Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 256 amends the Education Code to require a public college or university to excuse a student from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day, and it extends the cause for an excused absence to include travel for that purpose. The bill prohibits penalizing a student for an excused absence, and it deletes a requirement for the student to have notified each instructor not later than the 15th day after the start of the semester that the student would be absent for a religious holy day as a condition for being allowed to take an examination or complete an assignment from which the student has been excused.