BILL ANALYSIS SB 1256 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1256 (Hancock) As Amended June 23, 2010 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :34-0 EDUCATION 8-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Brownley, Nestande, | | | | |Ammiano, Arambula, | | | | |Carter, Eng, Miller, | | | | |Torlakson | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Designates January 23 of each year as Ed Roberts Day, a day of special significance. Specifically, this bill : 1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the life, career, contributions and death of Ed Roberts, and his life-long fight for the rights of individuals with disabilities. 2)Adds January 23, as Ed Roberts Day, to the list of days having special significance, and requires the Governor to annually proclaim January 23 as Ed Roberts Day. 3)Encourages all public schools and educational institutions to observe this day and conduct exercises remembering the life of Ed Roberts, recognizing his accomplishments as well as the accomplishments of other Californians with disabilities, and familiarizing pupils with the contributions that Ed Roberts and other Californians with disabilities have made to this state. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires public schools to close on or for a number of holidays, including, January 1, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lincoln Day, Washington Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, December 25, all days appointed by the Governor or the President for a public fast, SB 1256 Page 2 thanksgiving or holiday, and any other day designated as a holiday by the governing board of the school district; also requires, for some of these holidays that schools conduct exercises or instruction that focus students on the holiday's purpose. 2)Authorizes public schools to close on or for other holidays, if the governing board pursuant to an agreement under collective bargaining agrees; these days include Cesar Chavez Day and Native American Day. Also authorizes public schools to conduct exercises or instruction that focus students on the purpose of these holidays. 3)Requires public schools to remain open and celebrate specific holidays with appropriate commemorative exercises, including the anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, the birthday of Luther Burbank, Susan B. Anthony Day, and the anniversary of the death of Crispus Attucks (Black American Day). 4)Designates the Day of the Teacher, John Muir Day, California Poppy Day, Harvey Milk Day and Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day as days having special significance, when public schools are encouraged to observe and conduct specified commemorative exercises. FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal. COMMENTS : Edward Verne Roberts (January 23, 1939- March 14, 1995) was an international leader and educator in the independent living and disability rights movement who fought throughout his life to enable all persons with disabilities to fully participate in society. Roberts contracted polio at the age of fourteen, two years before the Salk vaccine put an end to the polio epidemic. He spent eighteen months in hospitals and returned home paralyzed from the neck down except for limited motion in the fingers on one hand. He slept in an iron lung at night and when out he survived by glossopharangeal ("frog") breathing, a technique for swallowing air using facial and neck muscles. He credited his mother with teaching him, by example, how to fight for what he needed after school administrators objected to his graduation from high school because he had not completed physical education and driver's education SB 1256 Page 3 requirements. After high school graduation and attending the College of San Mateo, he was admitted to the University of California (UC), Berkeley as the first student with severe disabilities to attend. He had to fight for support from the state Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to attend college because his rehabilitation counselor thought he was too severely disabled to ever get a job; he also had to fight for admission to and services at the university. When his search for university housing met resistance, in part because of his 800 pound iron lung, the director of the campus health service offered him a room in an empty wing of the Cowell Hospital. Roberts accepted on the condition that his living space was to be treated as a dormitory, rather than as a medical facility. His admission led to the admission of other students with severe disabilities, who joined him over the next few years at what evolved into the Cowell Residence Program. This group of students developed a sense of identity, began calling themselves the "Rolling Quads", and began to politically approach disability issues. The group later began advocating for disabled access (e.g., curb cuts) in the wider community, and to create the Physically Disabled Student's Program (PDSP). The PDSP was the first student-led disability services program in the country, and offered services that included free counseling, off-campus housing referrals and a repair crew whose expertise was in wheelchairs. Roberts continued to advocate for UC Berkeley disabled students throughout the 1960s; he earned his B.A. in 1964, his M.A. in 1966, and became a Ph.D. candidate in 1969 - all in political science at UC Berkeley. PDSP became the model for Berkeley's Center for Independent Living (CIL) and over 400 independent living centers across the country. Roberts was one of the early directors of CIL, which furthered a nuts-and-bolts approach to solving the problems of people with disabilities, including help in modifying cars and vans to enable them to drive. The CIL organized a referral service to develop a pool of reliable aides to help disabled people bathe, eat and dress. Under Roberts, the CIL also campaigned to remove provisions of Federal laws that discouraged the disabled from working, and also led campaigns demanding access to public transportation and seating aboard buses and trains. SB 1256 Page 4 In 1976, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Roberts as the Director of the DVR - the same agency that had once labeled him too severely disabled to work. He was the first Director with a disability, and served in that post until 1983. Roberts later returned to Berkeley where he co-founded the World Institute on Disability, an organization that works worldwide "to eliminate barriers to full social integration and increase employment, economic security, and health care for persons with disabilities." Ed Roberts is often called the father of the disability rights movement. He said that, "anger is a powerful energy. We don't need to suppress or get over our anger; we need to channel it into making change for the greater good. We need to make sure that we don't turn our anger in on ourselves or our loved ones, but focus it on removing obstacles, and making things happen. ? I get angry all of the time." This personal energy and unwillingness to accept the status quo made Roberts an effective advocate for persons with disabilities. This bill requires the Governor to proclaim January 23 as Ed Roberts Day, and designates January 23 as a day having special significance. This bill does not result in additional average daily attendance or funding for a school district, nor does it result in an additional holiday or day of school closure. The designation of a day of special significance simply triggers statutory encouragement for public schools to observe the day and to conduct commemorative exercises suitable to the day, as specified in law; however, the decision as to whether to observe any day of special significance or to conduct suitable commemorative exercises is left to the local district. If this day is observed, then suitable exercises would recognize Ed Roberts' life and accomplishments, as well as the contributions that he made to this state and country. Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0004966