California Senate Passes Civil Rights Bill; Final Push in Assembly Urged.

By Hazem Kira

SACRAMENTO, CA – 08/22/05: The California State Senate has approved an important civil rights resolution – Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 10 – by a vote of 22 to 9 to urge the US Congress to amend provisions of the Patriot Act that are deemed unconstitutional and undemocratic by a vast majority of civil libertarians. The resolution is expected to come up for a vote in the Assembly before it adjourns on September 9^th.

Senator Liz Figueroa introduced SJR 10 in the State Senate at the initiative of the California Civil Rights Alliance (CCRA), a coalition of 23 mainstream organizations including the American Muslim Alliance, Green and Libertarian Parties and Catholic, Episcopalian and Unitarian Churches. 

This important resolution by America’s largest state comes only weeks after a firestorm erupted in California because of US Senator Feinstein’s role in facilitating a reauthorization bill to make 14 of the 16 provisions in the PATRIOT ACT permanent and thus further undermine civil liberties in the United States. Similar measures have been passed by seven other states, with California the first state since the two houses of Congress passed different measures to make the Act permanent.  The meaures comes after 63 cities and counties across California passed similar measuers to censure the Act . 

The measure "resolves" that California will ensure no state resources be provided for any action  that would violate the US or CA constitution "even if authorized in the USA PATRIOT ACT",  and urges its congressional delegation to "repeal any provisions of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act  that limit or impinge on rights and liberties" protected by the U.S. and state constitutions, and 

to "oppose any pending and future federal legislation to the extent that it would infringe on  Americans' civil rights and liberties."

Nearly 400 U.S. cities and seven states - the last three, Colorado, Montana and Idaho, were all "Red" Republican states in the 2004 election – have approved similar measures.

The California Civil Rights Coalition (CCRA), a statewide coalition of 23 mainstream organizations, said Senate Joint Resolution 10, is “a major milestone in the bottom up civil rights movement that is currently sweeping towns, cities, and states in various parts of the this great country. Sooner or later, it will have an impact on the federal legislature. Actually, many US Congresspersons are waiting this kind of popular support.” 

 Congress's recent vote on the USA PATRIOT Act shows that the nearly 400 community resolutions opposing parts of the Act have had a discernable impact.  The 171 House members who opposed H.R. 3199, the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005, represented 301 communities with resolutions, whereas the 257 members who supported the bill represented 85 communities with resolutions.

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC), which tracks the resolutions and which analyzed the vote results, also looked at the House votes on a motion to recommit the bill, which preceded the vote on H.R. 3199.  The motion included instructions to reinstate four-year sunsets for the 16 provisions set to expire at the end of 2005.  A total of 312 resolutions had passed in the districts of the 209 who voted in favor of the motion, compared to 74 resolutions in the districts of the 218 who voted against it.

"The California Civil Rights Alliance endorses this measure, and commends the bi-partisan efforts of the legislators. We believe SJR 10 is a comprehensive and reasonable response to attacks on civil rights since 9/11," reads a CCRA press release. The CCRA is coordinating a massive lobby effort for its passage.

The State Senate Office of Research has released a report, which suggests immigrants, and U.S. citizens of Muslim faith have suffered "humiliation, embarrassment” and “privacy intrusions” since 9/11 and passage of the Patriot Act.