SB-0352,As Passed Senate, June 11, 2003                                     

SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILL NO. 352

                                                                             A bill to designate March 31 of each year as Cesar E. Chavez                      

day in the state of Michigan.                                               

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

1       Sec. 1.  (1) The legislature recognizes the fundamental                     

2   contribution that Cesar E. Chavez made to this nation by                    

3   organizing farm workers to campaign for safe and fair working               

4   conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and the outlawing             

5   of child labor.  Cesar E. Chavez began working in the fields of             

6   Arizona and California at the age of 10.  Profoundly influenced             

7   by these humble beginnings, Chavez embraced the nonviolent                  

8   principles of Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to           

9   crusade against racial and economic discrimination, coordinate              

10  voter registration drives, and found the united farm workers of             

11  America.  In 1994, Chavez was posthumously awarded the                      

12  presidential medal of freedom, the highest honor given to                   

1   civilians by the United States government.  In memory of this               

2   great American, the legislature declares that March 31 of each              

3   year shall be known as "Cesar E. Chavez Day".                               

4       (2) The legislature encourages individuals, governmental and                

5   educational institutions, and community organizations to pause on           

6   Cesar E. Chavez day and reflect upon the courage and sacrifice of           

7   a man to whom Robert Kennedy once referred as "one of the heroic            

8   figures of our time".