STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2743 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 24, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. COMRIE, LIU, PERSAUD, RAMOS, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the Diwa- li school holiday The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 3204-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 3204-a. Hindu festival of lights school holiday. 1. The fifteenth 4 day of the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartik, known as Lakshmi Puja, shall 5 be a school holiday for any or all schools in a qualified school 6 district where the board of education or trustees determines such 7 schools have a significant South-Asian population. 8 2. A qualified school district, for purposes of this section, shall 9 include a city school district of a city having a population of one 10 million or more inhabitants and having an Asian population equal to or 11 greater than seven and one-half percent. The Asian population, for 12 purposes of this section, shall include those persons, adults and chil- 13 dren, who are fully or partially of Asian descent and shall include all 14 those persons and ethnic groups identified as Asian by the United States 15 census bureau in the most recent decennial United States census. In the 16 event that the state of New York or the United States census bureau 17 collects population data for the state of New York which denotes the 18 number of citizens of Asian-Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepali, 19 Myanmari, Bhutanese, Indo-Caribbean which includes Guyanese and Trinida- 20 dians, and Sri Lankan descent, then a qualified school district shall 21 include a city school district of a city having a population of one 22 million or more inhabitants and having a South Asian population, includ- 23 ing Asian-Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepali, Myanmari, Bhutanese, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04376-01-3

S. 2743 2 1 Indo-Caribbean which includes Guyanese and Trinidadians, and Sri Lankan 2 equal to or greater than three percent. 3 3. The school authorities of every qualified school district are here- 4 by authorized and directed to cause all public schools within such 5 district to be closed on Lakshmi Puja, during the festival of Diwali. 6 § 2. Section 3604 of the education law is amended by adding a new 7 subdivision 7-a to read as follows: 8 7-a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes of any 9 calculation under subdivision seven or eight of this section, the 10 commissioner shall disregard any reduction resulting from observance of 11 Lakshmi Puja, during the festival of Diwali and, if necessary, such 12 observed holiday shall be calculated as a session day. 13 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 14 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 15 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 16 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 17 completed on or before such effective date.

Establishes the Diwali school holiday

What's Happening

Why It Matters