Bill Text: HI SB856 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Civil Liberties and the Constitution Day; Established

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-13 - Act 094, 6/7/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1194). [SB856 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB856-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 515

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 856

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Technology and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 856 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOLIDAYS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to recognize Fred Korematsu and his commitment to preserving civil liberties by establishing January 30 of each year as "Fred Korematsu Day".

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the American Civil Liberties Union, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Japanese American Citizens League, and numerous individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that Fred Korematsu is an American civil rights hero who refused to comply with Executive Order 9066 that mandated the incarceration of one hundred twenty thousand people of Japanese ancestry in 1942.  After he was arrested and convicted for defying the executive order, Mr. Korematsu appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled against him and held that the internment of Japanese-Americans was a military necessity.

 

     In 1983, Mr. Korematsu reopened his case, and his conviction was overturned in federal court based on subsequently discovered evidence that the government hid evidence from the Supreme Court which showed that Japanese-Americans did not commit any acts of treason to justify mass evacuation, incarceration, and exclusion.  In 1998, Mr. Korematsu was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

 

     In 2010, California established January 30 of every year as "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution", making it the first permanent day named after an Asian American in United States history.  Similarly, this measure establishes January 30 of every year as "Fred Korematsu Day" to celebrate, honor, and encourage public education and awareness of Fred Korematsu and his commitment to preserving civil liberties.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Technology and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 856 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Technology and the Arts,

 

		____________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair