BILL NUMBER: SB 1256 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 37222 of the Education Code, and to add
Section 6722 to the Government Code, relating to Ed Roberts Day.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1256, as introduced, Hancock. Ed Roberts Day.
Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim certain days each
year for specified reasons. Existing law also designates particular
days each year as having special significance in public schools and
educational institutions and encourages those entities to conduct
suitable commemorative exercises on those dates.
This bill would provide that the Governor proclaim January 23 of
each year as Ed Roberts Day, would designate that date as having
special significance in public schools and educational institutions,
and would encourage those entities to conduct suitable commemorative
exercises on that date.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares the
following:
(a) Edward Verne Roberts was born January 23, 1939.
(b) Ed contracted polio as an adolescent in 1953. For the first
year of his illness, he spent nearly all of his time in a hospital.
Eventually he left the hospital, but had to spend vast expanses of
time in an iron lung.
(c) His career as an advocate began when a high school
administrator threatened to deny him a diploma because he had not
completed driver's education and physical education.
(d) After attending the College of San Mateo, in 1962 he was
admitted to the University of California at Berkeley where he became
the first severely disabled student to attend UC Berkeley.
(e) When his search for housing at the university met resistance,
in part because of the iron lung that he slept in at night, the
director of the campus hospital offered him a room in an empty wing.
Ed accepted on the condition that it be treated as dormitory space.
(f) Other significantly disabled students joined him there over
the next few years. They began calling themselves the "Rolling Quads."
(g) In 1968 when two were threatened with a loss of services by a
rehabilitation counselor, the "Rolling Quads" organized a successful
protest that led to the counselor's transfer. Their success on campus
inspired the group to advocate for curb cuts, opening access to the
wider community, and creating the first student-led disability
services program at a university in the nation.
(h) The student program in turn led to the creation, in Berkeley,
of the nation's first center for independent living. Roberts assumed
leadership of the Center for Independent Living, Berkeley, and guided
its development as a model for disability advocacy and self-help
services across the nation and around the world.
(i) Ed Roberts earned a B.A. in 1964 and an M.A. in 1966, both
from UC Berkeley, in Political Science. He also taught political
science at the university for six years.
(j) In 1975, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Ed Roberts Director of
the Department of Rehabilitation. He served in that post until 1983
when he co-founded the World Institute on Disability.
(k) Ed Roberts died from natural causes on March 14, 1995.
SEC. 2. Section 37222 of the Education Code is amended to read:
37222. (a) The following days in each year are designated and set
apart as days having special significance:
(1) The second Wednesday in May as the Day of the Teacher.
(2) April 21 of each year as John Muir Day.
(3) April 6 of each year as California Poppy Day.
(4) May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day.
(5) January 23 of each year as Ed Roberts Day.
(b) On each of the days designated in subdivision (a), all public
schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe those
days and to conduct suitable commemorative exercises as follows:
(1) On the Day of the Teacher, exercises commemorating and
directing attention to teachers and the teaching profession.
(2) On John Muir Day, exercises stressing the importance that an
ecologically sound natural environment plays in the quality of life
for all of us, and emphasizing John Muir's significant contributions
to the fostering of that awareness and the indelible mark he left on
the State of California.
(3) On California Poppy Day, exercises honoring the California
Poppy, including instruction about native plants, particularly the
California Poppy, and the economic and aesthetic value of
wildflowers; promoting responsible behavior toward our natural
resources and a spirit of protection toward them; and emphasizing the
value of natural resources and conservation of natural resources.
(4) On Harvey Milk Day, exercises remembering the life of Harvey
Milk, recognizing his accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with
the contributions he made to this state.
(5) On Ed Roberts Day, 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.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that the exercises
encouraged in this section be integrated into the regular school
program, and be conducted by the school or institution within the
amount otherwise budgeted for educational programs.
SEC. 3. Section 6722 is added to the Government Code, to read:
6722. The Governor shall annually proclaim January 23 as Ed
Roberts Day.