BILL NUMBER: ACR 25 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 19, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 5, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wieckowski
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member
Logue )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Achadjian, Alejo, Allen,
Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez,
Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly,
Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell,
Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan,
Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez,
Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, and Yamada )
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Relative to Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 25, as amended, Wieckowski. Sikh American Awareness and
Appreciation Month.
This measure would designate November 2013 as California Sikh
American Awareness and Appreciation Month. It would recognize and
acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of
Sikh heritage to the state and afford all Californians the
opportunity to understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history
and shared principles of Sikh Americans.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, California and our nation are at once blessed and
enriched by the unparalleled diversity of our residents; and
WHEREAS, In our extremely diverse Golden State, there reside an
estimated 250,000 Sikh Americans, comprising about 40 percent of the
nation's Sikh population; and
WHEREAS, Sikh immigrants have resided in California for more than
a century, with the first Sikh immigrants having labored on railroad
construction projects, in lumber mills, and in the agricultural
heartlands of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Imperial Valleys; and
WHEREAS, The first Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in California was
established in Stockton in 1912, and Sikh temples have since been
established in communities throughout California, some like those in
Fremont, San Jose, West Sacramento, and Yuba City being huge with
accommodations for thousands; and
WHEREAS, While Sikh Americans have distinguished themselves in
numerous areas of endeavor, they have demonstrated particular success
in the areas of agriculture, security, trucking, medicine, and in
the creation of small, family-owned businesses; and
WHEREAS, Yuba City is referred to by many as "Mini-Punjab" with 10
percent of its population being Sikh or Punjabi; and
WHEREAS, Dalip Singh Saund, a Sikh, born in Punjab, India, earned
a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1924,
initially earned his livelihood as a foreman of cotton pickers in the
Imperial Valley, became a farmer, played a major role in raising the
funds needed to lobby for the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 that enabled
him and others to naturalize as citizens, and served as an elected
judge in the Westmoreland Judicial District from 1952 to 1956, before
becoming the first Asian American elected to the United States
Congress, where he served three terms from 1957 to 1963; and
WHEREAS, Bhagat Singh Thind, another Sikh born in Punjab, India, a
United States Veteran of World War I, who campaigned actively for
the independence of India from the British Rule, supported Indian
students and lectured on metaphysics throughout the United States,
has been honored by the Fred Korematsu Institute as a "Race in the
Courts Hero" for fighting his citizenship case in the United States
Supreme Court in 1923; and
WHEREAS, Narinder Singh Kapany of Palo Alto, a Sikh born in
Punjab, India, is an accomplished scientist and inventor, has been
awarded over 100 patents that spurred advances in lasers, biomedical
instrumentation, pollution monitoring, solar energy, and more, and is
widely acknowledged to be the father of fiber optics, a technology
that has allowed for high-speed digital communication; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans have served as mayors of California
cities, including David Dhillon in El Centro, Gurpal Samra in
Livingston, Amarpreet "Ruby" Dhaliwal in San Joaquin, Sonny Dhaliwal
in Lathrop, and Kashmir Singh Gill in Yuba City, and numerous Sikh
Americans have served as council members of California cities; and
WHEREAS, Sikh American communities of California continue to make
important contributions to our state and nation; and
WHEREAS, The Yuba City Sikh Parade, which commemorates the
inauguration of the holy Sikh scripture, Siri Guru Granth Sahib, is
held on the first Sunday of each November, rain or shine, and, in
recent years, the international event has attracted between 60,000
and 100,000 participants; and
WHEREAS, Sikh Americans throughout California celebrate the
coronation of Sikh scripture and Sikh festivals at the Gurdwaras and
with parades in cities across California and the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Sikh Council of Central California, other Sikh
organizations, and individual Gurdwaras participate in interfaith
meetings, seminars, conferences, meetings, and functions and share
the tenets of their monotheistic religion that respects other
religions and welcome all to their Gurdwaras, and try to promote
mutual understanding and respect among all peoples; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month
of November 2013 to be California's Sikh American Awareness and
Appreciation Month; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes and acknowledges the
significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to
our state, and by adoption of this resolution, seeks to afford all
Californians the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and
appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans;
and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution to the
Members of the Legislature, members of the California Sikh American
community, and other interested organizations or persons.