BILL NUMBER: AJR 2	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Evans

                        DECEMBER 6, 2004

   Relative to the full benefits of Filipino-American veterans of the
United States Armed Forces.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 2, as introduced, Evans.   Full benefits of Filipino veterans
of the United States Armed Forces.
   This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States to honor the contributions of Filipino-American war
veterans and direct the federal government to immediately pay
promised veterans' benefits as the first order of business of the
109th Congress.
   Fiscal committee: yes.




   WHEREAS, On July 26, 1941, when the Philippines were under the
sovereignty of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
pursuant to the Philippines' Independence Act, issued an executive
order that called all organized military forces of the Philippines
into the service of the United States; and
   WHEREAS, President Roosevelt's executive order enabled over
200,000 Filipino soldiers to be inducted into the United States Armed
Forces in the Far East (USAFFE); and
   WHEREAS, On December 8, 1941, just 10 hours after Japan attacked
the United States at Pearl Harbor, Japan bombed United States
military bases located in the Philippines and consequently brought
the Filipino people into World War II; and
   WHEREAS, On March 27, 1942, the United States Congress passed
Title 8 of the Second War Powers Act, which granted noncitizens who
served in the United States Armed Forces during the war United States
citizenship status and subsequently provided every member of the
USAFFE, certain individuals who served in the Commonwealth Army of
the Philippines, and certain Philippine Scouts equal treatment under
the law as provided by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution; and
   WHEREAS, On April 9, 1942, the United States surrendered the
Philippines to Japan which led 75,000 USAFFE, Commonwealth Army of
the Philippines, Philippine scouts, and other soldiers on the Bataan
Death March, whereby nearly 10,000 Filipino soldiers perished in
route to internment; and
   WHEREAS, On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered the Philippines
back to the United States and effectively ended World War II on the
islands of the Philippines; and
   WHEREAS, Despite the promise to provide citizenship status and
equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, in November 1945,
the United States State Department and the United States Immigration
and Naturalization Services placed a moratorium on all applications
for naturalization by Filipino war veterans; and
   WHEREAS, One month after the start of the moratorium, Congress
passed the Rescissions Act of 1946, which proclaimed that the service
of the Filipino veterans in World War II who served under President
Roosevelt's Executive Order were no longer deemed to have been active
military, naval, or air service for the purposes of any law of the
United States; and
   WHEREAS, In October 1990, nearly 45 years after the passage of the
Rescissions Act, the Congress passed and President George H.W. Bush
signed into law, the 1990 Immigration and Naturalization Act which
finally granted United States citizenship status to all Filipino
veterans; and
   WHEREAS, Despite being granted citizenship status, surviving
Filipino-American veterans have not been provided equal treatment,
recognition, or benefits for their service; and
   WHEREAS, As of September 2004, the number of surviving
Filipino-American veterans was approximately 28,000 (8,000 of whom
live in the United States) with a large population living in
California; however, this total is less than one-half of
Filipino-American veterans estimated to be living just four years ago
and the numbers continue to decline rapidly as nearly all of the
veterans are in their 70s and 80s; and
   WHEREAS, Many of these veterans are disabled, low income, and in
desperate need of existing services available to other veterans and
that were promised to them approximately 60 years ago; and
   WHEREAS, These Filipino-American veterans served the United States
during World War II and came to our aid in a time of need and the
failure to pay these benefits reflects poorly on the honor of our
country; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to
honor the contributions of our Filipino-American veterans and direct
the federal government to immediately pay them the veteran's benefits
as promised as the first order of business when the 190th Congress
convenes in January 2005; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker
of the United States House of Representatives, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.