S 4307 New Jersey Senate · 2026-2027 Regular Session

"New Jersey History Day Act."

This bill designates December 18 of each year as "New Jersey History Day" to honor the state's role in American history and encourage civic engagement. It requires the Governor to issue an annual proclamation for the day and allows school districts to observe it through activities like lessons on local history, student projects, and visits to historic sites. To support these efforts, the New Jersey Historical Commission will create educational resources, promote participation, and offer grants to schools and community groups.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

May 2026

Committee Review

Jun 2026

Senate Passage

Jun 2026

General Assembly Passage

Governor

Introduced May 18, 2026 Last action Jun 30, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Reprint · 4 edits

MODERATE

The First Reprint of S4307 (New Jersey History Day Act) makes three substantive policy changes: it converts the Governor's annual proclamation from a mandatory requirement to a non-binding respectful request, adds a requirement that school district activities align with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies, and removes the obligation for the Department of Education to provide guidelines to school districts. A co-sponsor (Senator Moriarty) was also added.

REQUIREMENT

The Governor's annual proclamation recognizing December 18 as 'New Jersey History Day' was changed from a mandatory duty ('shall annually issue') to a non-binding request ('is respectfully requested to issue'). This removes any enforceable obligation on the Governor.

School district activities observing New Jersey History Day must now be 'aligned with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies,' adding a curricular standards requirement that was not present in the introduced version.

The entire subsection requiring the Department of Education to provide guidelines and information to school districts for planning New Jersey History Day activities was struck from the bill.

TECHNICAL

The language describing how school districts may observe the day was simplified from 'designating one day or one week to celebrate' to simply 'commemorating,' removing the specific time-frame guidance.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jun 30, 2026

Committee

Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee

lower

Jun 30, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed by the Senate (40-0)

upper

Jun 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Amendment (Voice) (Ruiz)

upper

May 18, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee

upper

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors