2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE BILL NO. 283(Substitute of Senate Bill No. 34 by Senator Cortez)
BY SENATOR CORTEZ AND REPRESENTATIVES ARMES, BADON, BERTHELOT,
STUART BISHOP, BROADWATER, BROWN, BURFORD, HENRY
BURNS, CARMODY, CARTER, CONNICK, DOVE, GAROFALO,
HALL, HARRISON, JEFFERSON, MIKE JOHNSON, NANCY
LANDRY, LEGER, LEOPOLD, LORUSSO, MIGUEZ, MILLER,
MONTOUCET, JAY MORRIS, PRICE, PYLANT, REYNOLDS,
SCHEXNAYDER, SEABAUGH, SHADOIN, SMITH, WHITNEY,
WILLMOTT AND WOODRUFF
1 AN ACT
2 To enact R.S. 17:274.1(D), relative to required courses of study; to provide relative to the
3 course content and curriculum for certain Civics and civics-related courses; to
4 provide relative to a survey of student knowledge of the history, principles, and form
5 of the United States government; and to provide for related matters.
6 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
7 Section 1. R.S. 17:274.1(D) is hereby enacted to read as follows:
8 ยง274.1. Civics and Free Enterprise; required; exceptions
9 * * *
10 D.(1) The legislature, in recognition of the national Civics Education
11 Initiative's efforts to ensure that every citizen can, at a minimum, demonstrate
12 the same knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history,
13 principles, and form of the United States government required of naturalized
14 citizens, hereby provides for the Louisiana Civics Education Initiative.
15 (2)(a) Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year:
16 (i) The curriculum for Civics, and courses permitted to substitute for
17 Civics, shall contain a unit of study that includes civics-related subject matter
18 of which naturalized citizens are required to demonstrate a knowledge.
19 (ii) As a means to inform civics-related curricula and instruction, each
20 student enrolled in Civics, or a course permitted to substitute for Civics, shall
21 be administered a test based upon the civics portion of the naturalization test
22 used by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to survey his
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions. SB NO. 283 ENROLLED
1 knowledge of the fundamentals of the history, principles, and form of the United
2 States government.
3 (b) The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall
4 promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this
5 Subsection.
6 Section 2. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or, if not
7 signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature
8 by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana. If
9 vetoed by the governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become
10 effective on the day following such approval.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions.