HR 23
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 24, 2025
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Blanca Pacheco, Chair
HR 23 (Ortega) – As Introduced March 4, 2025
SUBJECT: César Chávez Day.
SUMMARY: Observes March 31 as César Chávez’s birthday and as a day of public service;
and, calls upon all Californians to recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go
through to feed all the families in our state and to learn from César Chávez's life and his mission
of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others. Specifically, this resolution makes
the following legislative findings:
1) César Estrada Chávez was born on March 31, 1927, in the North Gila River Valley in
Arizona on a small family farm his grandfather homesteaded.
2) César Chávez experienced the hardships and injustices of farmworker life firsthand. His
father lost the farm during the Great Depression, forcing the family to join some 30,000
farmworkers who followed the crops throughout California and lived in tents and makeshift
housing that often lacked a bathroom, electricity, or running water.
3) Through countless strikes, boycotts, marches, and fasts that produced many victories and
some defeats, César Chávez, who even considered vegetarianism an integral part of living
nonviolently, never stopped his peaceful battles on behalf of the farmworkers with whom he
shared his life.
4) César Chávez’s dedication to his work earned him the respect of some of our greatest
political and civil rights leaders, including Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and
Jesse Jackson. César Chávez's motto in life, "Si Se Puede!" or "Yes We Can!" has served as
an inspiration not only for Latinos, but for working Americans of all walks of life.
5) In 2000, the Legislature enacted SB 984 (Chapter 213, Statutes of 2000) to create the first
annual state holiday in the country on César Chávez's birthday, March 31. Under that law,
the State Board of Education also created a statewide curriculum on César Chávez.
FISCAL EFFECT: This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Michael Erke / RLS. / (916) 319-2800