BILL NUMBER: SJR 1	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Liu

                        MARCH 1, 2011

   Relative to the federal Morrill Act.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 1, as introduced, Liu. Postsecondary education: the Morrill
Act.
   This measure would congratulate the President of the United States
and the Congress on their foresight in enacting the Morrill Act
which allowed for the establishment of land grant colleges in the
United States.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, In 1862, the United States was engaged in a Civil War
which divided the nation and depleted its treasury; and
   WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States sought to energize the
vital intellectual resources of the nation by making higher education
accessible to the public, and thereby apply that intellectual
capacity to stimulate the national economy which, at the time, was
based in agriculture and mechanical arts; and
   WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln supported, encouraged, and
signed this legislation because it contained ideals that united the
North and the South and was able to be executed through the
allocation of land grants; and
   WHEREAS, This legislation, known as the Morrill Act, manifested
itself in California with the establishment of the University of
California; and
   WHEREAS, The impact of the University of California, and its
sister public institutions, the California State Universities and the
California Community Colleges, have educated millions of
Californians, strengthened not only the state's agriculture industry
as premised by the Morrill Act, but continued to assist the state's
economy in each successive wave of innovation, including the
industrial age and the information age; and
   WHEREAS, The people of California have experienced a profound
benefit from the Morrill Act; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully congratulates
the President of the United States and the Congress on their
foresight in passing the Morrill Act and memorializes them to renew
their commitment to accessible higher education and the support of
research in the interest of the nation; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author
for appropriate distribution.