republic-os/legislation/us/states/il/94th/sb-2778.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "HIGHER ED-EMER WRKR ATTNDCE"
description: "Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act and various Acts relating to the governance of public universities in Illinois. Provides that no public university or community college attendance policy or attendance policy of a faculty member thereof may in any way penalize a student who is a volunteer emergency worker for absence from class caused by the performance of his or her duties as a volunteer emergency worker. Amends the Volunteer Fire Protection Association Act. Provides that no public university or community college attendance policy or attendance policy of a faculty member thereof may in any way penalize a student who is a volunteer fire protection association member for absence from class caused by the performance of his or her duties as a volunteer fire protection association member. Effective immediately."
jurisdiction: "us/states/il"
legislature: "Illinois General Assembly"
session: "94th"
identifier: "SB 2778"
citation: "Illinois SB 2778 (94th)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 32
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2006-01-20"
last_action: "2006-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1f820f19-60f1-4903-9cd9-976a4b35a497"
source_url: "http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2778&GAID=8&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=23862&SessionID=50&GA=94"
source_hash: "7a502dfd6bb2f1c7aa3a7f8aeb20eb851263237e2f1b36240cb10e221e6588dd"
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 2778 (94th) — HIGHER ED-EMER WRKR ATTNDCE

Amends the Volunteer Emergency Worker Job Protection Act and various Acts relating to the governance of public universities in Illinois. Provides that no public university or community college attendance policy or attendance policy of a faculty member thereof may in any way penalize a student who is a volunteer emergency worker for absence from class caused by the performance of his or her duties as a volunteer emergency worker. Amends the Volunteer Fire Protection Association Act. Provides that no public university or community college attendance policy or attendance policy of a faculty member thereof may in any way penalize a student who is a volunteer fire protection association member for absence from class caused by the performance of his or her duties as a volunteer fire protection association member. Effective immediately.

## 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=09400SB2778&GA=94&SessionId=50&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=23862&DocNum=2778&GAID=8&Session=&print=true)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09400SB2778eng&GA=94&SessionId=50&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=23862&DocNum=2778&GAID=8&Session=&print=true)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09400SB2778enr&GA=94&SessionId=50&DocTypeId=SB&LegID=23862&DocNum=2778&GAID=8&Session=&print=true)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **57–0** (pass) · upper
- Third Reading — **111–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Todd Sieben — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2006-01-20** Filed with Secretary by Sen. Todd Sieben `filing`
- **2006-01-20** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2006-01-20** Referred to Rules `referral-committee`
- **2006-02-01** Assigned to Higher Education `referral-committee`
- **2006-02-08** Do Pass Higher Education; 010-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2006-02-08** Placed on Calendar Order of 2nd Reading February 9, 2006
- **2006-02-22** Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Filed with Secretary by Sen. Todd Sieben `amendment-introduction`
- **2006-02-22** Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Referred to Rules `referral-committee`
- **2006-02-23** Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Rules Refers to Higher Education
- **2006-02-24** Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Recommend Do Adopt Higher Education; 008-000-000
- **2006-02-24** Second Reading `reading-2`
- **2006-02-24** Senate Floor Amendment No. 1 Adopted; Sieben `amendment-passage`
- **2006-02-24** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading February 27, 2006
- **2006-02-28** Third Reading - Passed; 057-000-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2006-02-28** Arrived in House `introduction`
- **2006-02-28** Placed on Calendar Order of First Reading `reading-1`
- **2006-02-28** Chief House Sponsor Rep. Robert W. Pritchard
- **2006-02-28** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2006-02-28** Referred to Rules Committee `referral-committee`
- **2006-03-02** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Jerry L. Mitchell
- **2006-03-08** Assigned to Higher Education Committee `referral-committee`
- **2006-03-23** Do Pass / Short Debate Higher Education Committee; 013-000-000 `committee-passage`
- **2006-03-24** Placed on Calendar 2nd Reading - Short Debate
- **2006-03-28** Second Reading - Short Debate `reading-2`
- **2006-03-28** Placed on Calendar Order of 3rd Reading - Short Debate
- **2006-03-30** Third Reading - Short Debate - Passed 111-002-000 `reading-3, passage`
- **2006-03-30** Passed Both Houses
- **2006-03-30** Added Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Rep. Donald L. Moffitt
- **2006-04-28** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2006-06-27** Governor Approved `executive-signature`
- **2006-06-27** Effective Date July 1, 2006
- **2006-06-27** Public Act . . . . . . . . . 94-0957 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1f820f19-60f1-4903-9cd9-976a4b35a497`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Illinois legislature records).