Juneteenth bill would no longer give California state workers a new paid holiday

A watered-down version of the proposal to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for California state workers has passed the Assembly and moved to the Senate.

When introduced earlier this year, the measure, sponsored by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, would have made June 19 a paid holiday for civil service employees along with those who work for California State University and California Community Colleges.

The proposal has since been amended. In its current form, Assembly Bill 1655 says state employees may take the day off on June 19 instead of using their “personal holiday” on another day. State employees receive one personal holiday per year that they may take any day, in addition to 11 paid holidays.

Juneteenth observes June 19, 1865, the day that slaves in Texas learned they had been freed.

“Juneteenth was the first major step of many in the fight for freedom and equality for Black Americans” that “not only celebrates the ending of slavery, but also serves as an annual reminder that we can only overcome our history if we make a conscious effort to learn about it,” according to comments Jones-Sawyer submitted in support of the bill.

Jones-Sawyer still wants state workers to have a new paid holiday, his spokesman, Richard Garcia, said Friday. Jones-Sawyer has floated the idea of dropping the college systems from the bill to reduce its costs while restoring the holiday for state workers, said Garcia.

President Biden signed a bill in 2021 making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Another bill would declare another holiday without giving state workers any more time off. Assembly Bill 1801, introduced by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-Van Nuys, would designate April 24 as Genocide Awareness Day.

That proposal cleared the Assembly late last month.

This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 3:00 AM.