[dc]O[/dc]n May 29, the California State Assembly passed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 by a vote of 63-6. AB 1964 is now on its way to the Senate.
Sponsored by Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), AB 1964 would include the practice of wearing religious clothing or a religious hairstyle as a belief or observance covered by existing protections against religious discrimination, and would specify that an accommodation of a person wearing religious clothing or a religious hairstyle that would require that person to be segregated from the public or other employees is not a reasonable accommodation. This bill would further provide that no accommodation is required if an accommodation would result in the violation of specified laws protecting civil rights.
The bill is presently in the Senate Rules Committee awaiting Senate committee assignment.
To track the progress of the legislation and read the latest versions of the bill, visit http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/Bills/AB_1964/20112012/
See our previous article on the bill:
Key California Committee Passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act – April 20, 2012
I hope that this is worked on and accomplished state by state. For years our few in number religious liberty leaders in washington DC have lobbied and worked at the Federal level trying to accomplish this country wide.
We have a problem. There are too few of our workers in DC. Religious Liberty is sort of a step child as far as funding and fueling goes. You’d think that the way things stand now that we have a lot more important things to worry about in the US than Liberty of Conscience matters.
Well I hate to be a pessimist but- you can have Senators on both sides sign on and it still doesn’t get done. The money that large corporations pour into lobbying is just far more than we can face down. They have a huge stake in what laws are enacted that will have anything to do with their employees.
Plus- we gain and lose Congress people all the time. If they are on board one year they may be voted out of a job the next.
It is like a one trick pony. Every year there is a push to make Congress aware and know that this is a good thing…but every year it doesn’t go anywhere. We have a lot of issues that we need to be involved in besides this one thing!
But, Greg Hamilton proved that it can be done in his neck of the woods. And now we are looking pretty good in Sacramento.
So How about it? The push would be to get the states one by one to do the right thing? It would make sense and it would also put the people in the pews into action. It might also forestall the SCOTUS from getting involved. We know that they side with the corporations in most cases.
It is actually time for every church to recognize and become involved with liberty of conscience issues! There should be more time spent than 5 min. each year for a liberty offering.