Bill Text: CA SJR14 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Confederate names and statues.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 55-7)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 240, Statutes of 2018. [SJR14 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SJR14-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  August 15, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Joint Resolution

No. 14

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Introduced by Senator Glazer
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez Fletcher)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Baker)

September 01, 2017

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Relative to Confederate names and statues.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 14, as amended, Glazer. Confederate names and statues.

This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, highway markers, landmarks, or other federally owned property, such as United States military bases, that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America and would urge the Congress that statues or busts of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America in the United States Capitol be removed and placed in museums where they can be viewed in proper historic context.

Digest Key

Fiscal Committee: NO  

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Bill Text

WHEREAS, The Confederate States of America and its secessionist movement were rooted in the defense of slavery; and

WHEREAS, The United States of America continues to struggle with racial equality and tolerance; and

WHEREAS, Using the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America for federal buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property only deepens the pain of those living under the legacy of slavery; and

WHEREAS, The continued use of names of elected or military leaders of the Confederacy in public places is offensive to Americans who treasure the United States as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; and

WHEREAS, References to the elected or military leaders of the Confederacy belong in history books and museums, where their place in American history is viewed and discussed in proper context; and

WHEREAS, In 2015, the California Senate and Assembly approved legislation prohibiting the names of Confederate military and political leaders for state buildings, parks, roadways, or other state-owned property; and

WHEREAS, In 2016, the California Senate and Assembly approved a resolution urging the 114th Congress to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America; and

WHEREAS, August 2018 marks the one-year anniversary of the violent, racist protest in Charlottesville in which one counter-protester was killed; and

WHEREAS, The sight of people carrying swastika banners and Confederate flags at Charlottesville, Virginia—rallying against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee—was a reminder that we have much more to do to bring Americans together; and

WHEREAS, Any movement that welcomes Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists needs to be treated as a threat to our long-held principles of diversity, equality, and opportunity for all; and

WHEREAS, The death of Heather Heyer, who was peacefully counterprotesting counter-protesting the white supremacist rally, is remains a tragedy for America; and

WHEREAS, The use of Confederate leaders’ names in buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property in the United States only serves to further the discriminatory agenda of current sympathizers of the ideology of the Confederate States of America, and is antithetical to the United States’ mission of racial equality and tolerance; now, therefore, be it and

WHEREAS, The City of Alexandria, Virginia recently responded appropriately, by renaming the Jefferson Davis Highway to Richmond Highway; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges this new 115th Congress and the President of the United States to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, highway markers, landmarks, or other federally owned property, such as United States military bases, that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America; and be it further

Resolved,That the Legislature respectfully urges the United States Congress that statues or busts of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America in the United States Capitol be removed and placed in museums where they can be viewed in proper historic context; and be it further

Resolved,That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.