Bill Text: CA SB537 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: City or County of Los Angeles: memorial to forcibly deported Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 859, Statutes of 2024. [SB537 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB537-Enrolled.html

---

Enrolled  September 04, 2024

Passed  IN  Senate  August 30, 2024

Passed  IN  Assembly  August 28, 2024

Amended  IN  Assembly  August 23, 2024

Amended  IN  Assembly  August 06, 2024

Amended  IN  Assembly  June 10, 2024

Amended  IN  Assembly  September 05, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  August 14, 2023

Amended  IN  Senate  April 24, 2023

Amended  IN  Senate  March 22, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 537

---

Introduced by Senators Becker and Gonzalez
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Caballero, Durazo, Hurtado, Limón, and Rubio)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alvarez, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Ortega, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Blanca Rubio, and Ting)

February 14, 2023

---

An act to add Sections 14638 and 14638.1 to the Government Code, relating to memorials.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 537, Becker. City or County of Los Angeles: memorial to forcibly deported Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants.

Existing law provides for various memorials and monuments on the grounds of the State Capitol. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to maintain state buildings and grounds.

Existing law, the Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program, makes findings and declarations regarding the unconstitutional removal and coerced emigration of United States citizens and legal residents of Mexican descent, between the years 1929 and 1944, to Mexico from the United States during the 1930s “Mexican Repatriation” Program. Existing law expresses the apology of the State of California to those individuals who were illegally deported and coerced into emigrating to Mexico and requires that a plaque to commemorate those individuals be installed and maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation in an appropriate public place in the City or County of Los Angeles.

This bill would authorize a nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants to enter into negotiations to plan, construct, and maintain a memorial to Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants who were forcibly deported from the United States during the Great Depression, as provided. The bill would require the memorial to be located at an appropriate public place in the City or County of Los Angeles. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to enter into negotiations with the Department of General Services and the state agency with jurisdiction over the state property where the memorial is proposed, where applicable, if the nonprofit organization proposes to locate the memorial on state property. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to submit a plan for the memorial to the department and the applicable state agency for review and approval. The bill would require these provisions to be funded exclusively through private sources.

This bill would, if the nonprofit organization proposes a site owned by the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles for location of the memorial, require the nonprofit organization to follow any procedures that the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles require to consider approving the proposed memorial.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

---

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) “Mexican Repatriation” was a forced deportation program for Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants from the United States, primarily from California and southwestern states, during the Great Depression.

(b) The program was carried out under the guise of creating jobs for “real Americans” during the economic crisis, even though the majority of the 2,000,000 deported nationwide were citizens of the United States. In California alone, it is estimated that around 400,000 people of Mexican descent, including United States citizens and legal residents, were forcibly deported or coerced into leaving through tactics like raids, threats, and acts of violence.

(c) The program was initiated by the Hoover Administration in 1929, with local authorities conducting massive raids on both Mexican American and Mexican immigrant communities indiscriminately. People were rounded up, separated from families, transported by rail, automobile, ship, and airplane to Mexico, and stripped of their citizenship and property in the process. The deportations violated the civil liberties and constitutional rights of United States citizens.

(d) The largest and most well-known of these efforts took place in the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.

(e) In 1931, one City of Los Angeles raid rounded up more than 400 people at La Placita Park and deported them to Mexico.

(f) In total, it is estimated that of the 2,000,000 people of Mexican descent who were forcibly relocated to Mexico during the program, over one-half were United States citizens.

(g) The State of California officially apologized for the “fundamental violations” of “Mexican Repatriation” in 2005 (Section 1 of Chapter 663 of the Statutes of 2005). In 2015, the Legislature passed legislation to update the K–12 curriculum framework with instruction on the unconstitutional deportation to Mexico during the Great Depression of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States (Section 1 of Chapter 392 of the Statutes of 2015).

SEC. 2.

 Section 14638 is added to the Government Code, to read:

14638.

 (a) (1) A recognized nonprofit organization that is tax exempt pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and that represents Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants, may enter into negotiations with the Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the proposed state-owned property, as determined by paragraph (2), to plan, construct, and maintain, in accordance with this section, a memorial to Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants who were forcibly deported from the United States during the Great Depression.

(2) The memorial shall be located at an appropriate public place in the City or County of Los Angeles. If the nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants proposes to locate the memorial on state property, and if the Department of General Services determines that the property is available and suitable for the proposed memorial, the nonprofit organization may enter into negotiations with the Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the state property where the memorial is proposed, to utilize the state-owned property.

(3) Only one memorial may be constructed pursuant to this section.

(b) The Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the proposed state property, as determined by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), in consultation with the nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants, shall do all of the following:

(1) Review the preliminary design plans to identify potential maintenance concerns.

(2) Ensure compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12101 et seq.) and address safety concerns.

(3) Review and approve any documents prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) for the work on the grounds of the memorial.

(4) Review final construction documents to ensure that the documents comply with all applicable laws.

(5) Prepare the right-of-entry permit outlining the final area of work, final construction documents, construction plans, the contractor hired to perform the work, insurance, bonding, provisions for damage to state property, and inspection requirements.

(6) Prepare a maintenance agreement outlining the responsibility of the nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants for any and all maintenance obligations of the memorial.

(7) Inspect all construction performed pursuant to this section by the contractor selected by the nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants.

(c) If a nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants undertakes responsibility for a memorial pursuant to this section, it shall submit a plan for the memorial to the Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the proposed state-owned property, as determined by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), for its review and approval. The organization shall not begin construction of the memorial until both of the following have occurred:

(1) The Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the proposed state-owned property, as determined by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), has approved and adopted the plan for the memorial.

(2) The Department of General Services and, where applicable, the state agency with jurisdiction over the proposed state-owned property, as determined by paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), and the Department of Finance have determined that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the memorial.

(d) The planning, construction, and maintenance of the memorial, and the cost of reviewing and approving the plan pursuant to subdivision (c), shall be funded exclusively through private funding.

SEC. 3.

 Section 14638.1 is added to the Government Code, to read:

14638.1.

 (a) In addition to the authority contained in Section 14638, a nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants may propose to locate the memorial on a site within the County of Los Angeles that is not state property. If the nonprofit organization proposes a site owned by the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles for location of the memorial, the nonprofit organization shall follow any procedures that the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles require to consider approving the proposed memorial.

(b) This section shall not be construed to affect the ability of the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles to consider or approve the construction of any memorials for any purpose.

SEC. 4.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances set forth in Section 1 of this act relating to the largest deportation efforts that took place in the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.