Florida Senate - 2021                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 490
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì342492/Î342492                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/17/2021           .                                
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       The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
       (Bracy) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 46 - 157.
    4  
    5  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
    6  And the title is amended as follows:
    7         Delete lines 3 - 42
    8  and insert:
    9         683.01, F.S.; designating Juneteenth Day as a legal
   10         holiday; repealing s. 683.21, F.S., relating to
   11         Juneteenth Day; deleting provisions designating
   12         Juneteenth Day as a special observance, to conform to
   13         changes made by the act; providing an effective date.
   14  
   15         WHEREAS, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln
   16  issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which afforded free status
   17  under federal law to the millions of enslaved African Americans
   18  who resided in states that had seceded from the Union, including
   19  Florida, and
   20         WHEREAS, despite the issuance of the Emancipation
   21  Proclamation, it was not fully enforced in certain regions of
   22  the United States for more than 2 years afterwards, and
   23         WHEREAS, on or about June 19, 1865, federal authorities
   24  arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the Emancipation
   25  Proclamation and further inform slaves that the Civil War had
   26  ended and that the enslaved were now free, and
   27         WHEREAS, thereafter, former slaves and their descendants
   28  continued to commemorate each June 19 to celebrate freedom and
   29  the emancipation of all slaves in the United States, and
   30         WHEREAS, emancipation in Florida was proclaimed in
   31  Tallahassee on May 20, 1865, and for this reason Floridians
   32  traditionally celebrate Emancipation Day on May 20 of each year,
   33  and
   34         WHEREAS, in 1991, the Florida Legislature officially
   35  designated June 19 of each year as “Juneteenth Day” to
   36  commemorate the freeing of slaves, but did not designate the day
   37  as an official legal holiday, and
   38         WHEREAS, this act designates Juneteenth Day as a legal
   39  holiday in this state to commemorate the announcement of the
   40  abolition of slavery and to recognize the significant
   41  contributions of African Americans to this state and our nation,
   42  NOW, THEREFORE,