BILL NUMBER: ACR 95INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mathis JULY 2, 2015 Relative to the American Flag. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 95, as introduced, Mathis. American Flag. This measure would declare that the American flag is an inseparable part of California's rich history, tradition, and culture, that it represents the values of freedom and liberty, and would call upon the state and local governments to prohibit any government entity in the state from banning the American flag from public property. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, On June 14th, 1777, in the midst of the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation"; and WHEREAS, On September 14th, 1814, American soldiers under siege at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write a poem that eventually became the words of the United States National Anthem; and WHEREAS, On June 6th, 1944, more than 160,000 American and Allied troops carrying the "Stars and Stripes" landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily fortified French coastline in Normandy to liberate Europe from the forces of Nazi Germany. More than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded on D-Day to free Europe from fascist occupation; and WHEREAS, On February 23rd, 1945, five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raised the American flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. It was a hard-fought victory over imperialism at the cost of 5,900 United States service members killed and 17,400 wounded against 23,000 Japanese army and naval forces fighting from an entrenched network of caves, dugouts, tunnels and underground installations; and WHEREAS, On September 11th, 2001, in the aftermath of the terrorist attack which destroyed the World Trade Center, three New York City firefighters, George Johnson of Rockaway Beach, Ladder 157, Dan McWilliams of Long Island, Ladder 157, and Billy Eisengrein of Staten Island, Rescue 2, raised the American flag over the smoldering ruins of Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood. It was an act of defiance against those who sought to break the unconquerable values of freedom and liberty which the American flag represents; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature declares that the American flag is an inseparable part of California's rich history, tradition, and culture; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature declares that the American flag represents the values of freedom and liberty; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature calls upon the state and local governments to prohibit any government entity in the state from banning the American flag from public property, including, but not limited to, public schools, public colleges, public universities, state beaches, public parks, public monuments, museums, and government offices; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of the resolution to the author for appropriate distribution