Florida Senate - 2021 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 490 Ì342492/Î342492 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/17/2021 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 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,