BILL ANALYSIS
AB 37
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 37 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 15, 2009
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill seeks to have the state's colleges and universities
confer honorary degrees on those persons who were forced to
leave postsecondary education institutions in which they were
enrolled due to federal Executive Order 9066 of 1942, which
caused the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during
World War II. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Trustees of California State University (CSU) and
the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
(CCC), working with their respective colleges, to confer the
honorary degrees.
2)Requests the Regents of the University of California (UC) and
urges the state's independent colleges and universities to
award the degrees.
3)Authorizes, where the degree is to be conferred upon a
deceased person, the person's surviving next of kin or a
designee to accept the honorary degree.
FISCAL EFFECT
Probably minor absorbable costs (less than $25,000 per segment)
for UC, CSU, and the CCC and their respective colleges and
universities to identify and locate those eligible, or their
next of kin, and to arrange and confer the honorary degrees as
part of regularly scheduled convocations or other ceremonies.
COMMENTS
AB 37
Page 2
1)Background and Purpose . In 1942, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to the
in ternment of approximately 120,000 Americans of Japanese
descent during World War II. A study published in 1949
(Robert O'Brien, The College Nisei ) determined that 2,567
Japanese-American students were enrolled in higher education
institutions in California, including 729 at UC, 221 at CSU,
and 1,245 at CCC. The author is seeking recognition of these
individuals through conferment of an honorary degree from the
institution they were forced to leave as a result of E.O.
9066.
2)Prior Efforts . Several institutions in California and other
western states have recognized such students by awarding
honorary degrees, diplomas, or honorary alumni status. In
1992, UC Berkeley presented diplomas to surviving students who
graduated in spring 1942 but were not allowed to return to
campus to receive their diplomas. In 2008, the University of
Southern California extended honorary alumni status to its
former students who were unable to complete their studies.
San Francisco State University and Sierra College have granted
honorary degrees to their interned former students, as have
public universities in Oregon and Washington. UC has recently
established a task force to consider how best to recognize its
interned former students.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081