STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1054

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   S.B. No. 939

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 939 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO JUNETEENTH DAY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to establish June 19 of each year as Juneteenth Day.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, Common Cause Hawaii, LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, Young Progressives Demanding Action, Community Alliance on Prisons, Pōpolo Project, Our Space, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Rainbow Family 808, and fifteen individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that although slavery was officially outlawed when the Emancipation Proclamation became effective on January 1, 1863, slavery in Texas did not actually end until June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and announced the end of slavery and the Civil War.  Your Committee further finds that Hawaii is one of only three states that do not recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or a day of special observance.  This measure recognizes the history and legacy of slavery in the United States and the many contributions made to the United States by African Americans through the establishment of Juneteenth as a day of special observation.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 939 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Culture, Arts, & International Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

CEDRIC ASUEGA GATES, Chair