Calif. bill would mandate Veterans Day observance

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2010 at 10 a.m.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's Legislature and state agencies would have to observe Veterans Day on Nov. 11, not another day that is more convenient for government employees, under legislation that is supported by veterans' organizations.

The bill by Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced was prompted by a veteran's widow who complained that the state Senate last year observed the holiday on Friday, Nov. 13. A year earlier, the Assembly gave its employees the day off on Monday, Nov. 10.

"I just thought it was kind of selfish. They weren't honoring anybody. They just wanted a three-day weekend," said Marian Forness, 78, of Rancho Cordova, whose letter to the editor of The Sacramento Bee drew Denham's attention.

Her late husband, retired Master Sgt. Maynard Forness, served 20 years in the Air Force.

Nov. 11 is the anniversary of the signing of the armistice in 1918 ending fighting during World War I. The 11 a.m. signing led to the historic phrase that the war ended at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."

"That day is special," said 20-year Army veteran Johnny Byrum, California commander of the American Veterans (AMVETS) organization. "Are we going to change the 4th of July? That's our Independence Day, and that's the day it is."

California lawmakers reacted similarly in 2005 after they discovered that only four of the 23 California State University campuses were observing Veterans Day on Nov. 11. Most officially observed the holiday following Thanksgiving or Christmas, when students and faculty already were on vacation. Legislators unanimously approved a bill by Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Clovis, requiring the universities to close on Nov. 11.

A generation ago, in 1968, Congress switched Veterans Day to the fourth Monday of October as part of the Uniform Holiday Bill. The law that took effect in 1971 is the reason Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day are observed on the closest Monday. But shifting Veterans Day drew enough protest that the observance was moved back to Nov. 11 in 1978.

Denham's bill, SB1057, applies to the Legislature, state agencies and University of California system. Villines' bill did not include the UC system, which has had a policy of closing on Nov. 11 since 2000.

State law already requires agencies to observe the holiday on Nov. 11. If the holiday falls on a weekend, agencies are closed on the closest work day, either Friday or Monday. Veterans Day remains one of 12 paid state holidays, after lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated Lincoln's Birthday and Columbus Day last year to save $27 million annually because of the state's budget crunch.

The Senate Rules Committee switched the holiday last year for employees' benefit and to avoid interrupting legislative business midweek, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who chairs the Rules Committee, spoke favorably of Denham's bill but did not commit to supporting it, she said.

"Certainly the historic significance of this has been lost. People are looking at this as another day off," said Denham, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 19th Congressional District seat in the June 8 primary.

The 16-year Air Force veteran chairs the Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee, which previously approved his bill.

That's why the date itself is so important, said retired Lt. Col. Pete Conaty, a 21-year Army veteran who is lobbying for Denham's bill on behalf of the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, AMVETS and the California Association of County Veterans Service Office.

"It's kind of a re-education process as people get older and kids grow up," said Conaty. "A three-day weekend, you kind of lose sense of why we're doing it."

Denham's bill is scheduled to be heard Wednesday by the Senate Rules Committee.

Several other bills are set for hearings Monday before the Senate Appropriations Committee:

- It would be easier to transfer from community colleges into the California State University system under SB1440 by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles. The bill would require that community colleges offer a degree guaranteeing students can transfer with the status of junior. Padilla says the current system delays degrees and costs students and schools extra money. Four other states have similar transfer-degree programs.

- The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation could buy private vendors' products if they are cheaper than items produced by its own inmates under a bill by Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley. SB1130 would end a requirement that the department give preference to the California Prison Industry Authority if the inmate-made products are more expensive or of lower quality.

- California drivers would get more warnings about red light cameras and could more easily challenge their citations under a bill by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. SB1362 would require that notices be posted at each intersection and at all major entrances to cities using the cameras. City officials would have to decide cameras' locations based on public safety and post guidelines on the city's website. Citations would be void if the city failed to follow the law. It was proposed by one of Simitian's constituents, who said she was misidentified three times by a red light camera in an area she had never visited.

- On Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee is set to hear AB2578 by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento. The bill would require that health insurers receive approval from state regulators before increasing insurance rates, premiums, co-payments, coinsurance and deductibles.
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Associated Press Writers Robin Hindery and Cathy Bussewitz contributed to this report.

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