PHOENIX — It's not a paid holiday, but Arizona lawmakers are moving to repeal a law that declares March 31 of each year as "Dr. César Estrada Chávez Day.''
In a statement Thursday, Republican House Speaker Steve Montenegro noted that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has decided not to issue her annual proclamation about that day being Chávez day, which is separate from the holiday on the statute books, following the New York Times' investigative report this week about Chávez.
"We are not going to keep honoring a man who committed sexual abuse against children and assaulted women,'' Montenegro said. He said the repeal measure, to be considered next week by the state Senate Committee on Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency, should not be controversial.
"If even the governor is stepping back from recognizing César Chávez this year, then the Legislature needs to finish the job,'' Montenegro said. "Looking the other way is not leadership.''
Two women told the New York Times that Chávez began sexually abusing them when they were 12 and 13 in the 1970s. Also, Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Chávez, disclosed in the Times report this week that he raped her in the 1960s.
Republican Senate President Warren Petersen said the Arizona measure "should receive unanimous, bipartisan support.''
Democratic legislative leaders have put out a statement saying they are "deeply troubled'' by the sexual abuse reports and they support the survivors who are telling their stories. But that press release made no mention of the holiday.
Legislative records show the holiday was first approved in 2000 in recognition of Chávez, who was revered as a civil rights icon who helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers.
That approval was not unanimous: Two Republican senators and 11 members of the GOP in the state House were opposed.
The new measure would do a simple repeal. That contrasts with California, where lawmakers are planning to rename the March 31 holiday as Farmworkers Day.
That appears to track with the wishes of Huerta, who told Latino USA this week that "everything should be named for the martyrs of the Farm Worker movement.''
Chávez, who was born in Yuma, died in 1993, at age 66, in San Luis, Arizona.
