CREATE CESAR CHAVEZ DAY
House Bill 4287
Sponsor: Rep. Belda Garza
Committee: Commerce
Complete to 7-26-01
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4287 AS INTRODUCED 2-20-01
House Bill 4287 would create a new act to designate March 31 of each year as Cesar Chavez Day in the state of Michigan. By creating Cesar Chavez day, the legislature would recognize the fundamental contribution that Cesar Chavez made to this nation by organizing farm workers to campaign for safe and fair working conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and the outlawing of child labor. The bill would provide the following biographical information about Cesar Chavez: Having begun to work in the fields of Arizona and California when he was ten years old, Chavez embraced the nonviolent principles of Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to crusade against racial and economic discrimination, coordinate voter registration drives, and found the United Farm Workers of America. In 1994, he was posthumously awarded the presidential medal of freedom. The bill would encourage individuals, governmental and educational institutions, and community organizations to pause on Cesar Chavez day and reflect upon the courage and sacrifice of a man to whom Robert Kennedy once referred as "one of the heroic figures of our time." (Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 and died on April 23, 1993.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.