Alaska now recognizes Juneteeth as an official and paid state worker holiday.
ANCHORAGE , Alaska - Alaska now recognizes Juneteeth as an official and paid state worker holiday, following the signing of related legislation by Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Thursday.
The holiday, celebrated by many throughout the month of June, celebrates and honors the June 19, 1865, arrival of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, and the subsequent announcements that the Civil War had ended and so had slavery in the United States – as many continued to enslave African Americans for more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Rep. Stanley Wright, R-Anchorage and a sponsor of the bill, used the word “monumental” when talking about it being signed into state law. Some who were in opposition to the legislation cited costs to the taxpayers, as state workers are to be paid on the holiday. In its third reading and final passage in the Senate, Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Wasilla; Sen. Robert Myers, R-Fairbanks; Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla; and Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla, voted against the bill. In its final passage, Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Kenai; Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla; and Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, voted against the bill before the governor’s signature.
Alaska Anchorage Gov. Mike Dunleavy
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