BILL REQ. #:  S-3352.1 

Read first time 01/11/10.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to Leif Erickson day; reenacting and amending RCW 1.16.050; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature recognizes that Leif Erickson was a Norse explorer who is currently regarded as the first European to land in North America nearly five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. Leif Erickson and his crew exhibited a pioneering spirit of courage, determination, and discovery that helped to open the world to new exploration and unprecedented development. In 1964 the United States congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim October 9th of each year as Leif Erickson day. That date was chosen for its connection to the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States. The ship Restauration, coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825.

Sec. 2   RCW 1.16.050 and 2007 c 61 s 2 and 2007 c 19 s 2 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     The following are legal holidays: Sunday; the first day of January, commonly called New Year's Day; the third Monday of January, being celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.; the third Monday of February to be known as Presidents' Day and to be celebrated as the anniversary of the births of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington; the last Monday of May, commonly known as Memorial Day; the fourth day of July, being the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; the first Monday in September, to be known as Labor Day; the eleventh day of November, to be known as Veterans' Day; the fourth Thursday in November, to be known as Thanksgiving Day; the day immediately following Thanksgiving Day; and the twenty-fifth day of December, commonly called Christmas Day.
     Employees of the state and its political subdivisions, except employees of school districts and except those nonclassified employees of institutions of higher education who hold appointments or are employed under contracts to perform services for periods of less than twelve consecutive months, shall be entitled to one paid holiday per calendar year in addition to those specified in this section. Each employee of the state or its political subdivisions may select the day on which the employee desires to take the additional holiday provided for herein after consultation with the employer pursuant to guidelines to be promulgated by rule of the appropriate personnel authority, or in the case of local government by ordinance or resolution of the legislative authority.
     If any of the above specified state legal holidays are also federal legal holidays but observed on different dates, only the state legal holidays shall be recognized as a paid legal holiday for employees of the state and its political subdivisions except that for port districts and the law enforcement and public transit employees of municipal corporations, either the federal or the state legal holiday, but in no case both, may be recognized as a paid legal holiday for employees.
     Whenever any legal holiday, other than Sunday, falls upon a Sunday, the following Monday shall be the legal holiday.
     Whenever any legal holiday falls upon a Saturday, the preceding Friday shall be the legal holiday.
     Nothing in this section shall be construed to have the effect of adding or deleting the number of paid holidays provided for in an agreement between employees and employers of political subdivisions of the state or as established by ordinance or resolution of the local government legislative authority.
     The legislature declares that the thirteenth day of January shall be recognized as Korean-American day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the twelfth day of October shall be recognized as Columbus day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the ninth day of April shall be recognized as former prisoner of war recognition day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the twenty-sixth day of January shall be recognized as Washington army and air national guard day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the seventh day of August shall be recognized as purple heart recipient recognition day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the second Sunday in October be recognized as Washington state children's day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purposes.
     The legislature declares that the sixteenth day of April shall be recognized as Mother Joseph day and the fourth day of September as Marcus Whitman day, but neither shall be considered legal holidays for any purpose.
     The legislature declares that the seventh day of December be recognized as Pearl Harbor remembrance day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purpose.
     The legislature declares that the nineteenth day of February be recognized as civil liberties day of remembrance but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purpose.
     The legislature declares that the nineteenth day of June be recognized as Juneteenth, a day of remembrance for the day the slaves learned of their freedom, but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purpose.
     The legislature declares that the ninth day of October be recognized as Leif Erickson day but shall not be considered a legal holiday for any purpose.