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Resolution
Supporting the passage of SCA1
in the California November Elections
WHEREAS, SCA 1 is legislation
that would place a Constitutional Amendment on
the ballot to allow voters to strengthen the
public right of access to government
deliberations and records; and
WHEREAS, the
Sunshine Amendment is about the right of
Californias to define how open their government
should be, to know what their government is
doing, to find out information held in
government records, and the ability to attend
and express their views at meetings of
government bodies; and
WHEREAS, SCA 1
defines government business as the people’s
business and strengthens the people’s right to
know about their government by making it a
constitutional right rather than a legislated
right; and
WHEREAS, the
Constitutional Sunshine Amendment would
strengthen the public’s right to access to
government meetings and records as a clearly
established constitutional provision. Thus all
state laws and administrative regulations would
be required to conform with the provisions of
the amendment; and
WHEREAS, SCA 1
would firmly establish a fundamental right for
people to scrutinize what their government is
doing and contribute their ideas to the process
of policy-making and would establish an equally
firm commitment to privacy for individuals,
maintaining confidentiality for facts held by
government about one’s personal life, unless the
person is seeking or holding a position of
public trust; and
WHEREAS, this
Constitutional Sunshine Amendment requires
government agencies to publicly explain and
justify any exception to open government that
the agency intends to claim; and
WHEREAS, SCA 1
has passed both houses of the legislature, by at
least a two-thirds margin in each house and now
will be placed as a proposition on the ballot
for the November 5, 2004 statewide election; and
WHEREAS, upon
approval by a simple majority of voters, Section
3, Article 1 of the state constitution will be
amended accordingly and will take effect January
1, 2005.
NOW THERFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED, that LULAC Orange County
District #1 fully supports the passage and
adoption of the “Sunshine Amendment” SCA 1 and
will encourage the State LULAC Organization to
adopt this resolution at its state convention
and lend its support for passage at the November
2004 elections.
Submitted by Zeke Hernandez,
President of Santa Ana LULAC #147.
Approved this 17th
of April 2004.
Hector M. Flores
LULAC National President
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