After signing recently passed legislation into law, Gov. Kay Ivey has officially made Juneteenth an official state holiday, requiring all state offices to close in recognition of the holiday that has been the focus of Democratic lawmakers for years.
House Bill 165 (HB165), sponsored by Rep. Rick Rehm (R-Dothan), recognizes Juneteenth as an official state holiday, forcing all state offices to close in recognition.
Juneteenth, also called Jubilee Day or Black Independence Day, is named after the events on June 19, 1865, after the end of the Civil War, when nearly 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, to announce the emancipation of the enslaved people in the South.
Gov. Kay Ivey has declared Juneteenth a state holiday for the past four years. However, the state has never recognized it.
“Since President Trump observed Juneteenth in June of 2020, we have proclaimed it each year, and I am pleased the Legislature has made it an official state holiday,” Ivey said in a statement.
In previous years, Democratic legislators have attempted similar legislation. However, it often came with the removal of the state’s recognition of the birthday of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy.
The original legislation mirrored that of former Democratic lawmakers, which allowed a person to select to celebrate either Juneteenth or Jefferson Davis’s birthday. However, it was later amended to maintain Juneteenth as a standalone holiday.
Multiple House Democrats have tried similar bills in previous sessions. However, the bill was carried to the finish line this session by a Republican. This fact was heavily bemoaned by the minority party when the legislation came before the House body for a vote.
“There’s something wrong that the only way it could be a good bill is somebody else carries it,” said State Rep. Mary Moore (D-Birmingham). “And not the people that was affected by it in the first place.”
She continued, “If it’s going to benefit and help the citizens of the state of Alabama, it shouldn’t be determined by which party or the person that’s carrying it. It ought to be a bill that we just all come together and vote it out.
The bill cleared the House with a vote of 85-4-10. The only “no” votes came from democrats, and all but one abstention came from a Democrat. 26 House lawmakers also voted to add their names as cosponsors. The bill cleared the Senate with a vote of 13-5-14, with all “no” votes likewise coming from Republicans.
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