BILL ANALYSIS
AB 37
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 37 (Furutani)
As Amended April 15, 2009
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Portantino, Conway, |Ayes:|De Leon, Nielsen, |
| |Block, Cook, Fong, | |Ammiano, |
| |Galgiani, Huber, Ma, | |Charles Calderon, Davis, |
| |Ruskin | |Duvall, Fuentes, Hall, |
| | | |Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |John A. Perez, Price, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, Audra |
| | | |Strickland, Torlakson |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California State University (CSU) and the
California Community Colleges (CCC), and requests the University
of California (UC), to work with their respective colleges and
universities to confer an honorary degree upon each person,
living or deceased, who was forced to discontinue his or her
postsecondary studies as a result of federal Executive Order
9066, which caused the incarceration of individuals of Japanese
ancestry during World War II.
FISCAL EFFECT : Probably minor absorbable costs (less than
$25,000 per segment) for UC, CSU, and 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 : In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 9066, incarcerati ng approximately 120,000
Americans of Japanese descent in detention centers during World
War II. The federal government issued an official apology in
1988 and provided reparations to thousands of Japanese Americans
who were unconstitutionally in terned during the war. A study
originally 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.
AB 37
Page 2
Several institutions in California and other western states have
recognized former students who were unable to complete their
studies as a result of Executive Order 9066 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. Most recently, UC
established a task force to consider how best to recognize its
interned former students.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000481