Bill Text: CA ACR74 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Filipino Americans.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 50-14)
Status: (Passed) 2011-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 112, Statutes of 2011. [ACR74 Detail]
Download: California-2011-ACR74-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: ACR 74 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 112
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2011
ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2011
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 16, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen, Campos, Davis, Fletcher,
Furutani, Roger Hernández, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Mendoza, Perea, Portantino, Yamada, Achadjian, Ammiano, Atkins,
Beall, Bill Berryhill, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Cook,
Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Gatto,
Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Jeffries, Ma,
Mansoor, Mitchell, Pan, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Silva, Smyth,
Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, and Williams)
(Coauthors: Senators Corbett and Kehoe)
JUNE 30, 2011
Relative to Filipino Americans.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 74, Alejo. Filipino Americans.
This measure would express the Legislature's apology, on behalf of
the people of the state, for violations of the civil liberties and
constitutional rights of Filipino Americans caused by
antimiscegenation laws that precluded marriage between Filipinos and
Caucasians, and its regret, on behalf of the people of the state, for
the suffering and hardship endured by Filipino Americans as a result
of governmental actions taken because of various policies and laws
it enacted.
WHEREAS, Filipino Americans have a long and documented history of
suffering discrimination, prejudice, and animosity in the State of
California; and
WHEREAS, Filipino Americans endured past transgressions and wrongs
committed against them through the implementation of state policies
and the passage of certain laws, including the segregation of
Filipino Americans through the use of separate public facilities and
targeted policies; and
WHEREAS, In the 1920s, sentiment against Filipino Americans was
fueled by the Department of Industrial Relations publishing "Facts
about Filipino Immigration into California" that contained an
introduction describing a "third wave of Filipino immigration," the
pace of which was characterized as being too great, and that implied
the wrong kind of Filipinos were immigrating to the state; and
WHEREAS, In 1921, the California Legislature passed an amendment
to the Political Code that allowed the legal establishment of
separate schools for children of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or
Mongolian heritage; and
WHEREAS, Once those schools were built, districts in Sacramento
County maintained separate education facilities in the communities of
Florin, Walnut Grove, Isleton, and Courtland, and Chinese, Japanese,
and Filipino children in these school districts attended segregated
schools until World War II; and
WHEREAS, Many counties in the state sought outside counsel on the
question of whether a county could issue a marriage license to a
Filipino and Caucasian couple, and in 1926, the Attorney General
issued an opinion stating that Filipinos were part of the Mongolian
race, and that marriage between Filipinos and Caucasians was
prohibited under antimiscegenation laws prohibiting marriage between
Mongolians and Caucasians; and
WHEREAS, In 1929, the California Legislature passed a resolution
requesting an enactment by the United States Congress to restrict
Filipino immigration; and
WHEREAS, The Northern Monterey Chamber of Commerce adopted
anti-Filipino resolutions proclaiming that Filipinos were
undesirable, depressed the wage scale of other nationalities,
possessed unhealthy habits, and brought in disease; and
WHEREAS, In 1930, the most explosive anti-Filipino riot occurred
in Watsonville where Filipinos were relentlessly harassed, and the
riot culminated in the killing of Fermin Tobera; and
WHEREAS, Anti-Filipino riots quickly spread throughout California
to cities such as Stockton, San Francisco, Salinas, and San Jose; and
WHEREAS, Anti-Filipino vigilante groups committed acts of violence
due to the beliefs that Filipino field laborers were intermingling
with Caucasian women, depressing wages in the harvest fields, and
taking jobs belonging to Americans; and
WHEREAS, In 1933, the California Legislature amended its
antimiscegenation law to cause any marriage of Caucasians with
"negroes, Mongolians, members of the Malay race, or mulattoes to be
illegal and void"; and
WHEREAS, In 1934, the federal government passed the
Tydings-McDuffie Act, also known as the Philippine Independence Act,
which limited Filipino immigration to the United States to 50 persons
per year; and
WHEREAS, Section 8 of the Tydings-McDuffie Act recognized the
Philippine Islands as a separate country and restricted immigration
by considering citizens of the Philippine Islands who were not
citizens of the United States to be aliens; and
WHEREAS, The Tydings-McDuffie Act paved the way for the Filipino
Repatriation Act of 1935; and
WHEREAS, In 1935, the United States Congress passed the Filipino
Repatriation Act, which encouraged Filipinos to return to the
Philippines voluntarily; however, those that chose to leave the
United States and wanted to return were subject to the 50-person
quota established in the Tydings-McDuffie Act; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature, on behalf of the people of
the state, apologizes to Filipino Americans in California for
fundamental violations of basic constitutional and civil rights
through de jure and de facto discrimination committed during the
1920s through the 1940s; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature, on behalf of the people of the
state, expresses regret for amending the Political Code to allow
separate schools for children of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or
Mongolian heritage; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature, on behalf of the people of the
state, expresses regret for the passage of a resolution requesting
that the United States Congress restrict Filipino immigration; and be
it further
Resolved, That the Legislature, on behalf of the people of the
state, apologizes to Filipino Americans for violations of civil
liberties and constitutional rights caused by antimiscegenation laws
that prohibited marriage between Filipinos and Caucasians; and be it
further
Resolved, That the Legislature, on behalf of the people of the
state, expresses its regret for the suffering and hardship those
individuals and their families endured as a direct result of
governmental actions taken because of the state's various policies
and laws that it had enacted; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Members of the Legislature and to the author
for appropriate distribution.
