Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #426

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
California May End Ban On Communists In Government Jobs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Being a communist would no longer be a fire- able offense for California govern-
ment employees under a bill passed Monday by the state Assembly.
Lawmakers narrowly
approved the bill to repeal part of a law enacted during the Red Scare of the 1940s and ’50s when fear that com-
munists were trying to infiltrate and over- throw the U.S. gov- ernment was ram- pant. The bill now goes to the Senate.
It would eliminate part of the law that allows public employees to be fired for being a member of the Communist Party.
Employees could still be fired for being members of organizations they know advocate for overthrowing the
government by force or violence.
The bill updates an outdated provision in state law, said Assemblyman Rob Bonta, the San Francisco Bay Area Democrat who authored the meas- ure.
Some Assembly Republicans said the Cold War-era law should not be changed.
Assemblyman Randy Voepel, a
Southern California Republican who fought in the Vietnam War, said communists in North Korea and China are “still a threat.”
“This bill is blatantly offensive to all Californians,” said Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican who represents a coastal district in Southern California. “Communism stands for everything that the United States stands against.”
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