BILL NUMBER: AJR 12INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Block and Salas (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bill Berryhill, Cook, Fuentes, Gilmore, Jeffries, Lieu, Monning, Portantino, Price, and Silva) (Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier, Florez, and Wright) MARCH 27, 2009 Relative to benefits for Filipino Americans who fought in World War II. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 12, as introduced, Block. Filipino veterans: benefits. This measure would request that the Congress and the President of the United States enact legislation granting veterans' benefits to the Filipino Americans who fought in World War II in the United States Armed Forces. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, The Republic of the Philippines (hereafter the Philippines) was a colony of the United States, and, as a result, the United States government possessed authority over that nation; and WHEREAS, On July 26, 1941, in anticipation of war with Japan, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order calling over 200,000 Filipino soldiers to serve in the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE); and WHEREAS, Ten hours after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the United States military bases in the Phillippines were bombed, causing the war to spill onto the Filipino people; and WHEREAS, On March 27, 1942, Congress passed Title 8 of the Second War Powers Act, which provided that noncitizens who served in active duty in the United States Armed Forces during World War II shall be granted United States citizenship, meaning that every USAFFE soldier had the right to equal treatment under the law; and WHEREAS, On April 9, 1942, the United States surrendered the Philippines to Japan, leaving 75,000 USAFFE and regular soldiers to the Bataan Death March where close to 10,000 died along the trudge to P.O.W. camps; and WHEREAS, Even after the American surrender, Filipinos continued to resist, gathering thousands more soldiers and forming guerilla units, who, in coordination with United States command, conducted operations, collected intelligence, and helped prepare for the American return; and WHEREAS, On September 2, 1945, Japanese military command surrendered the Philippines back to American forces ending World War II on the Philippine islands, and Philippine nationals who served in the war began filing for naturalization at the United States Embassy in Manila; and WHEREAS, Filipino men and women served courageously in the fight for freedom and democracy during World War II, under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur; and WHEREAS, After the war, the New Philippine Scouts were formed to help reestablish United States authority in the Pacific, causing thousands more Filipino soldiers to be called to serve the United States; and WHEREAS, In November of 1945, adjudication of applications for naturalization of Filipino veterans was stopped, per order of the United States Department of State and the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; and WHEREAS, In December of 1945, Congress passed legislation amending the immigration and naturalization law, setting a deadline of December 1946 for Filipino veterans applying for citizenship; and WHEREAS, On February 18, 1946, Congress enacted the 1946 Rescission Act, which denied World War II Filipino veterans, including the USAFFE, the guerillas, and the New Philippine Scouts equal status as American veterans, which stripped them of equal recognition, compensation, and benefits; and WHEREAS, In October of 1990, the Immigration Act of 1990 was passed, granting United States citizenship to Filipino veterans, which allowed 24,000 Filipino World War II veterans, in their 70s and 80s, to receive citizenship, but who were still denied equal status as American veterans; and WHEREAS, The course of correction has continued under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and under many legislative reforms regarding health care, benefits for surviving spouses, and burial rights; and WHEREAS, Most families of Filipino World War II veterans who are residing in the United States, have been longing to reunite with their sons, daughters, and minor grandchildren whom they left behind, between 1990 and 1995, when they were naturalized and finally established residence in the United States; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully requests the President and the Congress of the United States to enact legislation granting veterans' benefits to the Filipino Americans who fought in World War II in the United States Armed Forces; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.