a student provide advance notice of the intended absence and documentation of participation in a civic event to be granted an excused absence.

Version chain

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

1. CHAP0105 (committee substitute) — source
2. Presented and ordered printed 21102439D (committee substitute) — source
3. SB1439ER (committee substitute) — source
4. SB1439S1 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Continued to Special Session 1 in Education — 0–0 (fail) · lower
• Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 14-N) — 25–14 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N) — 5–3 (pass) · lower
• VOTE: Passage (61-Y 39-N) — 60–39 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N) — 35–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Education with amendment(s) (16-Y 6-N) — 16–6 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Education and Health with amendment (10-Y 5-N) — 10–5 (pass) · upper
• House amendment agreed to by Senate (25-Y 14-N) — 25–14 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Jennifer L. McClellan — primary (person)
• Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
• Jennifer B. Boysko — cosponsor (person)
• T. Montgomery "Monty" Mason — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2021-01-15 Presented and ordered printed 21102439D introduction
• 2021-01-15 Referred to Committee on Education and Health referral-committee
• 2021-01-18 Impact statement from DPB (SB1439)
• 2021-01-20 Assigned Education sub: Public Education referral-committee
• 2021-01-28 Reported from Education and Health with amendment (10-Y 5-N) committee-passage
• 2021-01-29 Constitutional reading dispensed (35-Y 0-N)
• 2021-02-01 Passed by for the day
• 2021-02-02 Floor substitute printed 21104293D-S1 (McClellan)
• 2021-02-02 Read second time reading-2
• 2021-02-02 Reading of amendment waived
• 2021-02-02 Committee amendment rejected
• 2021-02-02 Reading of substitute waived
• 2021-02-02 Substitute by Senator McCLellan agreed to 21104293D-S1
• 2021-02-02 Engrossed by Senate - floor substitute SB1439S1
• 2021-02-03 Read third time and passed Senate (25-Y 14-N) passage, reading-3
• 2021-02-05 Placed on Calendar
• 2021-02-05 Read first time reading-1
• 2021-02-05 Referred to Committee on Education referral-committee
• 2021-02-05 Impact statement from DPB (SB1439S1)
• 2021-02-08 Continued to Special Session 1 in Education
• 2021-02-12 Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 3-N)
• 2021-02-15 Reported from Education with amendment(s) (16-Y 6-N) committee-passage
• 2021-02-15 House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
• 2021-02-15 Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
• 2021-02-17 Read second time reading-2
• 2021-02-18 Read third time reading-3
• 2021-02-18 Committee amendment agreed to
• 2021-02-18 Engrossed by House as amended
• 2021-02-18 Passed House with amendment (61-Y 39-N) passage
• 2021-02-18 VOTE: Passage (61-Y 39-N)
• 2021-02-22 House amendment agreed to by Senate (25-Y 14-N)
• 2021-02-24 Enrolled
• 2021-02-24 Impact statement from DPB (SB1439ER)
• 2021-02-24 Signed by President
• 2021-02-25 Signed by Speaker
• 2021-03-01 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 1, 2021
• 2021-03-01 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 31, 2021
• 2021-03-12 Approved by Governor-Chapter 105 (effective 7/1/21) executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b1331960-b238-4200-84f8-e7cb776d9cca. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).