Bill Text: CA ACR27 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 27

Bill Title: St. Patrick’s Day, the Good Friday Agreement, and diplomatic relations between the State of California and Ireland.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 60-17)

Status: (Passed) 2023-04-19 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 30, Statutes of 2023. [ACR27 Detail]

Download: California-2023-ACR27-Chaptered.html

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 27

CHAPTER 30

Relative to Irish American heritage and Ireland.

[ Filed with Secretary of State April 19, 2023. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 27, Gallagher. St. Patrick’s Day, the Good Friday Agreement, and diplomatic relations between the State of California and Ireland.

This measure would recognize St. Patrick’s Day, the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and 90 years of diplomatic relations between the State of California and Ireland.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement has been reached. While there are still some outstanding issues, the agreement has been a considerable success. There are people alive on the island of Ireland today because of the continuous bipartisan support for the Good Friday Agreement over the last 25 years of state legislators, successive United States presidents, the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and elected officials working in partnership with the governments of the United Kingdom and of Ireland; and

WHEREAS, We honor the Good Friday Agreement, on this year of the 25th anniversary of its ratification, as the framework for lasting peace in Northern Ireland; and

WHEREAS, The Good Friday Agreement represented a landmark breakthrough that provided Ireland with a political framework to address its future; and

WHEREAS, The Good Friday Agreement acknowledged the right of differing political traditions to pursue their goals of remaining part of the United Kingdom or of Irish unity; and

WHEREAS, The Good Friday Agreement demonstrated democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences; and

WHEREAS, We recognize the British and Irish governments’ ongoing support and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It is the irrevocable foundation of the peace process regardless of the United Kingdom’s status regarding the European Union; and

WHEREAS, Despite the historic progress of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements, important issues remain unresolved in Northern Ireland, including securing justice for victims of state-sponsored violence and other violence and providing for the rights of all sections of the community; and

WHEREAS, Members of both political parties in the United States came together to support the Good Friday Agreement; and

WHEREAS, On March 17, during the annual celebration of the feast of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, Irish Americans join with adults and children of all ethnic origins for one day to become Irish and celebrate Saint Patrick, and this year we also celebrate and give thanks for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement; and

WHEREAS, We recognize the longstanding and richly multifaceted relationship between the State of California and Ireland. The Consulate General of Ireland in the City and County of San Francisco opened in 1933, and this year we celebrate 90 years of diplomatic relations. Ireland’s opening of a second Consulate General of Ireland in the City of Los Angeles in 2019 reinforces our strong and vibrant connections built on shared heritage, values, and ambition; and

WHEREAS, 2023 also marks the 175th anniversary of the first flying of the Irish flag by Thomas F. Meagher, who embodied the links between Ireland and the United States, started his life in Ireland, and died at the age of 43 as acting governor of the State of Montana; and

WHEREAS, In one lifetime, Thomas F. Meagher ran for election to the Waterford City Council, led the rebellion for freedom from British rule in Ireland in 1848, was sentenced to death, which was commuted to transportation for life in prison in Australia, from where he escaped, became a brigadier general in the 69th New York Infantry Regiment of the famous “fighting Irish Brigade,” and fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, including the Battles of Fredericksburg and Antietam. Thomas F. Meagher also became a friend of President Abraham Lincoln; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and 90 years of diplomatic relations between the State of California and the Republic of Ireland; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature celebrates the flag of Ireland as a symbol of the link between the United States and Ireland and as a symbol of peace; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the United States Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from this state; Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States, Geraldine Byrne Nason; Ireland’s Consul General to the Western United States, Micheál Smith; the Chair of the American Irish State Legislators Caucus and the 24th Chair of the Senate of Ireland, Senator Mark Daly; the national cochairs of the American Irish State Legislators Caucus: Assembly Member Carol Murphy, New Jersey; Speaker Robin Vos, Wisconsin; Senator Shannon O’Brien, Montana; Representative Brian Patrick Kennedy, Rhode Island; Assembly Member James Gallagher, California; Representative Fran Hurley, Illinois; and Representative Killian Timoney, Kentucky; and joint authors of this resolution: Assembly Member Matt Haney, Assembly Member Heath Flora, and Assembly Member Lisa Calderon.